Aid students with special needs

This problem is not all about money. Too many people in this education arena seem to think that all we have to do is keep throwing money at education, specifically in this case, learning disabilities and poof, problem solved.

Instead we need to go to the root of the problem and ask the real question, why there are so many special ed students. For the answer to that question we can simply look to the method by which we are teaching students to read. Whole language my friends is not getting the job done. As long as that stays as the preferred teaching method, this number of students will not change. Simply throwing more money at the industry of illiteracy won't help it. Being proactive and changing HOW we are teaching will.

What's unscrupulous is that we now have a landscape littered with illiterate students that was entirely preventable. Phonics is what will ensure ALL students learn to read.

Check here for the truth. You can't argue with evidence:
http://www.theschoolsweneed.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/208#Post208

I dunno Heather

I followed your link and read the information from Scotland. By the way, there’s a poster here called murdock who is also a big fan of John Taylor Gatto.

Something tells me that we have a lot of issues that aren't going to be addressed by the rather simple expedient of switching everyone to phonics...in fact, I expect you'd find that most primary methodology blends the two methods (phonics and whole language) in the classroom.

Whenever time and classroom resources permit, teachers will find the time to address individual student needs.

The problem - and a good deal of it has to do with the diversity of the student body (both in terms of language and culture but also in terms of learning challenges and developmental differentials) is that the time and resources are frequently NOT available when and if they are needed.

The first thing that needs to be done in British Columbia is to put all the public educational resources into the public system - anyone who wants a private education should pay ALL the freight - without any help from the taxpayer.

Phonics

Phonics is the answer for SOME kids. I remember doing the Phonics thing when I was in elementary school and lots of kids had trouble with it.

If Phonics hadn't produced as many "special needs" kids as whole language we'd still be using it.

The problem is that all kids learn in different ways and have different strengths and weaknesses. Therefore different methods, such as Phonics, will work for some kids but leave others confused and needing help.

For one thing, the money and

For one thing, the money and effort wasted on ESL could be turned to better use.

Out here, in the boondocks, there are no ESL programs and immigrant kids pick up the language, perfectly, within a few weeks and months.

My wife had to go through this at the grade 2 level when her father was transferred to Romania, then later picking up German in Austria, at 16, and we have 3 children of our partners right here, who learned English without the slightest problem.

At the same time, a good friend of ours brought up his wife's Spanish speaking, 15 year old nephew some years ago, who was living in North Van for 1 1/2 years by then and "passed" grade 9, who could hardly speak a single word of English.

So much for ESL........

When children and people have to learn something to survive, they'll learn pretty damn quick.

The same with the metric system, now, theoretically in use in Canada for 30 years, but people still talk about inches, pounds and "what is -12 C in whiteman's terms?" Frezzing point at 32F is so much simpler.

I had skilled European tradesmen in my shop in Vancouver, who just got off the planes.
After they stopped laughing over the idiocy of an imperial measuring tape, where you can't even divide 12" by 5, they were working with it in 2 days, without the slightest problems.

Ed Deak. Big Lake.

Can we all run 100 m in 10 seconds?

Assuming no steroid use of course ( ;) ), no matter how many drills, iron pumping, or phonics (for that matter) will help ALL of us achieve this goal! The same can be said about reading (and many other subjects)! Some kids cannot achieve our high standards easily and in short time! And, as far as English reading is concerned (decoding), it is an exceedingly difficult language to read and teach (and to learn) due to its inherent complex phonemic patterns (or poor sound to letter correspondance). Many suggests that we should simply the spelling rules (but many special interest groups are opposed to this for many reasons). http://cornucopierre.blogspot.com/search/label/education Essentially, if you are a visual learner (good visual memory), English reading will be mastered relatively fast. Phonics and drills will help students who are not visual learners improve their chances of reading, but so will extra practices (and other tricks). Of course, poor socio-economic factors (and genetics) make reading in English even more of a challenge. The same could be said about math and many other skills in other subjects. Let's face it. Not many of us could run a 100 m dash in 10 sec., no matter how hard we try! But, some of us could come closer given proper coaching or better shoes!

On the general topic, more help needs to be given to the disadvantaged in our society, but do the elite with their private tutors and private schools care? They love widget makers as long as they are not it ... or them, rather!

