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My wife is a special ed teacher and is responsible for teaching some autistic children. That is a very difficult and demanding job.

Mainstreaming is simply not for all special ed children. It does work for some. My wife has a student who is old enough for 6th grade but is mainstreamed into 2nd grade where he is doing very well.

For some of the children, even special ed is above them.

Who knows what we should do with those children. Do we warehouse them, or try to help them? It is not an easy question to answer.

Unfortunately, the "educators" in charge of these things are usually folks who are high in college indoctrination and low in actual teaching experience. I think many, if not most, of the administrators do not have a clue what they are doing nor what should be done.

In addition, there are many parents who make such unreasonable demands on the schools that it is impossible to satisfy them. Many of the parents have totally unreasonable expectations of their children and of the schools.

There are no easy solutions or answers. I do believe that there are many more children in that situation today because of fetal alcohol problems as well as being crack babies etc. It is also true that schools do a better job of identifying some children who need special help who would not have gotten that help in years past.

I also have a special needs daughter. She is deaf which to some may not be special needs but it is. She requires american sign language and auditory/speech therapy and our district does not handle that. Speech therapy for deaf kids is usually 25 minutes twice a week. Whatever else is supplemented by insurance or out of pocket. Her bus ride is 1 hour each way, although the school is 25 minutes away. She is in a Special Day Class becuase that is where she needs to be. As to the "marketing executive" big whoop. Change your hours and make the kids the priority. I do work (for DoD) and am lucky to have flexihours What the schools can't or won't do...do you wait around for years to get it implemented in the IEP or take action while the child falls further behind? Whatever is beyond free and appropriate must fall on the people responsible - the parents.

By the way arjay, tell your wife "Thank You" from me. It is not easy to do what she does.