It has been brought to my attention that the special education department of Lynn Public Schools is in shambles. C'mon tell me something I don't know,
Let's look at the size of it first, well over 2000 kids. If you want the exact number call some bean counters down there. But wait, just where is there? You could call Latham's office but the special ed. dept. is not even in her building.
How can the superintendent manage such a huge satellite office? What results is splinter groups that pursue their own agendas or vendettas, whatever the case may be. This results in costly, unknown lawsuits and astronomically expensive out of district placements. And I hear those placements are not equitably given.
With the numbers for newly diagnosed cases of autism or spectrum disorders exploding, the future looks bleak for the practice of business as usual. We need to make our voices heard and the ballot boxes are listening!
Stanley:
ReplyDeleteOnce again you are correct! Our current system is not working and every year more and more children are being diagnosed with PDD-Autism-On the Spectrum.......
I believe the chances of having a child with Autism is now 1 in 150....so every 150 children being born in a day, 1 will be on the PDD Spectrum.....this is so concerning...What's worse is that our current Lynn Public School system can not handle the numbers or children/families with these issues. They do require special care.....With that being said, I commend the COACH program and the numerous staff who dedicate their lives to working with special needs students, But we need to start supporting them better......with more staff, training,tools,space etc.....Where are all the parents with a child in the special education programs......we really need to hear from you!
What are your thoughts, concerns and feelings about the current Special Education Dept.
We would love to hear from you!
Dolores DiFillipo
Delores - Actually I've heard the autism number is up to 1 in a 164. Anyway whatever it is, as you know individuals with spectrum disorders demand a lot of attention and their caregivers, teachers need a tremendous amount of support. If we do not get a handle on this facet of our education, it will overwhelm us.
ReplyDeleteStanley,
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately have my numbers correct with regards to Autism. My family and I have been actively involved with Autism Speaks, and participate in the yearly "Autism Speaks Now" events that are held at Suffolk Downs since my nephew was diagnosed in 2003....the figures as they stand now are in fact 1 and 150......they have also developed a commerical that states these numbers as well...but as you say whatever it is....we have to start looking at ways of being responsible and creative with the special education department and the special education families in the city of Lynn.
The Lynn Public Schools are overwhelmed and we do have many wonderful and dedicated teachers, staff and administrators in our schools....we need to focus on the "whole system" and stop making excuses that it is a system wide issue...that is NOT an answer..........
Delores,
ReplyDeleteIt is never unfortunate to be correct. As you know, we need answers not complaints.
Why is there such an increase in Autism. Kids with behavior problems are being branded. They need discipline. There are some true cases but they are no where near the number of children being falsely diagnosed.
ReplyDeleteI cannot help but wonder why so many in Lynn? More bennies for many. Its sad to lump so many kids. What is this new word spectrum?
These kids are such a burden on the taxpayers and the school system taking away from children who properly behave and can normally learn. We would be first in world education if we spent the same amount of money on gifted kids programs as we did on these kids.
Are the children with Autism being sent to Randolph school program? How many children living in Lynn are diagnosed with Autism or other special needs? I remember the busing to other cities was a huge cost in the budget
ReplyDeleteAnon. - Your words convey your ignorance of the true situation. There are kernels of truth in what you say but the intent of your "special" wisdom is malicious and ill founded. Our education system is hamstrung into dealing with the effects of autism or in actuality the more broadly defined category of spectrum disorders. It is more broadly defined category of spectrum disorders. The reason for the wider definition is that we don't have a real clear idea of what we are dealing with. Many kids on the spectrum are "gifted" in specific areas. You are right that it is an economic burden to educate "these" kids but do you hear what you are saying and how you are saying it? Even one child is not disposable let alone more than one fifth of the classes in Lynn. We need to concentrate more on the questions to get better answers before our kids are drown in the solution.
ReplyDeleteMary There are a LOT of kids in Lynn Public Schools with autism. My son is one of them. The Special Ed. Dept. is HUGE. We are still sending out kids to other districts at great expense but there is an effort to reduce the need to do this but I question how defined the criteria is on choosing just who gets selected for outside placement.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning,
ReplyDeleteFirst if all, Stanley it is a joy to have a place where we can have wonderful conversations with others and a place to educate eachother more about subjects that are so dear to our hearts....CHILDREN.....With that being said, I would like to address the subject of Autism once again to help with some clarification for some.
Autism is not a behavior issue, it is a neurological issue that some children are born with. Many studies have been conducted but have yet to yeild a true answer as to who,how a child (ren) get this. As for the spectrum, this is when a child is medically & neurologically assessed by professionals to be on the PPD Spectrum....it is a range from mild, moderate to severe Autism.
Secondly, I would like to also address the burden of these children on the Lynn Public School system:
All children in Massachusetts are to recieve the best education possible regardless of their issues and the local district where they live is mandated to provide that for them.
It is the law! Now, the issue at hand, as far as I can see it, is that our current Lynn Public School system is not working for these children and many of our regular education students....Our system currently does not have the resources, tools or training. But, we could!!! As, stated at the last school committee meeting, Lynn Public Schools has obtained a very large grant and many others. Why are we not using some of these monies to lessen the burden on (as you say taxpayers).....most of the taxpayers burden as I see it is...over paid people in this city.
Lastly, it was also stated that we have many "behavior children" in our schools....unfortunately once again, you are current. My previous role was a Clinical Director in a Behavior School in Lynn Public Schools for 3 years....
This is another place where we need to start providing more support, tools, training to the staff, teachers, etc. The children are not going away and we need to be able to provide them the best education possible in the public school setting....it is the way the Mass regulations are written....I hope this helps some understand the numerous challenges we face in the city of Lynn..
Regards,
Dolores DiFillipo
Law or no law it is wrong to waste so much money on kids where we will see no benefit. Send a smart kid to a better school district and he or she could do so much! These kids in the classroom make it tough on the other children and the teachers. Just an opinion. Can't they just build a special school for them all locally where they can learn? There are some kids with actual issues but most of it is just these PHD fools toting false diagnoses.
ReplyDeleteI believe the actual diagnosis is made by an MD and not a PhD. PhD can't write prescriptions As Delores correctly pointed out we are dealing with a neurological not a behavioral issue. Segregation was declared unconstitutional a few years back A. Does that A stand for Anonymous or something else?
ReplyDeleteDear Anon.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all and most importantly SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN BRING BIG BUCKS INTO THIS CITY.
Secondly, IT'S ILLEGAL TO PUT THEM IN A SEPARATE BUILDING OR UNIT FROM THE REGULAR EDUCATION STUDENTS...THEY ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS!
Thirdly, BE THANKFUL YOU'RE CHILD DOES NOT HAVE ANY DISABILITIES...YOU ARE BEING HEARTLESS AND MEAN!
Fourth and Foremost, AUTISTIC CHILDREN ALL EXCELL IN SOME AREA SO WHY NOT ENCOURAGE AND PUSH THEM IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!
That's correct a doctor diagnoses the student...it's a medical condition they cannot help...Autistic children excel in reading and tend to act as a role model encouraging reading to their classmates.
THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS ANON.!
ONE DISAPPOINTED READER!
Dear Reader, as I am sure you know if a child has any form of spectrum disorders/autism, the whole family feels the effects. If A had any clue of what it is all about, then that comment could not have been made unless it came from a dark place.
ReplyDeleteAfter reviewing some of the responses to this article and many others that Stanley has written about, it is very clear why a website like this is so important!
ReplyDeleteWe can use this website as a tool to educate and inform people on what our families, citizens and schools are dealing with. We all have differences, but we should be mindful to respeact eachothers differences. I beleive we all have one common goal..."The best for our children".
So, now that we have educated the person who wants to remain anon....we should move on to more important tasks at hand....our schools and our children....
Keep them coming Stanley...it is heating up discussions with the citizens of Lynn ....
Dolores DiFillipo
I too am very happy with this blog. I do think that the statement "Special Needs brings BIG bucks into this city" needs to be clarified though. Lynn receives money to educate our special needs children from the state and federal government. It is not revenue per se (to me revenue is GE pays Lynn $1 million a year in property taxes and Wal-Mart pays $150K a year in property taxes)
ReplyDeleteLynn is reimbursed for special needs money we need to spend (by law) and not making a profit by any means. Expenditures for Special Education programs remain subject to state audit. Beyond learning disabilities and impairments, special needs includes serious disabilities, including mental retardation; visual, orthopedic, or other health impairments; emotional disturbance; loss of hearing and/or sight; traumatic brain injuries; or multiple disabilities. I am not sure I understand why the conversation just discusses autism.
Thank you Delores. There is plenty to talk about and I'm glad we have more and more people taking!
ReplyDeleteMary, you are right to point out that the money special ed. brings in is not a financial windfall. Reimbursement is the operative word. As far as the Special Ed. Dept. not being aka the Autism Dept. is right on target. Myself I am a victim of a traumatic head injury and have worked in various capacities with a wide range of disabilities. It is that right now autism is a "hot" topic because the number of new cases are exploding. We'll just take this discussion where the conversation takes us.
ReplyDeleteAnon here again.
ReplyDeleteI have complete empathy for handicapped and those with TRUE disabilities. I have two members of my immediate family with them. One is retarded and another is confined to a wheel chair. Both work and function. I also have two members in the same family who are school teachers. The mentally retarded person went to a special school where he learned to function the best he could. He is excelling to the best he knows.
He would not have excelled in an integrated environment. He would have taken attention away from the teacher to see to just his needs. Nor do I feel we should spend money on each of these kids having their own assistant so they can be in a normal kids setting. It is not fair to the rest of the kids. (we also do not find offense with the word retarded when used in a proper setting as so many of these liberals do these days)
Autism has existed for years, why it is now the catch all word? Kind of like ADHD was a few years back. ADHD encompassed kids who misbehaved, Drs drugged them up and look at what we have today. A MESS.
