I dont wanna pick apart your post but I graduated on Saturday with a History Major/SPED Minor. I spent the last year in SPED classrooms, particularly resource rooms.terryg wrote:Charles L. Cotton wrote:Focusing on mental health issues in response to Newtown is a mistake, in my view.
Chas.
The school systems are, in most cases, burdened with caring for young children with mental health issues - usually inadequately - until the turn 18 at which point they are dumped on society. Then the justice and prison systems then take over in a vicious cycle with no treatment that only creates a larger monster. All of this cost more $$$ in many cases than if adequate treatments were provided early on.
Burdened, yes. I would like to make it clear that the special needs kids have a LOT of support inside the schools, and they receive the best possible care that we can provide. Keep in mind that inadequacy is a subjective thing. Measuring progress of any kind with some of these disabilities is impossible.... I don't want to sound brash or rude, but it's impossible to fix many of these broken children. The only thing we can do is contain them, and try to teach them enough life skills and self-awareness strategies that they might possibly be able to care for themselves in a minimalist way. Most of the kids I dealt with stand no chance and will require supervision for the remainder of their life.
One more thing--those kids, at least in Texas, have the option of staying in the schools till they are 22, not 18. They don't get dumped. They stay with their parents or go to group homes....
Controlling people with disabilities is as impossible as regulating guns. You simply can't.... not without restricting the rights of someone... and even special education/special needs people are humans, and are protected by the constitution just as much as gun-owners are.
If you ask me, it appears that the government has to do something... and it's a lot more PC, and easier to pass legislation that tramples the constitutional privileges of 2A folks than Special Ed/Special Needs folks.