Empowerment

Any parent of a child on the Autism Spectrum will tell you life is not easy and definitely not something fabricated. Life with a child with autism is a challenging life, one with obstacle after obstacle. Families need to be empowered to stay strong and fight for their child's rights. Unfortunately, some people are naive about the truths about life with autism. The reality is that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. While Missouri has improved in many ways, such as increasing funding for diagnosis and treatment, there are still ways to improve.

The Blue Ribbon Panel on Autism was created by Michael Gibbons to figure out the best ways to help families affected by autism. The panel consisted of 16 people, including lawmakers, educators, parents, doctors, and health officials. From the discussions in the panel, the recommendations were brought to light. It created the Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders, which helps advise the government how to implement the best models brought about during panel discussions. Also created was the Office of Autism Services, which serves as a medium to help families navigate through the various services, resources, and care services available.

Missouri has made these advancements in Autism early diagnosis and treatment, but there are still many more things to do to help. Not only do people need to be aware of the condition and make treatments available, they also need to make sure children are receiving the education they need. Early detection helps children enroll in special needs preschools, but unfortunately, after that, many children are without access to those schools. Many public schools are simply not equipped to properly educate and treat children on the spectrum. Those children should be granted access to the schools that are capable of properly educating. Autism awareness is a stepping stone to this problem, an important one, but it is time we look beyond what we now know and look to changing how special needs education is delivered.

What KIDS need

I am the parent of a special needs child and I am so discouraged with
our elected officials. It is becoming more clear to me that the issue
of SPECIAL NEEDS that is on the table this session has become a
partisan issue. Not an issue to help children in need. Children with
special needs. What has happened to you people? You CHOOSE to call
tax-credits ..VOUCHERS...this is not vouchers. You ELECTED officials
KNOW this ...and if you don't...why are you there? Why are you
PRETENDING to represent. This isn't a democrat or republican
issue...it's a "kids help me, I'm in trouble" issue. And you are
ignoring them. I am a lifelong registered democrat. STOP being
afraid of a teachers union. This isn't against them....it's FOR the
kids...their families, like mine that struggle to keep them abreast.
NOT EVEN AHEAD...simply abreast. Do you have any idea what it's like
to hear my son say...."I just want to be normal." He is normal...he
just can't get it from his brain to the paper. PLEASE PLEASE set
aside your partisan,stance and think.

-Susan

Opponents' Reasoning is Invalid for Special Needs Scholarship Program

There is no surprise several teachers unions and school boards are against the bills that would allow for scholarships for special needs children. To me, it is a no-brainer! Special needs children require a variety of special services and there is no way every district can provide those services in the public schools. Therefore, those children will be left without getting the education, services, and attention they need. The Scholarship Tax Credit Program would provide scholarships to special needs children to use at other public schools or accepting private schools. The money will all be collected privately, and donors will have added incentives to give from tax credits for up to 80% of their donation. Public funds will not be given to these students so the old argument of using public money for religious schools is invalid.
The Special School District (SSD) in St. Louis was present at the hearings in Jefferson City last week testifying against the bills. While they were discussing the several points they had about how they could educate these students, one senator strongly pointed out the special school district does not cover all of Missouri. Even if they could provide for every special needs child in St. Louis (which they cannot), it still would not help the other children around the state. I felt as though they were only concerned with their district and were not even trying to look outside the box. I am not trying to say I feel they are entirely bad, I just think they need to be open to the idea, an idea that has the potential to help many more students.
The SSD has a few other arguments I would like to confront. According to their http://www.ssd.k12.mo.us/sb993.html website:
“Private schools accepting scholarship money would not be required to guarantee that the quality of educational and related services to be provided to students would exceed the quality provided by the public schools and would not be subject to the strict accreditation standards of Missouri's public schools."
As I read the rest of the complaints, this one was repeated many times in various ways. First off, the program only allows for choice. The parents are in no way forced to use these options, or even consider them. If they are happy with their current school, then they would have no reason to leave. Secondly, if there are such strong standards for special education programs, why did we hear parents from all around the state crying, begging, and pleading for choice? Why were they so unhappy with the education their children were getting? Obviously, not every public school is doing that great of a job. Additionally, if a parent chose to use this program and decided it was not any better, or was worse, they can easily put their child back where they were.

“The Missouri Constitution prohibits using public money to support or maintain religious organizations or private schools.”
As I already mentioned, it will not be using public funds. Private donors will be the funders for this program.
“The fact that there is no deadline for notifying a public school that the student is leaving or that the student is transferring into another public school is troubling. It creates a significant hardship on the public schools, as it will be difficult to plan programs, hire staff, and maintain class sizes, without sufficient advance notice.
Shouldn't this be about the children getting an education not about what may or may not happen? I thought our main goal here was to educate the children not make every one's job easier.
The arguments against the bills are just not string enough to convince me the program is a bad idea. In fact, I think most of their arguments do not even make sense or apply to this situation. I hope these bills pass and we can give more hope to those parents who are fighting for their child!