Here’s one of what will probably be many: a story in which parents trace their children’s learning disabilities and behavioral problems to lead paint exposure. While recent attention has been sparked by the embargo on lead-painted toys from China, physicians say the greater risk continues to come from wall paint in older homes. The story in USA Today features a woman who sued her contractor over faulty lead paint removal methods and accepted a financial settlement.

Lead paint poisoning in young children has been implicated in nervous system and kidney damage, poor muscle coordination; learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and speech, language and behavior problems. The use of lead-based paint has been outlawed in the U.S. since the 1970′s, but it still remains in millions of housing units. The EPA has proposed a regulation requiring that renovation contractors be trained in safe methods of lead removal, but the rule has not been implemented. Related story from Slate.

Who knows why, but I keep finding stories about recreational programs for people with disabilities. Here are a few:

From the San Antonio Express-News, bicycling.

From Floridatoday.com, water-skiing.

From SanDiego.com, horseback riding.

From 9News in Denver, surfing.

Fifteen-year-old Darius Weems, center, on road trip to Hollywood. LA Times photo.

Here’s a story that’s worth reading all the way through. Karen Day, writing in the Los Angeles Times, brings us a feature about “Darius Goes West,” a thoughtful documentary film about a young man and his wheelchair. A few excerpts:

Equal parts “Animal House,” and “Stand by Me,” this buddy flick tells the story of 12 college-age students who contrive with great expectations and minuscule budget to take their friend from Georgia to Los Angeles to get his wheelchair customized on MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” It’s a comical and poignant tale.

… In the movie, playing at Laemmle Music Hall Theatre in Beverly Hills … as part of an Oscar bid, Darius rolls across the screen like a sonic boom with a smile, shattering the stereotype of disabled kids and embodying a genuine American idol with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease with a 100% mortality rate.

… This is a film about the transforming power of teamwork and the inherent joys and madness of reaching any seemingly impossible goal … It is a movie of pain, both physical and emotional, with a message of hope and deep affection for the raw and sweet parts of human nature.

(more…)

From the Jerusalem Post: Parents have been demonstrating in front of the home of the nation’s education minister, carrying signs that say “The Education Ministry is leaving autistic kids in a bubble.”

Here’s what’s at issue.

Until May of this year, high-functioning autistic children in their early developmental years were allowed to attend standard municipal kindergartens with the aid of a therapist.

This spring, state funding was dropped for the therapists and, in some cases, the therapists were barred from entering the classroom – even when parents choose to pay the therapists themselves.

Instead of being integrated into the mainstream classroom, these high-functioning children will sent to special education classes that parents fear will be below the ability levels of their children.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Santa Ana school district will lose state funding because, among other things, teachers misrepresented the number of special education students they had in their classrooms.

… the audit found [that] 467 special-education students who were being mainstreamed into about two dozen regular classes were not included on class rosters.

These students were on separate rosters maintained by special education teachers, who were supposed to be assisting them in the classroom but sometimes did not.

Because these students brought the total classroom enrollments to more than 22 students, the classes were not eligible for class-size reduction funding, so the district is losing $89,856, or nearly 8% of the state funding it expected to receive, auditor Christy White said.

Schools are facing pressure to trim spending, but special education is one potentially costly area that can’t be cut, officials say.

From the Muncie, Indiana, Star-Press:

As public schools are charged with the task of educating all students who come through their doors, the cost to educate special education students continues to rise; more students are identified with special needs and more parents choose to keep their children in the local school system. Adhering to a student’s individualized education program also can add to the cost of special education, school officials say.

See earlier story today about rising special education costs: “Benny’s special education creates special challenges.” Like that story, this one is accompanied by many emotional reader comments.

‘New test for special education students is making schools nervous:
Teachers still don’t know what will be on tests or how they’ll affect accountability ratings’

From the Austin American-Statesman: Schools across Texas are bracing for a change that will force some students in special education to take tougher tests than have been required for them in years past. Some school officials worry that the change could hurt their federal accountability ratings.

The exam will be given for the first time next spring, and some special education students will have to be tested at their grade levels instead of their actual learning levels.

… State officials have been scrambling to compile the test since April, when new and controversial federal regulations mandated that states either develop grade-level tests for some special education students or require that those students take a regular state accountability test, a move that probably would be brutal for most school ratings.