When given, some kids can really shine, as in this shy and depressed girl whose brain was thinking faster than her hand could write. When she was given a scribe, she would perform as well as others (and you should have seen how she blossomed after that). But, that takes extra money, folks! When people will be willing to give up that 2nd SUV, enabling them to be paying more tax to help those kids and when the elite will actually do something with those extra taxe revenues,... then and only then we might have a better society. In the mean ... time,...

PS: Not all kids can be helped as dramatically as the above case.

Double standards

What spectacular ignorance, "throwing money at the problem". The notion that a simple shift in teaching methodology will solve the problems facing the education system demonstrates a truly profound blindness to what constitutes effective learning.

The most effective aid to helping anyone learn is personalized attention from an experienced and professionally educated teacher. I've witnessed many people try to teach what they know, and the vast majority suck at it, because they simply have not learned and practiced the skills needed to bring others to an understanding of complex material.

Our saving grace is the fact that humans are, for the most part, excellent learners. We learn best by mirroring the behavior of those more experienced. In fact, we have evolved to learn that way. Those with poor teaching skills help others learn best by simply doing the skill, and answering questions. But learning that way is often haphazard. Important information is unintentionally left out, and, unless the student spends enormous amounts of time with the teacher in what essentially amounts to a mentor - apprentice relationship, there will be significant holes in the student's knowledge.

Having fewer students per teacher enables teachers to give students more personalized attention. Personalized attention adjusts to the specific needs of each student at that moment, and is the most effective learning aid whether the student is gifted, average or special needs. Moreover, because that personalized attention comes from a professionally trained and experienced teacher it is VASTLY more effective, because they know how to teach.

People tend to vastly underestimate the skill teaching requires. But for comparison, how many cabinet makers would do a spectacular job if they had to turn out 30 or 40 cabinets every day? Do you think they'd do a vastly better job just working on one cabinet? What kind of difference in quality would there be between that one cabinet carefully labored on, and one of the rapidly built 30? So why is it that people are so hard on teachers who handle classes of 30 to 40 students?

Money should go into classrooms, not board offices

I have been working for a school district for many years now and a disturbing trend I see, is that when school districts close schools, they often eliminate teaching and support positions while shuffling administrative positions. It defies logic and common sense to do this as many of the admin positions pay a great deal more.

The end result is there is less money for the kids and they are the ones who ultimately suffer, along with teachers who burnout.

More money = more teachers

James,

I agree with most of what you stated!

By more money, I think people refer putting more money into the system to offer the personalized teaching by professionally trained you are referring to. Agree?

I also think that people should think of teachers as CEOs, with 20 to 35 employees! How much do average CEOs make?

PS: For all the teachers'detractors out there, please note that even though teachers have a total of 3 months (UNPAID) holidays, most teachers do work 60 hours a week with an extra 6 weekends for report cards. This amounts to more than 40 hours a week with no holidays!

Literacy and wasting money

I completely agree with you NDN_Coach. Administration is over the top regarding what their paid. That's why I love the concept of Charter schools. The money by passes the board office and goes directly to the school itself. The school has signed a contract or charter with the Ministry of Ed stating what they will achieve in an agreed on amount of time. If they don't achieve that goal, they are closed. If they do acheive their goal, they get a renewal and another contract, or charter. Accountability, bang for your buck, no paying unnecessary administration fees and individual schools do their own thing without interference. It's perfect.
Unions hate this because it crushes their current monopoly.

Regarding phonics producing special needs. Nope. Look at that link I posted. ALL their students were reading at a grade 8 reading level. ALL of them. THis was a lower socio-economic area. All myths explode. A true phonics method will immediately expose what children will need extra help, like dyslexic students. That amounts to no more than 2-3%. Phonics didn't ever produce special needs. Whole language was developed in answer to stupid basil text books, remember Dick and Jane? That was Whole language's precursor called look and say. That was how it was taught in the 60s. We haven't seen true phonics teaching for a very long time. The trouble is, special needs as it exists today has produced an industry that pays a lot of people a lot of money. Pyschologists, TAs, Learning Assistance, Resource teachers.... the list goes on and on. These people are gamefully employed by the fact that many children don't learn by memorizing or guessing at words, there's nothing wrong with them except for the fact that no one ever showed them spelling rules syllabication rules etc. So, that's why we have these kinds of problems and studies like the above that cry out for more money. There will never be enough money for them.

Jim asks:

"What is a special needs student?"

This link allows you to find the various general categories; but it cannot begin to describe all of the sub-categories/nuances that must be accounted for on Individual Education Plans (IEPs). Specialized training is often required of staff to fulfill the needs of those students. These students are integrated as much as possible into regular classrooms.

