Children in School - Why USD 501 needs some changes

As someone who is frequently considered "cold" and "unemotional", I found myself crying the other evening. My son, who recently turned eight, was lamenting the fact that he has no friends, while his older sister enjoys and abundance of friends (some might say an over-abundance).

After considering for a while, I realized that this was true, my son really has not ever had a single friend his own age.

But let me give you some background...

At the age of three, my son was diagnosed in Panama City, Panama with an "extreme" case of ADHD, developmental disorders, and possible autism. Once US Immigrations finally (after 6.5 years of waiting) approved his mother's (my wife of 13 years) Visa to enter the US, it took us nearly another 1.5 years of waiting to finally get my son in to see a specialist doctor on a full time basis (have to love our insurance system).

So just as my son was turning six, he was given a diagnosis of Severe ADHD and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). The Doctor also stated that it was possible that he had autism.

Our current Doctor has given a diagnosis to my son of ADHD, PDD, with significant indication of High-Functioning Autism, and we are currently waiting on a referral to the KU Med Center Autism unit. We are unsure of when the KU evaluation will be.

So... By now you are asking, "What does this have to do with USD 501?".

The answer is simple. USD 501 has recently made significant changes to the way it treats people with "invisible" disabilities, and these changes are made in the interest of "progress" and "financial efficiency" rather than actually helping out the students in this class.

According to USD 501, all children with the "invisible" disabilities, but who can have a limited interaction with other children in their age group, are "emotionally disturbed". This is the only definition they can be given under our current special education program.

My sons current teacher is wonderful. She cares about every single one of her special students, however, she is given minimal assistance with these children. There are about 10 students in her classroom, and I would estimate that maybe 3 of the students are there for medical disability, and the remainder are there for behavioral/emotional disturbances.

She has one para-professional assisting her.

Right now, she is busy working with the children every moment. She doesn't get a planning period, she doesn't get a break, she doesn't get a rest, because she puts the children above herself. I visited the school to chat with her the other day, and our chat occured while she was trying to eat her lunch, while watching about 8 of her students spend their "study" time reading books on the floor of the gym.

As she was discussing my son with me, calling different children up to give them their "tokens" for good behaviour, calling down other children for not doing what they were supposed to be doing, and meanwhile, she was trying to eat her lunch. I am very impressed with her dedication to our children. Unfortunately, this was the largest "break" that she had all day.

Continuing at this pace, while being expected to spend one-on-one time with each student, deal with each child's individual social, behavioral, emotional and psychological issues, while also trying to keep parents informed of progress and problems..... I just don't see how she can continue this pace for long.

USD 501 NEEDS to support our children, and to come up with a way that our special ed students are PROPERLY classified, and treated as they are diagnosed, not as a one size fits all students solution.

Than, after having individual plans (isn't that what an IEP is for?????), we need to actually provide sufficient help/support to the professionals who are responsible for completing these plans.

The current policies have too many cracks our children can slip through, too many parents who don't care, and too few professionals who are willing to put up with the pressure cooker of our special ed for too little pay.