Special Education

Amanda Walker rolled a strike and three spares at bowling. Shawna Tragesar rolled two strikes. Andrew Sweeney made a backward throw into a floor basketball net. The three youths were participating in the first Inclusion Field Day, hosted by Westminster High School for special education students from the county's high schools. The 40-plus teenagers, with a range of disabilities, participated in 10 physical education activities that had been set up around Westminster's main gym. Teachers and student-helpers assisted the youths with volleyball, a hockey shoot, a target throw, scooter handball, golf, a parachute wave, keep it up, and scoop and shoot.

A federal judge is allowing the Baltimore school system to give special-education students tutoring in place of making up the speech therapy, counseling and other services they missed two school years ago. U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis, who oversees a decades-old special-education case, had previously required the city school system to make up nearly 90,000 hours in services that children did not receive during the 2004-2005 school year. With the current school year almost complete, the system still has thousands of hours of services to make up, plus more services that have been missed in subsequent years.

The most comprehensive study of autism to date shows that in Maryland and 13 other states the disorder is common and often diagnosed too late for effective therapies, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By analyzing youngsters' school and health records, the CDC found that one out of every 150 8-year-olds demonstrated symptoms of autism, a slightly higher rate than previous studies. The overall figure held as well for Maryland, where the incidence rate of so-called autism spectrum disorders was in the middle of the 14 states surveyed.

On an ordinary weekday, Kathleen Tunney teaches seventh-grade Life Science at Burleigh Manor Middle School. But Friday, she and about 20 other teachers became students for the day. "It was funny how everyone went straight from being a teacher to [being a] student. It didn't take long to slip back to being 12 years old," said Tunney. On the school system's Professional Development Day, these middle school teachers visited the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland's Camp Ilchester and engaged in Project Wild activities designed for their students.

Kevin Jaros, a 15-year-old with multiple disabilities, needs an escort to find his way to the school bus. To teach him about the human digestive system, his teacher, Tammy Wolanin, created the stomach, intestines and other parts in colors and textures Kevin can recognize and then stick into place on a model. He has to repeat the task over and over again to pass the alternative Maryland State Assessment -- also known as the alt-MSA -- the state's version of standardized testing for special education students.

Technology survey puts HCC in top 10 Howard Community College has been named one of this year's top technologically savvy community colleges by the Center for Digital Education and the American Association of Community College. Nearly 200 community colleges around the country participated in a survey to examine how colleges are using technology to serve students, faculty, staff and their communities. College officials answered multiple-choice and narrative questions regarding online services and other technological provisions offered at the school.

Special education changes can help all city studentsYour article concerning Baltimore City Public Schools ("Schools Seek Millions More For Disabled," March 23) again blames spending on special education for the school system's failure to deliver educational services to regular education students. But both groups of students are entitled to quality educational services, and pitting one group against the other does a disservice to all students.Moreover, it misses the real point: Special education and regular education are two sides of same coin.

With detailed budget work sessions scheduled to begin tomorrow, Howard County Council members say they want to add from $600,000 to $2 million to the education budget -- mainly to preserve plans to reduce class sizes for young readers.Coming off last week's public budget hearing that saw dozens of speakers plead for more education spending, council members appear ready to respond if they can find enough cuts elsewhere in the $683 million spending plan for the 1999-2000 fiscal year to make up the difference.

A PLAN developed by a committee of administrators, teachers and parents to improve special education in Howard County merits praise. Budget constraints may limit how much of the three-year, $4.7 million initiative will win immediate funding, but nearly every proposal should eventually be implemented.Superintendent Michael E. Hickey is asking for $3.3 million in next year's budget to kick off the program. Most of the money would go toward hiring teachers and other professionals who can meet the needs of disabled students.

