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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Help Needed
I have a reporter looking for former Viewlands' parents to talk to about the reopening of their building. If you know any of them, could you ask them to contact me at melrhs@hotmail.com
Please see if that reporter can also talk to someone in the Special Needs education community. I remember the heartfelt, vocal outcry when the Autism program at Viewlands got disassembled with the closure. A great story would be what happened to those kids and families as a result of the closure...and what happens if those living in the area are brought back.
I agree with Central Mom completely. There WAS great dismay when the Autism program was closed (along with the general dismay at the closure of the school itself.)
It's not necessarily related, but there is the tragic story of the nine-year old autistic boy who was killed a couple of days ago crossing Highway 99. The sheriff is quoted in today's paper as saying they had been to the house numerous times, that the boy was evidently "hard to control"...One wonders what support there was for this child, and whether the closure of the Viewlands program helped or hindered the cause of autistic children generally. As I said, I respectfully acknowledge that I don't know the details of the recent tragedy, and respect that the family is grieving...I wouldn't want to make "political" hay over this, but only suggest that it might point an intrepid reported towards an important (for better or for worse) story about how children with these sorts of needs are supported by their schools.
3 comments:
Please see if that reporter can also talk to someone in the Special Needs education community. I remember the heartfelt, vocal outcry when the Autism program at Viewlands got disassembled with the closure. A great story would be what happened to those kids and families as a result of the closure...and what happens if those living in the area are brought back.
I agree with Central Mom completely. There WAS great dismay when the Autism program was closed (along with the general dismay at the closure of the school itself.)
It's not necessarily related, but there is the tragic story of the nine-year old autistic boy who was killed a couple of days ago crossing Highway 99. The sheriff is quoted in today's paper as saying they had been to the house numerous times, that the boy was evidently "hard to control"...One wonders what support there was for this child, and whether the closure of the Viewlands program helped or hindered the cause of autistic children generally. As I said, I respectfully acknowledge that I don't know the details of the recent tragedy, and respect that the family is grieving...I wouldn't want to make "political" hay over this, but only suggest that it might point an intrepid reported towards an important (for better or for worse) story about how children with these sorts of needs are supported by their schools.
I'm pretty sure I have a contact for you. Can you email me at johnny -at- stickerville.org?
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