Sunday, August 30, 2009

Funding for disabilities in school

Okay, I came into the middle of a conversation about school funding for certain disabilities and thought, "perfect, am I a lightening rod for this type of stuff now?"
One woman was voicing her opinion on how she felt that her school district alloted too much of their funding towards children with autism. I am unsure why she chose that particular disability, but I do know that it is often the chosen disability to disagree on. As the mother of a child with a disability I figured this was going to turn awkward for me and I would have to remove myself from the situation soon enough.
I sat back and listened to these women discuss why each had the opinion that they had. One was the mother of an autistic child and she took quite a firm stance that funding in her area was not enough, while the other was making claims that the school district covered everything from nannies to horse riding. If that is the case, I am moving to that area immediately.
Now, one would assume I would fall to the side of the mother with the autistic child, but in all honesty, I fall somewhere in the middle. My dearest friend has a child that is autistic and we have often discussed her daughter's education. J is a beautiful young girl and considered somewhat high functioning for an autistic child. High functioning is somewhat of a misnomer when it comes to autism, however. It is highly doubtful that J will ever have the ability to live totally on her own. At the age of 13 she has the IQ of around a 4 year old. For my friend, her desire is that the school teach J basic life skills. As she has often said, J will not need to know Algebra, she will not be attending college. What is most important to her is that they teach J how to count money, balance a checkbook, sign her name, etc.
This is why I say I fall into the middle of this arguement. I would find it a waste of resources to try and teach J how to do Algebra or get her to understand a novel's meaning, but I do not feel that J should be cast aside and forgotten simply because she does not function at a higher level.
As the parent of both non-disabled and disabled children, I can see both sides of this coin. Parents are angry that much needed funding is being utlized in a manner that is not beneficial to their children simply because they have no problems and parents with disabled children are seeing many of their resources being stripped away.
So, what is the answer? Is it a waste of funding or do you feel the children should be taught all the same things as non disabled children even if they do not have the capability to learn at the same level? If you were a parent of a disabled child, would you rather they focus on teaching that child the basic life skills necessary for them to lead as productive life as possible or would you want them to push your child to see how far they could excel?
I never had to excuse myself from the discussion. I simply remained quiet and listened to it get more and more heated. In the end both parties agreed to disagree and moved on. It left me pondering these questions, however, so now I leave them for you to ponder. Have fun!

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