Friday, July 06, 2007

The Money Wars

Another article for your consideration: Who Pays for Special Ed?

Don't forget to peruse the comments. Unless you have high blood pressure, in which case I suggest you avoid them.

My thoughts: hurrah for this family, getting the services that is their child's right. No, let me say that again. They are his RIGHT. Just as my lovely little Andy has a right to a free, appropriate public education, so does my Joey. And so does Luke. Until people understand that letting a child rot is NOT appropriate in ANY circumstance, our entire society suffers. Until people who do not have special needs kids really understand what "special needs" means, and what education is about, there will be ignorant idiots who declare that paying for children such as Luke and Joey are a waste of money. And those ignorant idiots will continue to put up my blood pressure.

4 comments:

Maddy said...

thanks for the link - an interesting debate. I'd have liked to comment there but couldn't figure out how!
Enjoy the weekend.
Cheers

kristina said...

Something worth fighting for, for sure.

Chaoticidealism said...

Education, the right of a child... Under our laws, yes, thankfully.

Education, to me, has always been:
1. Teaching a child to prepare him for the world
2. Teaching a child to think and learn

Those two goals are possible for autistic children; but they're different. We need to learn different things--for example, if I'd been given Social Skills 101 in high school, I might've been able to better understand the necessity of bathing or the process of making friends! Most children learn that naturally... but not me; not most autistic people.

Thus: Special education. People with brains who don't fit the cookie-cutter type of education you get in "mass-production" classrooms. People who are very intelligent, or have special skills, or have deficits that need to be addressed, or have environmental needs that need to be filled... That's what special ed is there for. It shouldn't be a stigma any more than "different" should be; but it is.

Home-schooling the high-functioning autistic child is highly recommended. Remember to include social contact, and social-skills training, in his curriculum. (I can't speak for LFAs--I think maybe that needs specialized training, which the parent could acquire, I suppose... but I'm HFA, and that's what I know best.)

Maddy said...

Huh! No email on your profile.