From the Columbus Dispatch:

For many Ohio school districts, the recent influx of federal stimulus money has doubled the federal dollars they receive for special education. New state regulations are making it easier for them to use the extra cash to shore up their shaky budgets, and disability rights advocates are crying foul.

Advocates say Ohio is cheating vulnerable students, and claim the state has taken the most extreme approach of any state in allowing local districts to divert the money for other purposes.

“It just seems completely mind-blowing to me,” said Jennifer Cohen, a policy analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based New America Foundation. “I think it’s sneaky, and I know there are a lot of special-education advocates out there who are upset about the implications.”

Earlier post here.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Wisconsin officials have rejected plans by the Greenfield School District to use federal special ed stimulus funding to build seclusion rooms for students with disabilities, and has informed districts statewide that the funds may not be used for this purpose.

School district officials said the areas were needed to provide teachers with a quiet spot to work with disruptive students or calm agitated ones. Parents of students with disabilities have spoken out against the use of seclusion areas, and legislation has been proposed at the state and federal levels to regulate and curb seclusion practices.

From the Muskegon [MI] Chronicle:

Public school superintendent Steve Cousins writes that special education is the largest underfunded mandate for Michigan school districts.  While Michigan works to provide special-education services to a wider range of people than any other state, lack of federal and state funding puts the burden on local districts and causes a pattern of inequity, he says. An excerpt:

Today, students with disabilities are just part of the rich fabric that makes up the American public school system. Their talents and unique perspectives add substance to the educational experience of all children, and we are better for it. It is a legacy for which we all should be proud. It is one that is uniquely American in its breadth and depth.

Steve Cousins is superintendent of Reeths-Puffer Schools.

(Photo from Muskegon Chronicle)

From 60 Minutes, AP, Chicago Sun-Times:

Senior presidential adviser David Axelrod and his wife Susan appeared on 60 Minutes yesterday to talk about their family’s 28-year struggle with epilepsy.

Daughter Lauren is one of three million Americans living with the disease.  — more than the number of Americans who have Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis combined. About a third of them don’t respond to treatment.

“Epilepsy is like terrorism of the brain. You don’t know when it’s going to strike, where you’re going to be,” David Axelrod told correspondent Katie Couric.

Axelrod and his wife are part of a movement that is trying to jumpstart research to find a cure. They say the disease is not getting the attention it deserves.

See also:

Axelrod remains mindful of daughter with epilepsy — AP

Axelrod’s daughter: ‘Why does Obama need so much help?’ — Chicago Sun-Times

Previous posts here.

(Photo from 60 Minutes video)

From the San Francisco Examiner:

The San Francisco school district is increasing its special education budget by $2 million this year, at a time when the district is seeing a steep increase in autism diagnoses. The district saw a 22 percent increase in students diagnosed with autism between 2007 and 2008, even as its total student enrollment declined slightly.

School commissioner Rachel Norton said she hopes spending money on early intervention will benefit both students and the district. “If we spend the money now, it will help save money later,” said Norton, whose daughter has autism.

From the [Maryland] Gazette:

Hundreds of people rallied this week in Rockville, Maryland, in support of funding for services for people with developmental disabilities.

Budget cuts in the state have removed about $29 million in services for people with disabilities since last fall. The state’s Developmental Disabilities Administration now has about 19,000 people on lists waiting for services they are entitled to receive.

State officials defended the cuts as financially necessary. One advocate charged that the state focused so much attention on closing its 156-bed Rosewood Center institution that it failed to focus on providing adequate supports for people with disabilities in the community.

Further budget cuts are expected.

(Photo of Cecilia Ann Pauley of Rockville from the [Maryland] Gazette)

On theAtlantic.com, journalist and filmmaker Jody Becker questions current research that has found a rising incidence of autism among American children. Becker says government eligibility standards for services may be driving the increase in diagnoses, as doctors are forced to misdiagnose kids in order to get publicly funded help for them.

“Every day, precious time and money is wasted as kids who don’t belong in the autism world get pushed into it,” she says. “Finally, parents are pushing back.”

Becker is the producer of Autistic-Like: Graham’s Story, a documentary about a California family whose son son was given a provisional diagnosis of autism and a prescription for Applied Behavioral Analysis — even though he had Sensory Processing Disorder, a milder syndrome that’s not on the autism spectrum. The family’s pediatrician told them to keep the inaccurate autism label so the state would pay for treatment.