Lack of Special Ed in Catholic Schools

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Catholic Schools in general need a radical overhaul. I say this as one who attended K-12. I’m grateful for my parents’ sacrifice to do it, and know it was leagues better than our public schools…but…

as far as “religious” education it was pretty abysmal. I think we are in need of a new wave of religious sisters and brothers who are willing to view Catholic education as a vocation/charism, not a privilege for a wealthy few as it has become today.

Question for someone who might know…wouldn’t various school voucher programs help in this situation?

Also, a friend of mine lost her sight at 18. She attended a private Catholic women’s college and was able to get all sorts of grants for braille machines, etc. - I know they weren’t easy to get all the time, but she got them, and was able to complete an MA. Are colleges more flexible than grammar/high schools?
 
PaulinVA said:
Wow. But, if they would enroll children like yours, they could afford to send their administrators to compassion/empathy training.

Sorry. Had to say it.:rolleyes:
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No kidding, PaulinVA. I was quite disappointed for a lot of reasons. My son attends our local public school that has special education services built into it. I know that there are costs and time above and beyond what typical children need. But, I think the kids in Catholic schools need to get to know special needs kids too. Thanks for your support on this.
 
In St. Louis we have a Catholic School for the hearing impaired called St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf, a new Catholic school for autistic kids (I think) called St. Gemma’s and another school called Annunciata for kids with special needs. I’m not sure they are listed on the Archdiocesian website but I know they exist because I know children who have attended.

Maybe called the Archdiocesian office in Houston and ask them if they have any special schools.
 
One problem is that “special education” encompasses so many different problems that building “Catholic schools for special needs students” seems like an impossible idea. Even private schools (secular) for special needs students can only accomodate narrow ranges of students. Think about the number of special needs kids in public schools who are sent out-of-district for their education (this is especially true of students who have CP, who are hearing/vision impared, and who have extreme emotional disturbance.) I’m not sure demand is high enough in the Catholic community to support schools like this.
 
Annn said:
One problem is that “special education” encompasses so many different problems that building “Catholic schools for special needs students” seems like an impossible idea. Even private schools (secular) for special needs students can only accomodate narrow ranges of students. Think about the number of special needs kids in public schools who are sent out-of-district for their education (this is especially true of students who have CP, who are hearing/vision impared, and who have extreme emotional disturbance.) I’m not sure demand is high enough in the Catholic community to support schools like this.
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We are actually taking a poll on our blog www.richardsonstudios.blogspot.com to get an idea of the interest. Only 15% of the votes so far were not interested. We will have it open for voting at least until the end of the year if anyone wants to go and take our poll and vote.

Another thing that has been suggested to us was to make the school generally Christian, about knowing Christ, the bible, relationship with God, faith, charity. Maybe I should take a poll on that too? What does anyone think about that? Is there more of a need for a Catholic Special Needs School, or a Christian Special Needs School?

Personally, I think there is a huge need both ways. We are praying for God’s wisdom each step of the decision process.

Our experience with Catholic schools for our own kids was being told we would have to go elsewhere, many and the one who did try only helped for a short time and then recommended we go to the public school. Public schools were a nightmare. Our only viable option left was homeschool, so we formed our own private school just for that reason to fulfill state law. We can’t be the only parents struggling with this.

We plan on doing our research but so far the response has been good. Plus, we plan on being a school that includes all people regardless of whether we teach a Catholic curriculum or a Christian curriculum based on the Catholic faith. We feel being witnesses for Jesus means including all Christians, Jews, Gentiles and Catholics. Why should I stop them if they are willing to learn about Christ and meet their child’s need at the same time? There are many many things to consider in starting any school. All our decisions will eventually be available on the school site as we move along in the plans.

With God all things are possible.

Any ideas for a great school name? We have not chosen one yet.

richardsonstudi
 
I just want to say I am praying for your family.