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/ppandg/toc.htm

Give us a break

"PS: For all the teachers'detractors out there, please note that even though teachers have a total of 3 months (UNPAID) holidays, most teachers do work 60 hours a week with an extra 6 weekends for report cards. This amounts to more than 40 hours a week with no holidays"

They get paid a years salary. It all works out in the end. If they believe they are working for no pay there is something called the Canada Labour Code. End of story

An epidemic of non-learners

This special-needs creating and mollycoddling has to stop! These children are manufactured by a system that is run by the wrong people. No wonder companies have to import workers because the capabilities of graduates of the BC state education system is too often insufficient for present technological knowledge requirements in all industries. We have known for some time that writing has gone out of style. Now we see that reading is at risk!

Both in this family were educated in schools that were in less than wealthy areas and there were no special-needs children. None. This is a novel concept. In one case one was plonked into a school without the knowledge of one word of the new language. This didn't stop them graduating from that high-school and then finding work themselves to paying for their university education (without family help), paying off their student loan and obtaining a degree.

Something is very wrong and it's not money. Children are suffocating.

Heather is right.

phonics & help

I agree that phonics is a huge help in helping many kids to spell better and to read better. Some kids might not be able to remember as quickly as we would want them the spelling rules, but these help (even though some teachers/methods go a bit crazy with wanting kids to know all of them!) Reading and helping children choosing appropriate books (cartoon or more advanced) need to be used alongside phonics.

Realisticman, can everyone run a 100 m dash in 10 sec.? Are all of those people slackers, lazy? In other words, we are not all born equal. Some of us can learn the way it is taught, others need other means and other conditons for that to occur. Do you agree? If not, why not?

give it a rest

Heather, this is a story about special needs kids and funding - not pedagogy polemics. Whole language is mostly corporate backed bs, but I don't think this is the issue at hand.

One may find that diagnosis of ESL students with dyslexia to be rather poor as well. How many are trained to recognize dyslexia of a native Japanese speaker? or Taiwanese/Fujianese speakers? If a child comes from the Shanghai area would the counsellors even know that she probably does not speak Mandarin as her first language? That it would be inappropriate to diagnosis her with Mandarin tests?

Some experts, such as Paradis of McGill University, declare that dyslexia is simply not as common amongst Japanese as amongst native English speaking Canadians. But he couldn't read Japanese and couldn't carry out the studies himself. It was just Cold War propaganda. But the Japanese Ministry of Education itself says that never mind kids not learning English - kids are graduating who cannot read Japanese. But school counsellors there do not even check for dyslexia.

It is important that there be funding to help kids with special needs. I mean, it would at least make it possible for they themselves to acquire a business license and legally run a love hotel at Granville and Broadway.

phonics & help

I agree that phonics is a huge help in helping many kids to spell better and to read better. Some kids might not be able to remember as quickly as we would want them the spelling rules, but these help (even though some teachers/methods go a bit crazy with wanting kids to know all of them!) Reading and helping children choosing appropriate books (cartoon or more advanced) need to be used alongside phonics.

Realisticman, can everyone run a 100 m dash in 10 sec.? Are all of those people slackers, lazy? In other words, we are not all born equal. Some of us can learn the way it is taught, others need other means and other conditons for that to occur. Do you agree? If not, why not?

There are different ways to learn. Some of us respond to music: http://cornucopierre.blogspot.com/2007/11/range-of-disorders-tamed-by-beat-new.html#links

I think someone is confused...

Heather, where in your links does it say there were no special needs students? Where in your links does it say synthetic phonics eliminated special needs?

Oh, so there ARE special needs students who need extra help. But you then go on to say again that special needs don't really exist, and that designating students as special needs is just a way for greedy teachers, administrators and psychologists to milk the system. It sounds to me like you're remarkably confused.

A teaching methodology is not a panacea. It won't cure neurological problems, blindness, deafness, or behavioral dysfunction due to abuse and neglect. Why all this promotion of synthetic phonics? Do you have some financial interest in the methodology?

As for charter schools, allowing them will simply promote fly-by-night operations that milk the system for a quick buck. They will maximize profit by spending as little on the students as possible. Then they will shut when parents start to realize they've been tricked, while the con artists scamper off with the funds, protected by a bank of lawyers, P3 contracts, and government contacts. Either that, or their contracts will guarantee them a profit, and they will end up costing vastly more than our public schools, while delivering far less. That is the reality of P3.

