Opinion: Students Need More Options

My wife, Liz, and I have a 5-year-old son named Sam who, along with his little brother, Pete, is our pride and joy. Sam was diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorder at age 4. The symptoms of ASD vary but are characterized by social deficits and repetitive behavior. His doctor says he is high-functioning, which means that with the right schooling, therapies, teachers and family support Sam could be “mainstreamed” into a regular classroom with his peers in the future.But getting from here to there is going to take enormous effort, and our local public school has already shown an unwillingness to help. Sam is old enough to attend kindergarten in the fall, but after reading his progress reports and listening to his therapists, Liz and I agreed he was not ready to tackle the added challenges of kindergarten. His language skills are still delayed and he has sensory and social issues that could use another year of work.

New York School District in Court Over Special Education Placements

EAST RAMAPO, N.Y. — Officials in a New York school district are taking the state Education Department to court — again — to continue their battle against what the state says is repeated noncompliance with a law that requires disabled students to be educated in the most mainstream setting available.
The East Ramapo, N.Y., school board has agreed to pay attorney David Butler and his associates at their regular rate, $650 to $450 per hour, to initiate an appeal of the education officials' recent determination that the district "needs intervention" to satisfy requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Evaluating Teachers on Student Test Scores Hurts Children the Most

In this guest editorial from The Washington Times, teacher Eileen Riley-Hall, author of Parenting Girls on the Autism Spectrum, writes about how evaluating teachers based on students' test scores hurts children.

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- My daughter Caroline is a bright, sweet, inquisitive thirteen year-old. She also has autism. Over the past seven years of school, Caroline has made amazing progress because she always been included in the general education classroom with the help of a 1:1 aide. In fifth grade she won the spelling bee for her grade. In seventh grade she won a science award. Now, in eighth grade she is learning algebra. For the past three years, she has participated in the school band, playing her very own purple trumpet. Caroline has also made friends, discovered her talents, and found a way to belong. Her work ethic is stellar, and her attitude towards school is unfailingly positive.
However, according to the New York State Education department, Caroline has learned nothing and shown no growth over the course of her entire school career.

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.

Graduation Day for Autistic Students

Check out the link for a video of the ceremony--congrats to all of the graduates!

NEW YORK -- Zachary is getting his cap and gown. He and 20 other students are graduating from preschool today. All of the children are all battling autism, and each and every one of them is going to main-stream school this fall.


They have all been students here at the Association for Metro Area Autistic Children in Manhattan.

AMAC, as they call it, is a year-round school for children age two and a half to 21-years-old, but when high functioning kids like these are ready, they leave.

Reading Program Aids Students with Autism

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- During his first days as a student at East High School, David Correa would take his seat in class, put his head down and withdraw from his surroundings.
David has autism, a condition that makes it difficult to adjust to new environments. A seventh-grader, his reading skills lagged far below grade level.
He needed constant adult supervision.
David's teachers knew he needed structure and routine to thrive in class, like many other students with autism. So they started using a remedial program typically used to help struggling students improve their reading. Now, David's reading skills match those of other students his age. In the fall, he will be "mainstreamed," enrolled in regular classes with the general student population.