All Catholic schools are not like that. Our high school and grade school associated with my parish has a special ed program. The kids go to school with the other children, but for certain subjects (depending on their disability) they are brought together with just them and are given that extra-special attention, help, and support.
 
daughterofmary said:
I just want to say I am praying for your family… Our high school and grade school associated with my parish has a special ed program.
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Thank you so much for your prayers. I greatly appreciate it. Our son Joseph will be having two hearts surgeries and a pacemaker this year, one of them coming up soon. It has made me aware on a new level the importance of our faith and baptism and teaching it and passing it on to our kids and all kids.

I think it is awesome they have such a program.

richardsonstudi
www.richardsonstudios.com
 
I have two sons with Autism aged 11 and 10years old. I wish there were Catholic schools that accept special needs children. This is also where a voucher system would help. Instead of funding low success public schools, parents could take their taxes to the school of their choice and so provide added funding.
My sons love to pray and sing hymns, but here in Upstate NY we don’t have special needs included in Catholic schools except if they are specifically for more severely disabled.
Our parish St. Joseph’s in Middletown offers a Special needs religious education class after we parents fought for one. Our pastor is very supportive.
Please contact your local diocese office of Family affairs(name?)
and insist on help.
the problem also is the second you put state /federal money into a religious school the state/feds want to dictate as to it’s appearance, no religious symbols etc/what can be taught etc.
We as parents have to be pioneers and fight for our special childrenin this world and in the Church. Don’t be invisible! Make sure your priest/bishops know who you are and get involved.
God love you!
 
brockmac said:
I am very frustrated and doubt that I am the only one. I have a daughter who is deaf. My wife went to discuss the possibility of enrolling her and her 4 siblings in our parish school. We were basically told that the school does not have the resources to facilitate our daughter. There were no questions about what her specific needs or how they might be met. We were simply told, “we’re sorry, but we cannot teach her.”

The fact of the matter is that the only accomodation she currently has in her public school is a pull out for some assistance with ther reading comprehension skills a few hours a week. That really is not the issue though. The issue is that we as Catholics are told that we have an obligation provide our children with a Catholic education, and yet the Church, or at least the schools do not see fit to make Catholic schools accessible to children with special needs.

I recognize that educating a special needs child requires more time, personel, and money, but then again, so does raising one. The Church should be inclusive of people with special needs. If that means that the school needs to charge a little more in tuition, or the parish has to support the school more from Sunday collections, or even if the Diocese needs to support the schools from the Diocesan Service Fund, or perhaps a combination of the three.

It is not very Christ like for a Catholic school to say, “You have special needs. We can’t help you.”

If anyone has had a better experience than mine, or has suggestions on how to approach the schools, parishes, or diocese, please let me know.
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Two observations: 1) SPED is slowly dying out, thanks to NCLB, which, hopefully, will be abolished soon; 2) SPED is a failed program, IMO. It conditions students to be lazy and expect to pass without working. Most kids in SPED, IMO, don’t really belong there, and have just manipulated the system to get in, do nothing, and still graduate. Please excuse my cynicism. I’m really disappointed with SPED. Since your daughter is deaf, I’m obviously not referring to her. 🙂
 
KingAlfred said:
Two observations: 1) SPED is slowly dying out, thanks to NCLB, which, hopefully, will be abolished soon; 2) SPED is a failed program, IMO. It conditions students to be lazy and expect to pass without working. Most kids in SPED, IMO, don’t really belong there, and have just manipulated the system to get in, do nothing, and still graduate. Please excuse my cynicism. I’m really disappointed with SPED. Since your daughter is deaf, I’m obviously not referring to her. 🙂
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So who ARE you referring to? Which kids with which disabilities? Thanks.
 
