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To: Lane3 who wrote (16689)	7/5/2002 10:17:43 AM
From: maried.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21057

Good morning, Karen..... I have some thoughts about the information presented in this article from the latest census numbers.... The disabilities captured by the census could range in severity from mild asthma to serious mental illness or retardation demanding full-time care. There are many children who have disabilities and need special services and care. Some of our thread members have spoken about their own children's situations and in each case, the services are warranted. The problem over the last twenty years is that many children are labeled and require services when their disabilities are minor and most could be serviced perfectly well in a regular classroom with regular education personnel. Whenever we expand the definition of a special need, the services required by the more severe cases are water-down and minimized. Special-education enrollment rose twice as fast as overall school enrollment in the past decade. And a growing number of children receive federal Social Security payments because they suffer from serious disabilities. It is a well known fact among social workers that many children receive SSI payments under the umbrella of emotional/psychological disorders when the true cause of their poor behavior is lack of discipline in their home and neighborhoods. Again, this minimizes the disability of a child who truly fits this category. But it is difficult to know precisely how much is attributable to an increase in certain conditions and how much is explained by greater recognition, changing definitions or more willingness to report a handicap. My guess would be changing definitions and the unwillingness of many parents and teachers to attempt to remediate a minor difference without a label. Steven Fine, a federal employee who lives in Columbia, has seen this firsthand as the father of a 12-year-old boy with severe autism, a neurological disease. "Ten years ago, when my son was diagnosed, autism was a rare thing that no one had ever heard of," Fine said. "Every year since then, at parents' meetings, the number of diagnoses seem to have increased exponentially. "Now doctors are much quicker -- maybe a little too quick -- to say your kid has autism," Fine said. Mr. Fine is correct is his statement. The new catch all phrase in school labeling is Asperger's Syndrome, a less severe form of autism. This term is being used to describe any social behaviors that appear a little bit off the 'normal' mark. A few years ago, the label was ADD or ADHD and this was used to describe any child who was distracted or too energetic. Physicians have diagnosed millions of students with ADD/ADHD and have quickly recommended medication. There are many children who truly have Autism/ Asperger's/ADD/ADHD and their conditions have become trivialized because of the increasing numbers of poorly diagnosed students. Experts offer several possible explanations for the link between poverty and childhood disability, including a higher risk of premature birth or birth to a drug-addicted mother, poor nutrition or more exposure to lead paint, which can cause brain damage. Our city schools are filled with children who fall in this category and we can add to those numbers children who are HIV positive,suffer physical abuse, brain traumas. This doesn't even touch on those little munchkins who are not read to, loved or live in homes where drugs and violence are a daily occurence. Ellen Tuttle, a school administrator who lives in Herndon, enrolled her 12-year-old daughter who has multiple handicaps in after-school classes in gymnastics, swimming, ice skating and karate that are not just for handicapped children. She has found that most teachers are willing to help, and her daughter often finds one empathetic friend in each class. "If I put her in a class that might have worse disabilities than she has, she would not have anything to reach for," Tuttle said. Again, Ellen is correct. If a child spends his/her day with severely disabled children,expectations are lowered and 'normal' behaviors are not observed. Would vouchers help this situation? Perhaps/perhaps not. But most states and districts have tightened their requirements for special education services to ensure that the purpose of P.L. 92-132 signed in 1973 again becomes the law that protects children with disabilities as it was designed. IDEA that was signed in the early '90s, was a clarification of that law. At this moment, many poor parents in our inner cities have no choice in their child's education and many want that choice. I believe that school choice, charter schools, and privately run schools give these parents an educational option for their children. Without a voucher system, they are unable to make that choice. It is only the wealthy American who can afford a better opportunity for their children. We must stop taking that handicapped spot from the truly handicapped...both in our parking lots and especially in our educational system....and make good education available for the poor as well as for the wealthy.