4 Comments

Anyone who can poke their head above water long enough to know that a lawyer is an option in the first place.

The incidence of autism has recently exploded. Its most likely origin is genetic. An explosion of incidence in nature would take several 1000 years, and only if a condition imparted a reproductive advantage. Autism imparts a reproductive disadvantage.

Your post presents one of the best explanations for the growing incidence. The labeling of a child with autism imparts a money and educational advantage, even if false.

I am interested in hearing data to support better long term outcomes from spending these amounts on these children of the rich. If there is no clear evidence, then the money is wasted.

For example, for the same tuition, how many deprived but intellectually average children of poverty could be sent to top private schools, and emerge refined, well spoken, and studious?

It doesn’t just need to be rich kids who benefit. The reason rich kids benefit is because the NYC Dept. of Ed. misleads the people who don’t get out there and get on the internet to find out their rights or in the case of the richer people (just get on the phone and talk to a lawyer). But there is an incredible organization for the families who are not rich called Advocates for Children — and these too are lawyers who are the best in this area. And it doesn’t just have to be Autism. A child doesn’t need to have a diagnosis, just an IEP and a classification — if a child is performing below their expected level, has behavioral problems, or a variety of other issues — they can be evaluated (by just parental request), recieve an IEP that mandates they get certain services to reach certain goals. If you can prove that the public school system cannot provide this IEP student with what they need to improve, then they too can achieve a better placement in the public system, or a private placement. But, the poorer people (and many, even rich people) face two problems: 1) pride — they don’t want to see their child as having special needs, even if is behavioral or emotional, possibly caused by their environment or situation, or who knows 2) lack of desire or ability to seek out information or help — on the interenet is how I did it. And you have to fight the NYC Dept. of Ed. because they will deliberately lie and mislead you. So you must learn your legal rights and stand strong. If you disagree with their evaluation (which often is in adequate and even wrong)you can have them pay for a private one. You don’t have to be rich, you have to be determined and know the law. Your child doesn’t have to have a major diagnosis, but just an IEP (which often is give to children who are evaluated as underperforming in all or some areas due to a variety of things). They just need to call Advocate of Children to discuss their situation and they’ll be well consulted. So there, I can say this until I’m blue in the face, but you can lead a horse to water but can’t make him drink. The money can go to these kids if the parents fight for it — and the help is out there to assist in the fight too. I am not rich and I made it happen. My son is THRIVING!

The most likely reason one of these children is thriving? Age. The excess number of misdiagnosed children are a bunch of kids who are normal, but have language delays. This imperfection shocks the privileged families who forget, it runs in the family. No stone may be left unspent once they see that. The child’s time comes to catch up, whether one does anything or not. The most famous such child was Einstein.

Here is a review of the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Syndrome-Bright-Children-Late/dp/0465081401

Einstein turned out OK without the 6 figure tuition.

Again, I would appreciate any data showing these bureaucratic and teacher union employment schemes make an educational difference.

If you show me the data, wouldn’t the high fees be better spent on a deprived child who will become a taxpayer instead of a tax consumer? For the tuition of the child of one of these legal manipulators, one could teach English and other subjects at the Honors level, to 100 striving immigrant children, and get a 100,000% return on educational investment, instead of waste.

I blame the educational administrators for not resisting the lawyer bullying better. They are the experts and the stewards of the taxpayer’s money. They have failed to accurately match truly effective services to needs of children in their charge. They need to resist every unjustified demand, then to countersue parents, the corrupt lawyers, the hired experts, the support networks, and the Federal government for any unfunded mandate. To deter.