Texas schools purged hundreds of kids from special ed
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“We basically just picked kids and weeded them out,” said Maricela Gonzalez, an elementary school speech therapist. “We thought it was unfair, but we did it.”
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In San Felipe Del Rio CISD, officials used the 2013 update of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to dismiss students with Asperger syndrome, said Kerry Steiner, who worked with the district as part of a federally funded parent training project.
The update eliminated the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome as a distinct disorder — but placed it on the autism spectrum.
Still, the district used the change to say that children with that diagnosis no longer had a disability, Steiner said.
“The law requires that schools base their special ed decisions on need, not opinion, or space availability, or money, or teacher training or other subjective positions,” Steiner said. “It was heartbreaking to see schools not do that.”
A spokeswoman for San Felipe Del Rio CISD denied Steiner’s story. She said the decline in students with autism most likely was due to families coming and going from a nearby military base.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
23 Oct 2016, 12:27 am
