What is Barbie saying that is any different than what Obama has said, except...

[Kittycat]

That he has gone a step further for the healthcare.

And that she's suggesting that we can send our children to any school we want. Well, our schools have a hard enough time getting the required therapists - how in the heck will any school have the necessary educational and therapy programs? (Yes, I have a child in the program).

[PA Democrat]

1. "Any" school as in private schools as well?

Private schools are not required by law to take students with special needs nor are they required to provide them with a free and appropriate public education. IDEA applies to PUBLIC schools, not PRIVATE ones unless the school district has agreed to the placement.

[Kittycat]

2. Yes, but that isn't something that can change just because you decided

to send you kid to another school. They have to have the adequate staff, educational tools, aids, etc.

My son has been in the IEP program for almost 2 years now. The school district, along with the county Co-Op, opened an early learning center that covers EP & EC students. The special needs kids can be in either EP only or integrated EC classroom to prep for further steps in to kindergarten (after 1.5yrs, my son is now in the integrated class). My child has a 1on1 aid, and therapists that work with him daily. I think in all, he gets 3.5 hours of in school dedicated therapy, out of 25 hours of classroom time. Of course it doesn't stop there, he has an additional 3 hours of private therapy each week. How are private schools going to cater to the child's therapy needs, while providing them with the specialized education that they need. If they give that funding to the private school - the public schools will be losing a portion of their funding. Schools like my son's are designed to give maximum support. His next school has a diagnostic program that is very similar in design. But if the schools lose that funding, those well established programs will be gutted.

These people just do not think before opening their mouth.

[PA Democrat]

3. I have a teenage daughter with autism.

I've been arguing against vouchers for years for the very reasons you covered so well. Palin has no clue about the funding issues as well the difficulty in finding/ obtaining appropriate servies and programming for your child.

:pals: