“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

- Woodrow Wilson

“Now, gentlemen, let us at once to bed, and see if tomorrow we cannot do something.”

- Stonewall Jackson

Last week Autism Spot put up a video on the Texas Virtual Academy. In it, a mother describes how this school allowed her child with Asperger’s Syndrome to gain access to the public education he’d previously been denied.

Click here to watch the video: http://www.autismspot.com/videos/Texas-Virtual-Academy

This is a perfect example of why Texans need as many education delivery options as possible. The legislature is not going to be able to just give us one option and wash their hands of the whole mess. Until parents have the ability to move freely within districts, to other districts, to magnet and charter schools and to publicly-funded private schools when there is not an appropriate public school education available to a child (Remember, this is already part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.) – until all this and more occurs, many children will be effectively marginalized from public education.

Passing the trash.

Those kids will eventually age out of the public school system unprepared for independent adult life. They will land in various other state systems, including institutions, mental hospitals, prison, county emergency rooms and homeless shelters. Taxpayers will get the bill.

Appropriate education is the best treatment for autism.

Facts about Autism:

• Autism affects 1 in every 150 children, and it affects four times as many boys as girls.

• Autism is increasing at a rate of nearly 20% per year — that equates to 8 new children acquiring autism every day or one child every 3 hours. (Ray Palmer Ph.d. University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Texas)

• Autism is more common than Down’s syndrome, childhood cancer, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

• Autism is a disorder that impairs a child’s ability to communicate, socialize, play and think.

• Autism affects all socioeconomic backgrounds, regardless of race or ethnicity.

• It costs public education system between $ 15,909.00 and $ 21,671.00 per year for each autistic child. (Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability – American Institute of Research pg 5)

• Autism has grown 1,354% from the 1991-92 school year to the 2001-2002 school year. (US Dept of Education 24th Annual Report To Congress.)

• 80% of parents with autistic children reported stress above the 85th(Parent Stress Study Result by Harold Longenecker, Ph.d.) percentile compared to the parents in the general population.

• It costs about $ 3.2 million to care for an autistic person over the course of his or her lifetime. (Understanding Autism: From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment by Michael Ganz, Assistant Professor of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard School of Public Health (CRC Press, 2006)

• Autism is a “spectrum” disorder so that children with autism have a wide range of specific symptoms, and each one will respond differently to therapy.  As a result, each child needs an individualized program to progress.

• With appropriate treatment, almost 50% of people with autism will become indistinguishable from the mainstream population.

Appropriate education is the best treatment for autism.

The Texas Legislature is in session for 90 days every 2 years. In that time, thousands of bills must be heard. My 10-year-old son will be 12 the next time the legislature is in session. We have found a situation that, while not perfect, works for him. There are many families who haven’t been this fortunate, and their children will also age 2 more years between this session and the next.

Session starts Tuesday, January 13, 2009. Tomorrow. We have 90 days to let Austin know that our kids aren’t political trash.

Look up who represents you here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/