Half A Chance
Lucky you--you get to read my homework...Assignment: OpEd on policy issue, 750 words, including title
Half a Chance
by Christine Hunsinger
“Mom, what the heck is a test tube baby?”
That was the yesterday’s question of the day from my ten-year old son.
I explained it, told him that they aren’t called test tube babies any more and asked him where he heard the phrase.
“I read it in my book.”
“What book?”
“Life in Ancient Times.”
Ba-dum bum. He thinks he’s funny.
The exchange made me think about the things that have changed substantially since I was a kid. When I was in schoolhis age, there were no kids like my son in public schools. Back then, kids like him were sent to “special schools.” Go back another ten years, only ancient times if you’re a ten year old, and they were sent to institutions. My son, actually, Bboth my sons, are autistic. It must seem like ancient times to
him.
Special Education is a fairly new phenomenon. It’s just in the last thirty years that we’ve discovered that a learning disability doesn’t always mean you can’t learn; sometimes it simply means you learn differently. The law now recognizes that public schools have an obligation to educate these kids;, educators and specialists have developed ways to do it and parents have found hope that it will be done.
Years ago, when my boys were diagnosed with Autismautism, I read a study that proclaimed, fifty percent of children with aAutism can become typical learners and productive members of society if they receive the right kind of help early on. I didn’t really believe it, and I since feelings trump math, I always silently believed “that fifty percent” meant that, if I was truly lucky, one of my boys would make it and, one wouldn’t. If That’s if I was lucky. But that the statistic stuck with me and in the dark corners of my mind, on the days when I wanted to give up, just quit and go drink MaMargaritasi Tai’s on the beach, “fifty percent” was the magic phrase that made me keep trying.
On September, 24, 2007, an article appeared on the front page of the Providence Journal detailing some of the changes that the state of Rhode Island plans to make to the Special Education program:; topping the list are larger class sizes. and no extended school year. Make no mistake,mistake; these changes are driven guided by only by a desire to save money.
We are always looking for ways to save money and in the field of education, first up on the budget chopping blocks are the Special Ed programs. This past year Cranston and the state, level- funded education. As a result, the Cranston School Department cut over a million dollars from Special Education, before they made any other cuts.
I suspect the reason we look to cut Special Ed first is that most of us don’t have kids with learning disabilities. H If we’re being honestly, most of us don’t really believe these kids can learn, but . they can. To a lot of us, Special Education seems like the promotion of the fantasy that these kids will, someday, be normal.
When my boys were in the “Significant Needs” program; they were in a class of six students. That specialized attention helped me get my miracles. While that might seem like an inefficient use of resources to you,; to my family , it was something close to a miracle.
It’s been five years since the diagnoses, and both boys are in typical classrooms, doing grade level work. They have friends and take karate lessons, ride horses and soon, will start piano lessons., making friends and functioning in their world. If you saw them, you’d think they were just typical kids. They still receive some help, but they are on their way to living normal lives. When they are adults, their father and I won’t have to support them. When we die, the state won’t have to support them. In fact, they’ll be helping to support others with the money they pay in taxes.
Will either one of them be President? I don’t know--; will your kid?
In general, we Americans are not long-term thinkers. Our cities, our states and especially our federal government —don’t seem to plan for next week--, never mind next year or five years down the road. They But they should-- though; we should. If ever there was a compelling case of, “pay for it now or pay more for it later,” this is it.
The other day, I ran into one of the Directors of Special Education. She was excited. She told me, that since they started educating these kinds ofse kids in the right programs with the right teachers and the right supports, “fifty percent” of them had gone from self-contained classrooms to normal classrooms. Half were succeeding in typical classrooms.
The proposed changes to the Special Education regulations will keep others from getting their miracles. It’s time we figure out how to pay for the things these our kids need. It’s time we figure out how to pay for the things our kids need. It’s time we decide what a miracle is worth. It’s time to give these our kids half a chance.