R/Man

You got that right! The medicine business had got to start promoting prevention, so that the mothers and fathers of these children are as healthy as possible when they conceive and carry their children to term!

Damn those doctors anyhow!!

Since when does phonics cure autism?

Boy, it took Heather & co all of 2 hours to spin a report documenting hard evidence of underfunding of special education as an excuse for diatribes hawking every pet ideology from charter schools to phonics to lets just stick it to those immigrants.

It's about simple math, Heather, not literacy. You've missed the point spectacularly.

Incidence rates of neurological disorders like autism have skyrocketed - no one yet knows why. Advances in health mean we're also saving more other kids with various degrees of neurological damage who would not have survived even a generation ago.

Study after study have showed that natural incidence rates of special needs in the K-12 population the world over are at least 10% (no matter how you teach). Langley claims its special needs ratio is less than 10%. SO if anything, the lack of phonics must have mysteriously cured a whole bunch of kids who should be identified with learning disabilities.

More simple math: When the Provincial government provides districts with $16,000 for each child with autism and that doesn't even cover half the cost of an aide, far less services from a special education teacher, therapists, etc., it's a matter of simple math - schools can't afford to provide the services needed.

Phonics ain't about to cure my child's autism. And if Heather had bothered to read the report, she would have grasped that the shift to school-based management, as idealized in her utopian charter school model, is exactly part of the problem. It's simply not cost effective to try to provide all the specialized expertise required to serve complex kids with complex needs at each school.

These kids cost more money to educate - a lot more. And it costs a hell of a lot more to support them over a lifetime if we fail to give them the means to function as successful contributing citizens in adulthood. Again, all the math on that is clear and has been indisputably documented.

So forget the phonics. Try actually reading the report and try to remember the basic math you learned back in elementary school.

...Jeez, now it's the parents' fault for having 'em!

Right, RickW,

Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, dyslexia and developmental disability are all the fault of those reckless mothers who damaged their fetuses in utero through unhealthy living.

That's why incidence rates have remained stable or risen over every demographic over a century when human health and nutrition have improved dramatically? Why malnourished Third World mothers and others who drink, smoke and live off junk food can have perfectly health babies while those who do everything by the book produce babies with the whole gamut of congenital abnormalities?

That's about the cruellest thing I've read yet about the many mothers I know who sacrifice their whole lives and perform superhuman feats to give these precious children a chance in life against all the odds.

EDITED FOR PERSONAL INSULTS -- TYEE MODERATOR

name

Check into what PCB's, heavy metals, et al can do to the reproductive system, simply by not allowing the body to assimilate required nutrients:
http://www.birthdefects.org/Research/immterat.htm
http://www.alternative-doctor.com/anti-ageing/heavy_metal.html
http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/47/Mineral-deficiency.html
http://www.kingmaker.net/deaddoctorssum2.htm
http://www.newstarget.com/001419.html
http://www.fluoridealert.org/downs-syndrome.htm

etc., etc..........

Now why would you call me "jerk", when all I said was that most people are ignorant of the nutritional values of the foods they eat, and that the doctor business is a very long way from informing them with any kind of efficacy? Did I call down the mothers and fathers? No, I did not!

http://www.claudettewadsworth.com.au/article_natural_fertility.htm

Sperm can take up to 116 days to develop and mature, during which time they are vulnerable to damage. Likewise the egg takes approximately 100 days to mature before ovulation.
Poor nutrition, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, environmental pollution, lack of exercise, stress, oral contraceptives, genito-urinary infections, and other infections eg Candida, allergies, child bearing at an older age and stress are all important factors which may be harmful to sperm, eggs, health of the male and female reproductive organs, general health of both parents, and in turn the health of the baby.
Therefore 4 months of healthy living before conception will improve the quality of sperm, egg and pregnancy. Most couples are keen to conceive as quickly as possible. However, preconception care ensures all underlying causes are dealt with prior to conception attempts rather then seeking reasons after problems have occurred.

Read the report

It seems very few commentators actually read the report.

Actually considering information about the learning conditions children around the province exprerience daily I suppose is far less interesting than ideological fencing - a swoop here, a dash there, for a brief moment touché.

Read what parents are telling us. Consider the conclusions a former high ranking government official and superintendent made based on submissions, data gathering and analysis.

Think about what it would be like for your child.

Then let us know what you think.

