Parents Shocked by Plan to Defund Special Ed Health Centers

Autism awareness

In case you missed it:

Parents across New York are deeply upset by the plans to change the way Special Ed Centers operate. Currently these centers support parents by helping them find resources for children with disabilities from birth until age 21. The centers can help parents find providers of required special education evaluations, figure out which schools or programs can accommodate their child’s disability, or assist with the transition from pre-K to kindergarten.

For many parents with children with disabilities, Early Childhood Direction Centers and Special Education Parent Centers are part of the continuity of supporting their children. With this restructuring, the fear is that that will change. “It was this gut punch to see the most helpful thing I’ve encountered in this entire system is being defunded,” said a Brooklyn parent whose son has autism.

State officials have responded by saying that the centers will still remain, just with fewer staff members. There is no plan for less support, the state says, albeit that’s difficult to image with less staff. The policy director for Advocates for Children, Randi Levine recently said: “More young children are being identified earlier in life as having developmental delays and disabilities, so this is not the time to be cutting back on staff to provide access to this information”.

A question for some is, would it be better if the federal government assisted. Would that help keep these centers open — or just add to the problem of bureaucracy?

Read more here at Chalkbeat.

If you’re interested in earning your Master’s in Special Education, please see our NYC-area partner program with Concordia College of NY.

CITE is the Center for Integrated Training and Education. For over 25 years, CITE has and continues to train TEACHERS (Early Childhood, Professional Certification, Special Ed,Grad Courses, Bilingual courses, DASA); COUNSELORS (School, Mental Health Masters, Advanced Certificate); and ADMINISTRATORS (SBL, SDL, Public Admin, Doctorate) in all five boroughs of NYC, Yonkers, Westchester, and Long Island.

CITE PD offers CTLE-approved in-school professional development tailored to your school’s needs and your vision. Info: citepd.com

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