My child simply needs a school nurse present at school. that’s all. Our parish school (prek-8) doesn’t not have a full time nurse. My pastor asked why my son wasn’t enrolled at school. Since my oldest daughter is at our local Catholic high school he knows that we believe in Catholic education. But I cannot safely send my child to school without a school nurse. He needs no other services, no other programs, just a nurse to be there as needed. They cannot provide for that at our parish school and that saddens me. When I told our pastor that that was my ONLY reason he didn’t say anything. Our parish school is dying out partly because I think so many parents need just a little extra for their children, like my child does. It isn’t the children who need full time special education, it’s the kids that need just one or two things - a reading tutor, an interpreter, a nurse, a speech therapist once a week. I think if the local parish school wants to continue to be a viable they need to bring themselves into the year 2008 and realize that many children need extra services. They’d become a much more attractive option to so many families if they did that.
 
Public schools have trouble providing special services for all students that are mandated by law to receive them. To expect an individual private school to provide the same services as a school district is not realistic.

However, each diocese could indeed step in if they wanted to.
 
Dacinom said:
PaulinVA;3953229:
To expect an individual private school to provide the same services as a school district is not realistic.QUOTE]

The motivations are different. The only reason the school district takes my child is because the law forces them to. The only reason a Catholic school would take my child is to be more like Christ.

You may think this is too naive and thinking like a “Polyanna” but in places where special ed has been embraced…miracles have occurred.

I would just like Catholic schools to put special ed in part of their long-range goals and part of their planning process like everything else. They plan for special projects and expanded curriculum and other new things…why not plan for special ed someday? They have been saying “we don’t have the resources” for so many years and will continue to keep saying it until the end of time with no end in sight.

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AGREED!! AMEN!
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Monicad and momof2 - agree with you.

You missed my point, though. An individual school does not have the resources, and can not pay for, a comprehensive special education program.

My point is that the schools should band together and do the special ed at the diocesan level. I agree it should be done - your experience shows it won’t happen if left to each individual school.
 
PaulinVA said:
Monicad and momof2 - agree with you.

You missed my point, though. An individual school does not have the resources, and can not pay for, a comprehensive special education program.

My point is that the schools should band together and do the special ed at the diocesan level. I agree it should be done - your experience shows it won’t happen if left to each individual school.
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thank you for clarifying. 🙂 I agree with you to a certain extent. It should start at the diocesan level. But the individual parish schools also need to make it a priority to serve EVERY child, especially those from their own parish. That is what they are there for. To serve my child, not the other way around.
 
Dacinom said:
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Special Ed is not as hard as people think it is in most instances. People are afraid and unsure, they think it requires more resources then they have which is what keeps them from trying it. In many cases very little is needed.

Thanks so much for your kind comments, it means a lot that people are praying for this and really thinking about it. God bless you!
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Well, I have a daughter who is dyslexic and has been receiving services from the county since she was three. Reading is such a struggle for her.

What I see is that in the county system, it’s much easier to hire and move people around to meet the need in an individual school, or move children to a center where they can be helped. In a Catholic school, you would be hiring to meet the need in that school only, and that seems hard. Hard to balance the skill set of the LD hires.

I know some accommodations are easy. But some are not. I think the Catholic schools, individual schools, could find themselves in trouble if they accept certain disabilities and not others, you know? Maybe they just don’t want to go there, and that’s why they don’t.
 
Dacinom said:
Special Ed is not as hard as people think it is in most instances. People are afraid and unsure, they think it requires more resources then they have which is what keeps them from trying it. In many cases very little is needed.
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Some of the kids who get sent out-of-district in my county go to schools that cost the state up to $120,000 per year. That doesn’t seem like few resources to me.
 
DD and her sister-in-law are interested in this discussion because they both have special needs children enrolled in local CAtholic schools. they remind me to advise parents to check into what is required by federal and state laws, that is, what services must be provided by the local public school system to your child, even when enrolled in private school. May include speech and audiology testing and therapy, PT, diagnostic testing, aide for those with physical handicaps, deaf interpreter etc. YOu may have to fight for the services, but there may be a parent support and advocacy group that can help you.
 
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