If You Can’t Get Autism Services in Troy, Michigan Schools Where Can You? Background and History

This History and Background of our Experience with Troy Schools and Autism

As a background note – we have three boys who are now through or in college attend Troy, Schools. Our experience then, as with most children in Troy was that the school district was what it advertised to be – excellent. This is why we moved to Troy 20 years ago. We had no idea the other side of the Troy School District – living in the District with a child with Special Needs.

In a future post, we will outline our request that we have previously made to the Troy School Board, however, first we would like to share some important Autism background information.

• Autism is becoming an epidemic. With 1 in 150 children (some States now report 1 in 90 occurrence) this is becoming a significant issue. In Michigan the number of children with Autism has doubled since 2000 and is now over 11,000 children.
• At a cost of $90 billion a year to society – this is a significant economic issue in addition to the human issue. The cost to society to support a person with Autism is over $3.2 million according to Harvard. The cost is climbing rapidly - 10-14% per year.
• While Autism was discovered in the 1940s, the therapies now used were refined in the 1980s and 1990s. But perceptions, as with other medical conditions have lagged reality. It wasn’t long ago that these children were part of society that was deemed untreatable.
• While no cure is known, research has now shown over and over – that with early intervention you can produce significant positive results with many of these children and enable them to live independent and productive lives.
• There is a broad range of symptoms with Autism. That is why it is referred to as the “spectrum” or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children with ASD also have multiple concurrent disorders. Co-morbid conditions exist in 90% of the children with ASD.
• In addition to the crushing financial burden for families – the time, energy and stress of parenting children with Autism can impact employment, health and marriage. Divorce rates for parents are as high as 90%
• Myths and misunderstandings regarding Autism abound.

The U.S. Congress has passed several laws regarding children with special needs, including Autism. The primary law is The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). For more information see www.idea.ed.gov or www.wrightslaw.com.

Congress found with the formation of IDEA:

• That 30 years of research and experience has demonstrated that with high expectations, education can be more effective and lead these children toward a productive and independent life to the maximum extent possible.
• Congress also established high standards in IDEA providing for the concept of a free appropriate education (FAPE) and least restrictive environments (LRE).
• It is within LRE that the law specifies that the child must be educated in “the school they would attend if not disabled”. For our daughter – that would be the school ten houses away, not the next city or 20 miles away.
• Why did Congress pass IDEA? Before 2004 it was difficult for parents to get the education their children deserved in their home school. In many cases, schools provide what special education parents refer to as “a one size fits all” education. This means a self contained special education classroom with one approach to teach a variety of special needs children, including those with Autism. This is still the case in many districts even though the law says the education program should be “designed to meet the unique needs of the child”.
• IDEA also used specific language specifying “research based instruction”. For children with Autism this has specific meaning since the researched based instruction methods have been more recently developed and taught at the universities. A teacher who graduated more than 10-15 years ago might have not received any training in these newer methods of teaching. The law further specifies the “access to general education” which speaks to the critical need to mainstream children with Autism and “high quality professional development using research based instruction practices”

This seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

• No Child Left Behind was another piece of Federal Legislation. It uses similar language to IDEA and speaks to the need to close the achievement gap with effective, scientific based instruction.
• Congress found that progress has been impeded in many cases by the low expectations and an insufficient focus on replicable research and proven methods of teaching and learning for children with special needs.
• This finding is similar to other research studies – if the teacher assumes the child can’t learn the results are predictable. The opposite is true also.
• We have experienced this. While children on the spectrum are all different, we have followed a principle of an author on Autism, William Stillman – “Always assume intellect”. It is so easy for people to fall into a trap and think because these children see the world differently, have language processing issues and other challenges that they don’t have intellect. This would include speaking to these children with the belief that they understand what is being said
• Unfortunately, there is a large population of educators, school psychologists and social workers – including those in my daughter’s former elementary school that didn’t believe that she could learn. She has proven them wrong over and over
• The good news is that Congress recognized this in both IDEA and NCLB
• Research has now shown that with early intervention – using behavior, speech, language and occupational therapies that you can shift a significant majority of these children’s lives and put them on a path towards independence and productive lives
• “Early Intervention” is key. Hard to do if the school’s staff doesn’t have the research based, scientific training and commitment to intellect.

So you might ask – “If research shows — using proven techniques — that you can teach children with Autism and that early intervention is critical — and if schools are doing this in an excellent manner in districts all around the country — and if Congress has mandated the teaching methods and services in IDEA and NCLB;

1. Why doesn’t the Troy, Michigan School District, one who prides itself on excellence, excel in the area of providing education to children with high functioning Autism?
2. Why have they chosen a path of not training staff or developing high standards in this area? What is different about children with Autism than children in math, reading, and science classes on a fast track to college? Why have high standards for one group and not another?
3. Why put the teaching staff and aides in such a position. Would a math teacher not be trained in math? A music teacher in music? Why not train teachers of children with Autism?
4. For those children with Autism that have passed through Troy’s schools and missed the interventions and therapies their lives might never be the same. It is very difficult to intervene much beyond the teen years.
5. The School District might suggest that it hasn’t had the requests from parents, there isn’t enough demand for services, and there aren’t enough children with Autism and high functioning Autism to support the services. But is it more than that? Why doesn’t the District pursue excellence here?

We don’t know why it is. William Stillman writes in his second book on Autism that parents with special needs children sometimes make the mistake of assuming an outstanding school district will translate into outstanding services for special education.

Some people speculate that it is about money. It costs more to educate a child with Autism than the State and taxes provide. Congress has been criticized for mandating services in IDEA and NCLB, but without providing funding. However, I am not aware of other areas of the law where people can choose not comply because they don’t have the budget!

Some of the funding issue might change with President Obama and his commitment to Autism. President Obama is a strong supporter of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and supports full federal funding of the law to truly ensure that no child is left behind. The current underfunding of IDEA causes school districts throughout the country to deny necessary services to students with ASD and other special needs. Barack Obama has also committed to change IDEA’s definition of “autism” to Autism Spectrum Disorders to ensure that all children diagnosed with ASD disorders receive the support they need.

Does Troy have to wait for President Obama? I am frequently asked by parents, neighbors, corporate executives, State Legislators, teachers and others, “If you can’t get the right services for children with autism in Troy, Michigan Schools, where can you??”

Stay tuned for future posts where we will outline our request to the Troy, Michigan School District School Board.