Commentary—

Programs To Benefit Autistic Children Lack Funding, Expertise, And Oversight

By Matt Parenti

With Congress passing legislation to fund federal research into the causes of autism earlier last month, we have an opportunity to shine the light on how poorly equipped Connecticut’s public education system is to deal with this growing crisis. Unfortunately, the “Combating Autism Act” provides few additional resources to our local and state schools for special needs development, and state special education teachers are joining together to assure a client-driven services model for afflicted families and taxpayers here in Connecticut.

As the parent of an autistic child who struggles every day at school to stay focused and learn, I know how critical it is to diagnose the disorder and begin a tailored education plan at an early age. I have learned that effective treatment of autism requires a comprehensive approach because the demands remain constant throughout the child’s education and development.

As a state schoolteacher instructing youths in the Department of Correction, I see firsthand how critical resources are not being made available for students with special needs in our state and local public schools. I believe that every district in Connecticut must be able to assure children with disabilities the oversight of a special education professional to provide critical early evaluation and assessment, as well as follow-up testing throughout their development.

State education professionals who are members of   The Connecticut State Employees Association / Service Employees International Union (CSEA/SEIU) Local 2001 have proposed a model plan where we fulfill this role, ensuring the client-driven services families facing this tremendous challenge deserve. More importantly, we have the education and the expertise needed to deal with the autism epidemic.

Everyday I see the impact of underfunding the state’s Birth-to-Three program and understaffing the state agencies where our union’s members can make a difference in reaching the children who need early diagnosis and effective treatment in our correctional system. Unfortunately, for many of the adolescents that are enrolled in the DOC’s schools, a great deal of damage has already been done.

My wife and I experienced tremendous frustration while our son received services from Birth-to-Three and our local public school system. Both programs had many dedicated education professionals working with my son; however they often lacked funding, expertise, oversight, and a year-round commitment, which severely hindered Rocco’s development and even lead to his regression.

As a behavior specialist for a private, nonprofit provider of vocational and educational services for five years before coming to work for the state, I witnessed firsthand that services are lacking for families in the private sector as well. I believe that private provider options must be made viable to families who rely on these services, as well, and that a client-driven services model with state oversight is the way forward.

For the last two and a half years, after a hard fought battle with our local school district, we had Rocco placed at the River Street Autism Program at Coltsville in Hartford. The program, which is part of the Capitol Region Education Council, is internationally renowned, and recently hosted a group of educators from Japan who are looking to develop similar school models for specializing in development for their country’s growing population of children with autism.

Rocco has made significant gains in his development at Coltsville because of their ability to function seamlessly without the constraints previous education programs he has been enrolled in suffered from. Schools like Coltsville are the exception in Connecticut because our political and administrative leaders have been unwilling to provide school districts and private providers with the oversight our state education professionals in CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 would be able to provide.

We are reaching out to parents and advocates to demand that our elected officials invest the needed resources into developing a client-driven services model with oversight of all public, as well as private, providers of special needs development by qualified state education professionals. What’s at stake is the health and safety of thousands of children suffering from autism spectrum disorders today and tomorrow.

(Matt Parenti works with special needs students as a state schoolteacher in the Department of Correction’s Garner facility in Newtown.)