Special Needs Blog Week in Review – June 24 – 30, 2012

Every week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review brings you a quick summary of each of the blogs that were posted here in the past seven days. It makes it easier for you to find out about the ones that you might have missed. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on June 25, 2012. This week, I’d like to point out an episode of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday”. The episode was called “Planes, Patience, and Slightly Kid-Friendlier Security”. This is a good one to listen to for parents who will be traveling by plane with their children this … Continue reading

Special Education Funds Not Spent on Special Ed Program

When a company receives funding that is earmarked to be used for a special education program, it is expected that it spends the money to improve its special education program. Some companies in New York, however, instead chose to spend the funding on salary, rent, and a vacation home in the Poconos. In New York, the state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, is in the process of conducting a total of 18 audits of the preschool special education program. The system is set up in a way that relies almost entirely on private contractors, who come from for-profit companies. A school, … Continue reading

Washington D.C. Rethinks Special Education Program

Meeting the needs of special education students seems to be a concern in just about every school district I come in contact with. Washington D.C. is no exception. The D.C. Council is in search of a new way to reconstruct its special education program. The cost of the special education program in Washington D.C. is depleting the education funds. D.C.’s special education budget is well out of range with that of the national average. The overall special education enrollment in Washington D.C. is only five percent higher than the national average of 15 percent, however the budget is much more … Continue reading