Posted on 12/19/2004 11:47:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
At some point Mouna Raad realized she didn't want her daughter to be treated as ``special'' anymore. She just wanted Elissa, who has cerebral palsy, to be treated like any other kid.
So she overcame some resistance at Elissa's special-education preschool and enrolled her in a Santa Clara preschool with -- as Raad calls them -- ``regular kids.'' The result, she says, was ``amazing.'' And not just for Elissa. ``I think the kids learned a lot,'' Raad said. ``I think it makes them richer people.'' That kind of enrichment is the goal of several Santa Clara County agencies and individuals, who are gathering momentum in an effort to include special-education children in the drive for preschool for all. Touting its effort as the first of its kind in the country, the Collaborative for Inclusion hopes to raise $3 million to train preschool teachers to integrate special-education students into their schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Where is the barf alert on this one? I had a woman come to my church one Sunday with her child who had cerebal Palsy, and no one but her could hold him, he cried and cried when anyone came near him. A teacher being expected to look after a child with a problem such as this one is wrong. In the long run it will result in substandard teaching for the other children, and a possible medical crisis involving a non medically trained teacher having a child with a severe physical problem getting seriously ill in her class someday.
Free daycare.
Sounds so wonderful hugh.
My brother has told me some real horror stories about this type of thing in the public schools in Southern California.
Somewhere along the line, the powers that be instituted a plan that allows parents to demand their children be admitted to regular classes, no matter the level of disability.
In one such case, the child in question functions at about the level of a two year old. They are basicly one step above life support. They can't feed themselves and their ability to absorb the information presented is absolutely non-existant.
Not a problem! Mom says this kid has to be in a regular classroom, and so he is. It's very disruptive for the other students. It's a lose, lose, lose situation. Nothing can be done about it.
This type of program siphons off tens of thousands of dollars, as the public school system accomadates these types of children. The programs are passed off as these wonderful learning experiences for 'the other children'. What they are is living nightmares for just about everyone involved.
The LAUSD is living proof, that the more education an individual gets, the less common sense they seem to exhibit. The administration of these schools, is a disgusting display of loonacy.
Encourage separate classes for them, with the rising number of handicapped and physically ill children in this country, that probably wouldn't be as bad a strain on the country as leaving teachers to handle cases like this. Also, if the schools are too small to require a separate school in some areas, at least encourage the teachers to take a first aid class. Children, even healthy ones, get sick much quicker than we do, and one that is already not in the best health can die or develop serious complications very quickly. I am thinking about the kids here, what worse trauma can you think of in a childs life then to have a schoolmate die in class some morning?
The heart, unregulated by the brain, is a troublesome thing.
I would suspect this has mostly to do with shrinking budgets, etc. and not purely altruistic motives.
What do you mean?
Figure you have a medium-sized school with two special ed classes. If you can eliminate one of the special ed classes by moving the best/more borderline/less violent students into the mainstream, then you save on salaries, free up a classroom and other resources. This is particularly true for California where schools have been starved for tax dollars in recent years.
Absolutely. Government subsidized daycare.
Once again, All part of the Big plan.....
Just another vapid attempt by the Leftists to get at our kids younger and start the socialist brainwashing sooner.
No such thing exists....
However...
Taxpayer subsidized daycare does!
Total k-12 spending in California is now over $12,000 per child. Methinks $240K/year is enough money to cover a class of 20. The only reason the "classroom is starved" is that nearly half of the money never leaves Sacramento.
Depends what the infrastructure costs are along with insurance, etc. And, too, the money is not equally divided among students -- some students, such as those in special ed, require more teachers per student and other special things.
In any event, I'm fairly well convinced people are absolutely crazy when it comes to the subject of public schools. The schools are failing, the schools are cess pools, I'm pulling my kids out and I've given up, they lament.
What they fail to remember is that a good chunk of their home's value is tied up in those same schools. That is to say, homes in districts with high performing schools routinely fetch higher prices and are assessed at higher values. Such is the importance of schools that prospective home buyers check SAT scores and college acceptances in the district prior to buying. This is why you don't see residents of affluent areas complaining about the schools or taxes as frequently.
Public schools are succeeding marvellously, at their intended purpose from the days of Horace Mann and John Dewey: producing a nation ready for socialism. May I suggest reading The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto (a public school teacher, btw) and The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thompson Iserbyt (Reagan's Undersecretary of Education).
What they fail to remember is that a good chunk of their home's value is tied up in those same schools.
Our school (in a very well-to-do neighborhood) gets kids in the 94th percentile and graduates them in the 80th, in a state with test scores ranking near the bottom of a nation ranking near the bottom of the industrialized world. For what we are spending, they are no asset.
You bet I pulled my kids. I have a 12-year old doing second semester college calculus now. Her 10-year old sister is in second year algebra. Together, they are completing a paper on Rome that relies upon original sources (Cicero, Julius Ceasar, Plutarch, etc.). I spend less time teaching them than I did dealing with the stupid schools. It's not that hard.
Such is the importance of schools that prospective home buyers check SAT scores and college acceptances in the district prior to buying.
At the rate the local high school is going, they'll start explaining it away very soon.
This is why you don't see residents of affluent areas complaining about the schools or taxes as frequently.
For what we are paying, they should be complaining, but most are "too busy."
I'd be curious to hear what your choice of colleges happens to be...also, and I've seen this a dozen times, when the school goes down the tubes, the entire community soon follows it.
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