Why is it that Lynn has so many of these kids with "autism"?. Autism does not know if someone is rich or poor does it? It seems that so many people now are being schooled into having their children labeled so they can collect a check from the state.
Again there are true cases of this disease but now where are many as there are claims.
Maybe taking some of the limelight off the kids that are on the "spectrum" will allow to actually integrate into the setting more successfully. Are slow readers on the autism spectrum now? They may just be slow readers? Or not good at math etc?
I personally feel kids who are smarter should have money spend on them so they have the chance to excel. Currently most of these kids in Lynn or settings like Lynn stand no chance. They are quickly bored as most of the kids in their class can't speak English, have behavior issues or are "spectrum something".
Hopefully charter schools or chances will open up for this undeserved population of students. These are the kids one day who may find a cure for the kid whose only hope is to tie his shoe.
I applaud my mother for not allowing my sister who is now a teacher to not be grouped into any special needs classes as they wanted to when she was younger. She was said to have ADHD and speech issues. She had to work a little harder than some of the other kids but turned out fine. Had my parents shoved her into this label I cringe at what low standards she would of set for herself.
A, I won't comment any more on your statements, you represent yourself well. There can be no mistake about your degree of comprehension about these issues. I am embarrassed for you.
ReplyDeleteAnon - a couple of items:
ReplyDeletethe Autism numbers that Dolores gave were 1 in 150 nationwide - not in Lynn alone! I haven't seen anything on how many children are in Lynn.
We don't say Mentally Retarded any more - it is Developmentally Disabled.
There is an advantage to have a special needs teacher in a classroom - when the child she is assigned to doesn't need the help, she is required to help other kids in the class so it is having an extra skilled teacher available in the classroom. My daughter benefited in her elementary school by getting help in math when the special needs child was not needing help.
Mary you make valid points.
ReplyDeleteYes there is an advantage to having another teacher in the classroom. My sister in law was once such teacher for a child who was at toddler level in a third grade class. At the tune of being paid 50k a year for one child! The girl had no chance of ever coming close to even grasping any concepts being taught in the class. Does it not make sense to take out said child and put them in a classroom setting with other kids like them and their level? I was told by the master level teacher assigned just to her --that this child got nothing from the experience. In this case as well the special child needed supervision all the time.
I still say mentally retarded and so do many parents of such children. My cousin who is 40 calls himself mentally retarded as well. I see no offense in that word if used in a proper way and nor do most. Developmentally Disabled is just as offensive to some. Either word if said in a manner of meanness can offend just the same.
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI wish we could get the number of students with Autism in Lynn alone. I wish we could get any accurate figures to let us know "how many students are getting services and how many are not". Hence, the problem at hand. No true data gives us no true results.
We must continue to ask the questions and look for answers.
I am not just talking about special education....I am talking about the future education for ALL children in the City of Lynn.
Dolores DiFillipo
Ditto Delores!
ReplyDeleteHey Stanley - A could also stand for Adlof. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteI have a child on the Autism Spectrum, he is diagnosed with Aspergers. He is also in one of the great COACH classrooms in Lynn. To those of you reading this who might not know that parents of typically performing children actually sign their children up for a lottery to participate in this integrated model. Those parents see the benefit of having their child learn alongside children on the Spectrum.
I only wish that our "behavioral" classrooms could follow the COACH programs standards. Our COACH kids get nurtured, have Wilson's trained staff, have ABA trained staff, and participate in an integrated program with one special education teacher and one regular education teacher. Our "behavioral" kids (whose diagnoses are no less neurological) get segregation, restrained face down on the floor, suspended, expelled, felony assault charges filed, etc., etc., etc. They also do not get educated. The Washington School's AYP numbers are the lowest in the entire city.
Melissa, I applaud you on your appropriate historical analogies. Examples of segregation's failures abound. Spectrum kids can be fast learners of certain things and we don't want those things to be the bad behaviors of their fellow students.
ReplyDeleteMy son too, benefited from the COACH program at Shoemaker, up to a point and then he began regressing. They couldn't deal with him so they dumped him out on his neighborhood school, Ford. I only wished it had happened sooner because not only did Dr Crane have an excellent handle on how to deal with him but I lived next door. Now he has been on the Honor Roll his first two grading periods at Pickering.
Unfortunately even Delores was wrong on the autism stats. In 2009, 2 government studies have shown 1 in 100 kids to have an autism spectrum disorder. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/05/health/main5363192.shtml I think people in this blog are incorrect with assuming kids are being diagnosed autistic when they're really just behavioral. This is showing a lack of understanding of what autism really is. Not all autistics are like rain man. I know, I have an autistic son.
ReplyDeleteAnon 608,
ReplyDeleteYou made this comment: Send a smart kid to a better school district and he or she could do so much! These kids in the classroom make it tough on the other children and the teachers. Just an opinion.
My son is one of "those kids" and he is smarter than every kid in his class. He is academically gifted as well as autistic. Educate yourself about autism before making those kind of comments.