Maryland education officials said yesterday they are confident real gains are being made in state pupils' reading skills, and that their scores on the latest national reading assessment test were not inflated by excluding more special education students from taking it."Our reading gains are modest, but we believe that they are real," said Ronald A. Peiffer, assistant superintendent for the Maryland Department of Education, noting the state's reading tests show similar gains.The average score for Maryland fourth-graders taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

Carroll County school officials are scheduled to host several community meetings next week, giving parents the chance to talk with various staff members. Superintendent Charles I. Ecker and school board President Barbara Shreeve plan to hold a town meeting Tuesday at the newly opened Manchester Valley High School, at 3300 Maple Grove Road in the Manchester area. The event, which begins at 7 p.m., represents a chance for an open dialogue with the community and parents, according to school officials.

The Baltimore County school board unanimously approved a $2.5 million contract Tuesday night for special-education services for children from birth to age 5. The five-year contract, to be funded with federal stimulus money, will provide behavioral consultation, and assessment and support services for children with developmental delays or disabilities. "The first five years of life, we're providing the foundation for learning for the rest of that child's career in school," said Paula Boykin, the district's birth-to-5 supervisor, who also directs the Infants and Toddlers Program.

The Phoenix Center in Annapolis, a school serving emotionally disturbed students in kindergarten through 12th grade that has missed state testing mandates for four consecutive years, is set to undergo an overhaul that will bring new staff and technology to the school. The school will receive a testing coordinator, an additional classroom teacher and technology like interactive SMART boards as it attempts to meet rising targets each year for reading test scores, and attendance and graduation rates under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Also, the positions of 15 teaching assistants will be reclassified as special education support technicians.

Praising reforms initiated by Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso, a special master overseeing a 25-year-old special-education lawsuit is recommending less judicial oversight at most of the city's elementary schools. Alonso publicly committed yesterday to ending the wide-ranging case that costs the school system millions of dollars a year by 2011, when his contract as CEO is up for renewal. But much work lies ahead to improve services to special-education students in the system's middle and high schools.

The group of about 125 elementary school children gathered at Harford Glen Environmental Education Center for a firsthand look at how the earth is formed. They spent the school day outdoors testing the water, measuring contour lines and learning about land forms. "Throughout the day, the children had a chance to see that science is not just in the classroom," said Pamela Lottero-Perdue, an assistant professor of science education at Towson University. "There is a big push for 'No Child Left Inside.

Inti Guaman is a senior on the brink of either going off to college or staying behind to get through high school. It all depends on how quickly he is able to soak up vocabulary words so that he can pass his High School Assessment exam in English II. Guaman, 18, arrived with his family from Ecuador three years ago speaking Spanish and only "a little bit" of English, he said. After a couple of years at Wheaton High School in classes designed for students learning English, he began switching to the regular curriculum.

Clarification: An article in yesterday's editions about the Maryland High School Assessments might have left the incorrect impression about when results of last spring's tests will be released. The results will be released to members of the state school board Tuesday morning, before board members might take a vote on whether to delay requiring that students pass the exams to earn high school diplomas, according to a state schools spokesman. The results of the tests will be released to the broader public later Tuesday.

For anyone raising a child with an intellectual or developmental disability, the promise made by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention that, if elected, she would be a "friend and advocate" for them has not gone unnoticed. Few constituencies are more in need of such a friend, but they've heard similar promises of help before and have reason to be doubtful. The Republican vice presidential nominee, whose infant son Trig has Down syndrome, didn't specify what such a friend might provide.

Riding high on recent improvements in student test scores, Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso says special education in the city should be subject to less court oversight under a decades-old lawsuit. State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick also says there's been improvement, and she'd like to see the court begin transferring responsibilities back to the state, which monitors special education in Maryland's other 23 school districts. "If we were talking about the Cold War, we would normalize the operation," she said.

The Board of Education of Harford County Public Schools is seeking applicants for its Citizen Advisory Committees. Membership is open to all Harford County residents, including those without children in the school system. Committees will meet as necessary to accomplish their charge. New members are confirmed in December to one-, two- or three-year terms. Harford residents interested in serving on any one of these committees should send a letter of interest to Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications, Harford County Public Schools, 102 S. Hickory Ave., Bel Air 21014.