Special Education: An Overlooked Factor to the Newtown Tragedy [View all]

[Jefferson23]

** Not a story of blaming autism, nor defending the shooters mother.

Last year, unfortunately, the Ct. State Dept of Ed declined to investigate Newtown's Special Ed Dept.
despite calls from state legislature representatives pleas.

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Susan Moffitt

Something has been tugging at my heart in the wake of the unfathomable tragedy in Newtown, CT. The obvious broken systems have been laid bare. Gun control issues must be wrestled away from special interests and mental health must be recognized as an urgent public health issue.

But there’s another broken system in America that has yet to be fully addressed in light of Friday’s incident: special education.
I venture to say that every parent of a special needs child knows what I speak of.

Certainly, here in Seattle, it is common knowledge that school districts fail to provide a free and appropriate education to every child it serves. A scathing article in the Seattle Times lays out what everyone knows all too well – teachers are without the proper training and resources to address the needs of their most vulnerable of students.

Because of this, I can certainly relate to certain elements of the Adam Lanza story. I, too, have been forced to homeschool my high school-aged son with Asperger’s because he was unable to withstand the hurly-burly of a huge, urban high school, nor thrive in the self-contained setting they offered with other children who were extremely low functioning. Like Lanza, my son would become easily overwhelmed and take flight from what he was supposed to be doing. When a beloved classroom aide transferred to another school, no one had my son’s back anymore and the school would not be proactive about his triggers, despite my myriad exhortations.

in full: http://www.autismkey.com/special-education-an-overlooked-factor-to-the-newtown-tragedy/