Changing my diet now ain't going to cure it either!

RickW

Changing my diet or my spouse's diet now is not going to cure our son's autism either. There is nothing that we can do now about what parents did not know when they conceived 10 - 25 years ago.

The kids are here, they are what they are and they need to be educated to stand a chance in life. And the report shows more hard evidence of why we're failing to do that.

Why do people have such a hard time facing that and agreeing that it's reasonable to do something about it - instead chasing tangents and red herrings to avoid facing the harsh reality that we as a society are failing our most vulnerable children by nickle & diming a public education system that was intended to create a level playing field for all?

Name

Can't do much about what happened years and decades ago, I agree, but for the future......?

In the meantime, we have to do what we have to do to so the kids & adults can function comfortably in society.

But it was R/Man who insisted that "special needs" is a sham, and I wanted to set the record straight on that.

Quote:Heather, where in your

It doesn't say that. But where are they? Statistically, we know there must be some, but the truth of the matter is that when you use a scientifically proven method that works, you get early intervention. You help them early and they succeed, we save money and we dont' end up with a bottomless pit of students who haven't been taught to read. I deeply resent my hard earned tax dollars being spent on something that is obviously not working. The first sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over believing that you'll get different results.

For an excellent read regarding what has happened as a result of our "special needs" kids, read The Knowledge Deficit but E.D. Hirsch. http://www.theschoolsweneed.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/356#Post356

Regarding Charter schools: bad news stories about Charters are good news because they'll get shut down for failing to fulfill their contract (unlike here). There are so many Charter schools in Alberta (and we all know how they soundly thrash the rest of the province results wise), U.S. U.K. and New Zealand. They are sucessful.

And thanks for calling me a troll Zena [OFFENSIVE COMMENT EDITED. -MODERATOR.].

Charter schools

That's not the result the studies I've read reflect Heather.

Charter schools work well in some environments - usually religious schools where all the students who go there have common characteristics.

Charter schools in BC - like separate schools now - simply draw funds away from the public system. All they really do is exacerbate problems that are already complex and difficult to address.

People who really CARE about the outcomes of our schools shouldn't try to subvert the system by pretending that the only thing that matters is the results their own kids obtain.

We build strong communities, strong schools and strong citizens by recognizing what brings us together...too many people, especially in relatively monolithic and heterogeneous communities, just have no idea what goes on in classrooms these days.

I know elementary teachers with three or four severely handicapped students in a class of 28 - frequently with no more than a single aide in the classroom - and high school PE teachers in similar situations with no aide help at all.

As someone else pointed out about in the comments, I think a number of people who purport to be experts would do well to go back and read the Langley report (perhaps for the first time):

http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Issues/Inclusive_education/LangleySpecialEdInquiry/report.pdf

G West and all

I agree with you and the report.

It seems that some people in the Langley school district (and higher up in the chain of command: ministry) are not using common sense or are sabotaging the lives of these kids. Why, for instance, assessments made in other districts are not accepted? If I read this well, this is the biggest joke that I have ever read in many years, except that it is not funny at all! There seems to be a concerted effort to prevent students with special needs from receiving the services they need and deserve to succeed. Of course, go explain that to the Westerners who succeeded with millions in their back pockets, lists of dad's friends, and special tutors and school for their ... special needs!

Politically inconvenient

I submit that these children, all the disabled really, are a political embarrassment to a philosophy that wishes to claim that personal choices are the reason for all inequity.

'If they were only more like me', the argument goes, 'they would be as rich as me too. Their poor choices made them poor, or homeless, or disabled or whatever. Therefore when the rich get richer and the poor stay always with us, it's their own fault, and don't ask ME for any money.'

But these people give that argument the absolute lie. When somebody is born disabled, into perfectly ordinary families, well... it seems to undermine the basic premise Mrs. Thatcher was so eloquent about. That there is no such thing as society. So society should not support anybody ever. In any way, whatever that makes us. We must never ask the rich for money.

It makes them cranky, and it makes them cruel. And when the rich feel cruel, they have the power to make somebody hurt.

G West

Then G West, if you've only heard bad stories then you haven't read much about Charter schools. There is so much data on the successes of Charters we could fill a ship. Go to this link for starters: http://www.edreform.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=pressRelease&newsYear=2002&pSectionID=&cSectionID=55

A quote:

That's a comprehensive site with oodles of info on Charters. IT's the way of the future because these schools wrestle power, control and monopoly away from the Teacher's union. I note you quote a BCTF article. Interesting that they are your source. Try going outside the box for more information.

