The proposed cuts on special education preschool affects me directly. My child is going to special education preschool in Fairfax County. I want to ask the RK community to help persuade the Fairfax County School Board reverse their proposed severe cuts on the special ed preschool.
I know that most people are not familiar with this program unless they have children or are related to children enrolled in it. I am providing a small description of this program below, so that you all can become aware of its high impact in the lives of many families.
The Fairfax County School Board is proposing to severly slash the special education preschool budget for the next fiscal cycle. This program carries out early intervention on children with autism, developmental delay, mental retardation, and speech and language impairments, among many others disabilities.
There is a window of opportunity with these disabilities. The earlier we treat these children, the better their outcome. The earlier they are treated, the less time they spend in special education. Early treatment is both the most effective and the most efficient way of treating many of these conditions.
This is the nutshell description of how it works. To get into the program, the child must go through screenings. If the child has a severe enough problem, they will get enrolled in the class, if there are spots available. The preschool teachers design individual programs for the children. The teachers spend many hours planning lessons to address specific issues. They then work in class on these issues, and they work with parents to train them on how to interact with their children to help the child's development.
This program has worked wonders for my son in the 5 months since he started in the program. I also know another child who is about to enter into regular kindergarten next year, thank, in great part, to this program. Other parents tell me how the teachers have been so helpful to them as well.
The proposed budget for 2009 dramatically defunds special ed preschool. According to the budget, it will eliminate 118 preschool position, the second greatest position cut in the budget.
These cuts will double the class size for special education, according to what my wife told me. These are children that need a lot of individual attention. Individual attention has a big impact with special needs children. Compare this steep increase with the proposed 0.5 child per class for general education class sizes.
Special education preschool is a vital for future lives of these children. This is the one program that shouldn't be cut at all. The future of these children are at stake.
And if one doesn't mind the human costs, one should remember that many of these conditions become progressively harder to overcome if they go untreated. This translates into a lot more years of therapy and special education of these children once they arrive to the k-12 system, if we delay early treatment. In other words, it saves money to treat children early.
This entry is already becoming too long, so I will stop here. Tomorrow I will write about my two-year-old son and his experience in special ed preschool. It is a story that I want to share to show you how much of a different this program has done for him.
Oh, I almost forgot. This diary is about requesting help as well. I am asking for two things. First, join our email group if you can help in any way: Click to join fairfaxcountypreschool
Second, I need ideas on what to do. There is a public hearing in February 6 on the budget, so we don't have much time. Any ideas on how to proceed will be welcomed. I will present any potential plans that you give me to the other parents.
I sincerely thank your help in advance.