Connecticut: “The Growing Needs of Students”
Reprinted with permission from Age of Autism.
Sheridan Roy, staff reporter at the Southington Observer clearly has a limited view of the coming collapse of education in her state.
Here was the title of her Dec 27th piece: While school populations decline, special needs are on the rise.
(The story covered a recent presentation at a school board meeting by two special education coordinators.)
Reporter Roy told readers that the increase in special education numbers is part of “the national trend of growing needs that the school system must meet for its students….”
The fact that the PRESCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM IS INCREASING should be worth exploring, but nothing more was said about it. In fact, not once did she venture to say anything about why MORE KIDS ARE IN SPECIAL EDUCATION, while the overall student population is declining. “
Here’s what the special ed coordinator told the board: ‘Our data has indicated that preschool [sped] enrollment is increasing. It has also indicated that our programs are nearing or are at capacity.’
Roy continued,
“…that prevalence rate is increasing, too. Essentially, the number of students needing to be placed in special education programs is on the rise—especially students with autism spectrum disorder.”
Here’s the jaw-dropping fact revealed by the sped head:
‘Since 2013, the number of students with autism spectrum disorder has increased by 36.6%.’
THERE WAS NOT ONE WORD TO EXPLAIN THIS NIGHTMARE INCREASE or why they expect it to keep growing.
NOT ONE.
An official even admitted, ‘The issues that students have to come to us with have become more complex over the years.’
STILL there was no attempt to explain why it’s happening.
We were told about what the district is doing, which should alert us to just how extensive the problem is.
The programs provided include one from birth to three, one for kids four and five, one for kindergarten to second grade, and one for third to fifth. There’s one for six to eight, and finally several programs for high school and beyond.
The article then focused on THE COST, which is the one issue that the board can’t avoid looking into.
While no figures were given, these kids are one huge expense for the district and it’s about autism, as the increase mentioned shows. Just like in Britain where they’re building autism schools in every borough, it seems, the board in Southington acknowledged that keeping these kids within the district was a big saving, despite the current cost.
Here’s how the superintendent explained it:
‘We have to meet the needs of our students, but without these programs, we would be paying for them to be in placements out of our district.
‘There are significant savings that have to be realized by the town because these folks have put these programs in place for students.’
And it’s not just autism, as we learn. ‘The autism spectrum disorder is only one area,…’
More and more we’re conditioned to merely accept more and more learning disabled children flooding our schools. No one ventures to ask where they’re all coming from, or what we’ll do if the increases continue. This is a recipe for disaster.
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