Much Room for Improvement: Special Ed in NYC

Autistic students are not allowed to use the main bathrooms in a public school in New York City because the school principal does not want them to do so on days that standardized testing is taking place. A non-verbal nine-year-old autistic boy who has pica does not have a full-time paraprofessional, nor does he have “sensible transportation” to take him to and from school.

These are some of the improvements needed in New York City public schools for special education students as reported in the October 9th Gotham Gazette. The article Special Ed: Needs Improvement notes that, according to New York State’s Department of Education, all of the city’s 33 school districts are currently failing to meet the needs of special education students. While only 37 percent of all special education students in New York state graduate, less than 17 percent of all special education students in New York City do.

Said Scott Greenspan, the father of the nine-year-old autistic boy mentioned above, to the City Council:

“My son deserves an education and transportation to school as much as someone who does not have autism…… [but] “the Department of Education has thrown roadblock after roadblock in our son’s education.”

My son Charlie is the same age as Greenspan’s son and it does seem that we special ed parents are always having to navigate around roadblocks, if not potholes and, sometimes, sinkholes. The Mayor’s Management Report, which was released last month, calls for some rather general remedies—”successful teaching methods in more schools, providing mentors and other help to teachers, improving communication with parents, and offering job-training programs that could encourage more kids to stay in school.” These are a good start, but they do not sufficiently address the needs of autistic children in public schools: What kinds of “successful” teaching methods? What means of “improving” communication are being suggested and, even more, will be implemented soon? Soon as in, within this school year?

There is much, much room for improvement for special ed students in New York City now.