Saturday, April 2, 2011

Angry

I am not a political ranter.  I do not do this often and hope to not have to again.  But this is a bit of a rant.  An angry, outraged rant.

I recently learned of a proposed state budget plan to cut Autism services, as well as pre-kindergarten.  THEY WANT TO ZERO OUT THE ENTIRE AUTISM SERVICES BUDGET.  Meaning no more Autism services in the education system of the state of Texas.  I am outraged, horrified, and frightened in response to this choice and the possible harm it will cause to Ben and every other Autistic child in our state.  The population of children with Autism is climbing at a terrifying rate, and our state is responding by cutting services for them.

Ben has received speech therapy, occupational therapy, and PPCD (special education pre-school) services, and he is currently thriving in an Autism PPCD class, which he is supposed to attend next year.  Those services have yielded a multitude of positive results for my son, and we have been given a great amount of hope for his future.  He would be lost in a regular classroom.  He would be lost without his teacher, who specializes in teaching children with Autism and has many years of valuable experience.

The state of Texas is attempting to devastate my son and his future.  It is also attempting to devastate the futures of all the children with Autism in the state, as well as the strength of the state's future workforce and stability.

But they are prepared to add obesity services.  Autism is a disorder which cannot be prevented or cured, and causes multiple learning issues.  Obesity is not and does not. 

I witness first hand every day the amount of sugar and deep-fried foods that my kids cart around in their backpacks and eat after school or whenever a teacher is not staring directly at them.  They turn down fruit at breakfast and vegetables at lunch, and would rather go hungry.  One of my students last week informed me that he ate an entire box of zebra cakes for dinner.  There is no school program that can help that.  All the funding in the world is not going to eliminate that, but it would do an enormous amount of good for special-needs children.

I have worked very hard for the last eight years to provide a first-rate education for my students, only to have my own son's services threatened by a group of politicians who have probably not spent one minute with an Autistic child or in an Autism unit.  They are threatening my son's future, as well as that of countless other children in our state.

The slogan "Don't mess with Texas" comes to mind.  Texas should not mess with our children.  They have a right to an appropriate education.

I have emailed our governor, representative, and state senator.  I urge you to do the same, if you are so inclined.

http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/

http://www.house.state.tx.us/

http://www.seliger.senate.state.tx.us/

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