After Losing Autism Diagnosis, Study Finds Need for Educational Support

A study examining children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder whose social and cognitive symptoms had resolved 4 years later has found that most continued to have emotional and behavioral symptoms that required special educational support.
The research, presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Diego, CA, aimed to investigate whether any deficits remained after the resolution of early symptoms to the extent that children no longer met the criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Asking Children with Special Needs to Clear the Same Bar

Jackson Ellis will soon head to fourth grade. Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, he's been receiving publicly funded services since he was 15 months old. Jackson's mother, Rebecca Ellis, a single parent, has made education advocacy her career. She's fighting to make sure her son gets the help he needs at his Mandeville, Louisiana public school. That's always been an uphill battle. But, since the state adopted the Common Core State Standards, Ellis says, it's become even harder.

"There's always been a gap — academically, socially — between what he could do and other kids could do," she says. "When the standards changed, the gap grew into this canyon overnight."

Special Ed Changes and the Impact on Children

Special education as you knew it 50 years ago — or even 15 years ago — is long gone.
Over the past few decades, schools in Florida and across the nation have gradually begun "mainstreaming" students with disabilities into regular classrooms.
And — with the ushering in of new state rules that put most disabled children in the general education curriculum — we're about to see more and more mainstreaming.

Addressing the Autism Education Crisis

Susan Moffitt is on target in her article from the Autism Key blog.

A recent article decrying the fact that Mississippi requires no autism training for its special education teachers struck me as hardly newsworthy. The reality is that special education teacher requirements vary drastically from state-to-state and when it comes to autism, they are abysmal. As far as I could tell from my research (and I would love to be wrong), only six states in the entire country require teachers who are responsible for educating children with autism to know anything about it. Michigan led the way in the early 80′s, followed by Delaware, West Virginia, Nevada, Florida and California. Florida and California’s autism endorsement requirements will be fully effective in 2011.

School for Students with Autism Celebrates First Graduate

Happy Graduation, AJ!

PHILADELPHIA-Overwhelming odds can be just the right trigger for success.

Joanne Corless said she proved that to herself and her family after her son was diagnosed with a severe form of autism before he was 3.

A doctor told the family that they should put AJ in an institution because there was no way he would be able to function normally. Corless couldn’t believe that. She said she found instructors who could work with kids with autism and founded the AJ Corless Foundation for Children with Autism. She later went on to open the Comprehensive Learning Center, a nonprofit private school for kids with autism.

After going through a yearlong approval process with the state Department of Education, the licensed private academic school opened in September 2000 in Holland. It moved to Upper Southampton about two years ago. The pre-k to high school facility has 24 students. The facility is funded through tuition, fundraising, private donations and grants.

Now age 21, AJ was in cap and gown Tuesday to get his diploma as the school’s first and only graduate. He plays the piano and works two part-time jobs. Soft-spoken, yet confident, AJ said he’s about to start a third job this summer.

Parents Battle School District for Supports

In October, after months of anxiety, Caroline Barwick and her husband, Russell Huerta, celebrated the arrival of their son Sebastian’s third birthday.
It was the day the San Francisco Unified School District became legally responsible for addressing Sebastian's severe autism.
Ms. Barwick and Mr. Huerta met with school clinicians to discuss their son;s education and treatment. But the meeting did not go as they had hoped — the district offered Sebastian fewer than half of the therapeutic services recommended by three private doctors and did not offer a choice of schools.

N.J. Mom Wins Placement for Son

Amazing how many hoops they made this mother jump through.

BRIDGETON, N.J. — It took two hours to determine, but Thomas Smith is not suited for the general student body at Broad Street School.
"They were saying his autism is not the reason. It's because his behavior is real bad," said mother Cathy Smith.
Thomas, who is 5-years-old, has been diagnosed with autistic disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorder.