No Increase in Special Education Enrollment

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_7108396

According to this story, the amount of enrolled students receiving special ed

services is staying the same. Having lived in 3 states since my son was first

considered autistic, I have heard about the explosion of autism and the impact on

special education. When I ask about training, I am met with, "we've never had an

autistic student before". Doesn't matter that there are several schools in town

with autism clinics that are full. Somehow, certain schools have never encountered

autism.
We hear complaints about the drain on the budget. What did schools do before all

the autism moms took over special ed? Why is mainstreaming so foreign to them?
Significantly enough, the numbers for "retarded" and "learning disabled" have gone

down as autism as gone up. We all know that autistic people used to be diagnosed

with mental retardation, non verbal learning disorder (nvld), dyspraxia, apraxia. So, it's no surprise that these numbers reflect the change. What is disconcerting is
that the change isn't being noted as a change but a true explosion. As if autistic
kids came out of nowhere and invaded the school system.

Y2K McCarthyism or Why I don't like Celebrity Moms

As my friends know, I have an autistic son who is 7 years old. To summarize and highlight our lifestory, he receives special ed services while fully mainstreamed in 2nd grade. He gets sensory breaks-if he needs them, he uses mechanical pencils to help his writing, he gets coaching on social skills as needed and we maintain a communication log with his teachers. On "paper"his IEP is quite involved and far reaching. In practice it's really a way to keep him out of the autism clinic and with his peers as much as possible. He thrives on socializing and thus, really learns from peer-modelling (as in hanging with his kids is age). Sometimes I feel we over-medicalize his lifestyle to justify specia-treatment.

Ironically, "special treatment" is just accepting him as he is and not asking or forcing him to change. His regular teachers are the most effective with him when they tolerate him.

What sucks this month is that celebrity mom, Jenny McCarthy, has been given air time to promote her latest book about her "fight" with autism. I could just ignore her, another mom, another theory, another perspective. However, others don't. I get calls from well-wishers to watch her, read her book. She cured her son, he's not autistic anymore, only he is. There is no cure, he's fully recovered. She's not anti-vaccine but she is. I read the fallout from her appearances on blogs. For every 4 or 5 complaints (my mom called and said Jenny cured her son!) there is a Jenny-defender. These people come in and say in their spam-like way, "she's just a mother who wants to share her story, what's wrong with that? She's not claiming her way is the only way!"

Well, then why are viewers walking away with the idea that vaccines cause autism? That autism is curable? That Jenny is a real Blonde?

Jenny has the right to free speech and she's using it. Those of us who disagree with and resent her message have that same freedom. She casts a catastrophic shadow over autism, parenting and disabled kids. When we wring our hands over vaccines, diets and alternative medicine, we are ignoring education and social services. We are ignoring, "celebrate diversity".

Teddy's Turn

Teddy's Turn
I ran across this story at Autism Diva's blog, who found it at MOM-NOS' blog. A very important story about an 11 year old boy who attempted to share his story with the class when the teacher brought up Autism. She pulled him aside and told him it was personal and to keep it to himself. The principal justified the censoring by citing other students' privacy might by violated by Teddy sharing his own story.
http://media.phillyburbs.com/bcct/slideshows/teddysturn/
This is the slideshow Teddy created and the next link is the news article about the situation.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-04152007-1330719.html

"“I'd tell them I'm one of the kids with autism and sometimes kids with autism get picked on,” Teddy explained recently in his family's Newtown Township kitchen. “It's not their fault; it's just because they have autism.”

The fifth-grader asked his mom about talking about autism at his school, Goodnoe Elementary. He thought April would be the perfect time since its autism awareness month.

What an awesome idea, Irene Willis told her son. After all, when Teddy spoke about his disability in his social skills class in February, he made a new friend. He also wrote about his autism for a school report.
[snip]
“I just want people to treat me better, like one of the other normal kids. If many people knew about autism, then they might think about what the person's good at and not what the person isn't good at.”