This post references an article from back in May in the Herald Tribune, but the topic is as timely as ever: Have you ever visited your child’s classroom and noted that the aide your child most liked is long gone, and that there’s at least one new aide, if not two?
The Herald Tribune notes that there have been at least four substitute teachers for students in a special ed class, after their teacher was arrested on allegations of child abused in February. The article comments on the high turnover rate of special education teachers:
The turnover rate among special-needs teachers …read more

In a speech on Monday in Golden, Colorado, Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin noted that, along with energy policy and government reform, “special needs” would be one of the issues she would focus on, should she and Senator John McCain be elected. The September 17th, Education Week notes that Gov. Palin’s reference to “special needs” is followed by mention of curing “our most dreaded diseases.” Here’s what she said:
I’ve told Senator McCain a few things I’ve learned as a senator and as a mom. Ever since I took the chief executive’s job up north, I’ve pushed for more funding for …read more

Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the issues she intends to focus on should John McCain and her be elected in November, from Jonathan Martin’s blog on today’s Washington Examiner:
“John and I have worked out a plan, what I want to concentrate on and what he would like to kind of tap into me to help with,” Palin said at a rally just outside Denver this morning. “My mission is going to energy security and government reform. And another thing near and dear to my heart, it’s going to be helping families who have special needs and children with …read more

The September 13th St. Paul Pioneer Press notes this about Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s “track record” on spending for special needs:
In the budget she signed into law earlier this year, Palin approved a dramatic raise in spending on children who have what Alaska officials call “intensive needs,” including children who need nurses full time or cannot breathe without ventilators.
When Palin took office, the state was spending $27,000 a year on each such child. The budget she signed this year raises funding to $49,000 per child. In three years, the amount will rise to $74,000, roughly equal to the $75,000 a …read more

Hillary Clinton mentioned autism in her speech at the Democratic National Convention and, last night, Bill Clinton did too (”I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn’t afford health care and couldn’t qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce”). Will Obama; will McCain……..
More than sadly, the mother with cancer and two adopted autistic children mentioned by Hillary Clinton has died.

Just after the introductory section of her speech at the Democratic Convention (transcript), as her first example of her “35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights here at home and around the world,” Hillary Clinton said:
I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism. She didn’t have any health insurance, and she discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head, painted with my name on it, and asked me to fight for health care …read more

After a priest filed a restraining order against the parents of 13-year-old Adam Race back in May, there was a lot of (often very heated) discussion about the exclusion and inclusion of autistic individuals in public spaces. The August 22nd Morning News reports on The Point at Bella Vista, a church meant for families with a relative who has special needs. Ginny Thornburgh, director of the American Association of People with Disabilities Interfaith Initiative in Washington, notes that
“the trend is to acknowledge the gifts and challenges children and adults with disabilities bring to the congregation…….. All people of all faiths …read more

This Associated Press story about autistic children and disruptive behavior has been making the rounds of news outlets and websites—-Jen Miller of Tacoma, whose daughter is autistic, writes this in the News Tribune:
….it’s funny how easy it is for some to complain when they haven’t walked a day in an autistic parent’s shoes.
Miller refers to a number of instances of autistic children whose “disruptive behavior” has been the subject of more than a little public discussion and judgment and reminds us, you just never know what might be going on.

In the ocean this morning with Charlie, I noted a boy about his age looking more than a few times in our direction. Charlie’s a super swimmer, and clearly comfortable in the water, and still has to have someone out there with him. This morning it was me. The waves were perfect—big but soft and just a bit cold—and Charlie was vocalizing his excitement, though not in words. After the other boy had looked in out direction a few times, I smiled and said, “Charlie’s autistic.”
“Yes, my friend has a brother who has that,” said the boy. I asked how …read more

Now we’ve got the New York Times weighing in on radio host Michael Savage’s savage language about “bratty” autistic kids. As About.com notes, Savage is “successfully sucking time, money and energy” from the autism community (and sucking in ratings, I would think). All I can say again is, ’nuff said!
And, we have found the actual parasite.