$15 million in state grants for autism programs in NJ

Comments

1. mcewen says:

   February 21, 2007 at 11:57 am

   gotta love the ‘INDIVIDUAL’ in the IEP.
   Cheers

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2. Kristina Chew, PhD says:

   February 21, 2007 at 1:13 pm

   More on the costs and benefits of funding in-district programs vs. sending districts out of district from the Bergen Record:

   New Jersey has traditionally relied on separate, out-of-district schools for the disabled to serve high-needs students, even though federal special education law requires students be served in the most mainstream environment possible. About one in 10 special education students attends separate schools — by far the highest rate in the nation, and triple the national average of 3 percent. Separate schools for the disabled can cost more than $100,000 per student each year.

   Even in public school settings, services tend to be costly for autistic students. These students benefit from one-on-one interaction, tailor-made instruction and rigorous therapies. Statewide, services for 2,755 students during the past school year — the neediest students, whose bills exceeded $40,000 each — cost taxpayers $170 million. The state doesn’t track overall spending on autism services.

   Education Department officials have described out-of-district programs as expensive options that can cost twice as much as a regular class, while cautioning that they are the most appropriate schools for some students. However, building classrooms for autistic students as part of regular public schools has a major benefit, officials say: It allows children to interact with one another and gives special-education students role models for typical behavior.

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