In the meantime, if you really want to understand how we got to the place where we are now, read John Taylor Gatto's piece called The Public School Nightmare. It's at my site if you want to access it easily there. http://www.theschoolsweneed.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/351#Post351

Warning, it may leave you speechless.

Later folks......

without religious affiliation

Selective quotes from Wiki:

As originally conceived, the ideal model of a charter school as a legally and financially autonomous public school (without tuition, religious affiliation, or selective student admissions) that would operate much like a private business – free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs. Charter schools tended to be somewhat more racially diverse.
Studies have shown that charter schools are rarely closed for poor academic performance.

Seems like it's more about choice and competition; and more diverse.

A study of two...

It'll be interesting to see how charter schools work out in my own family. My wife's Bible-thumping sister has twins, one of whom has relatively profound needs - hearing deficit, attention deficit, some brain damage... Yet they have both been enrolled in the same charter school for their second year now. I'm just watching.

The healthy one (from birth) is exceedingly bright, and exceedingly lazy - truly his father's son. The special-needs one has made amazing strides since age three, but still has obvious barriers to normal learning situations.

Yet neither can read more than a few words. Counting is difficult for both. The bright twin is not appreciably ahead of the other one in any academic respect. The bright one displays narcissistic characteristics like his father, while the other twin is really quite selfless.

Family dynamics are difficult right now, with dad up on criminal charges and little money in the household. Which is why I get to spend quite a bit of time with the twins when we babysit.

I'm not coming down on one side or the other - I appreciate that a charter school took a chance on the twins, but I note that he IS their only special needs student in that class. The results for both are unpromising in light of the talents of the parents. I apprehend a slight bias in myself against charter schools because the three I am familiar with appear to reject most pedagogical theory in favour of a solitary practice which tends to require one size to fit all. Yet, if the twins are successful...BOTH of them.... then I'll reevaluate this.

7 years ago

Seven years ago, British Columbia's education system was the model that other provinces, states and countries were attempting to emmulate. This is no longer the case. Services to students have been declining since the Campbell government came into power. The education roundtable is a joke. It is just another means by which this government shirks its responsibilities. Making decisions appear as though they have been thoroughly discussed and decided upon through roundtable discusion is another means by which Campbell and his crew delays/avoids meeting the real needs of children.

Even if he cared about our province's children, I believe that Campbell's understanding of the public school system has come primarily from his wife, a Squamish/West Van principal. West Van demographics are out of touch with the demographics of the rest of the province.

Basic hygiene and nutrition needs are not met by a good number of hardworking families in many districts. The number of these families continues to rise (outside of West Van)! Children cannot learn well when they go to sleep hungry and cold. They do not learn well when they are shunned by their peers for coming to school in smelly, soiled clothing and dirty hair.

During a period when the wealthy have gotten richer at a pace like never before, our government has been shortchanging its workers' children. It has been shortchanging middle and low income earners: their children are being placed in continually worsening learning environments. The wealthy can always buy whatever education they want, one way or another - as long as they don't have to rub elbos with the ever-increasing great unwashed.

Cut the Funding, Cut the Kids

When the government cuts the funding for special needs, they cut the kids, who can't succeed without support.
I am a parent of 3 children with special needs - gifted children who also have learning disabilities. My youngest graduated last year, and at the end of the day, I am just thankful that they survived the public school system.
It is just ignorant to suggest that there are no learning disabilities, just misguided teachers, lazy kids and bad parents. Learning disabilities are neurologically based, and cannot be eliminated by hard work and positive thinking.
One very articulate and intelligent student said, "If someone said to a kid in a wheelchair, you aren't trying hard enough, go run around the field with the rest of the class, everyone would say that was mean. But when people say something like that to kids with learning disabilities, no one thinks it's mean." It's the curse of the invisible disability. People can learn to work around learning disabilities - they can't 'learn' not to have them, and more than the child in the wheelchair can learn to walk.
My children had the benefit of parents who were prepared to advocate for them and who found a way to pay for private psycho-educational testing and tutoring. My heart breaks for the children whose parents don't have the knowledge, time, energy and money to make sure their children have some of the help that the schools are not providing - the students who go through school, or drop out, believing that they are lazy and stupid, because that is what they are told in their struggles - instead of discovering that they can learn as well or better than others, if given the necessary support.