Kudos for Column on Disabilities

* Re “For Developmental Treatment, Let’s End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ ” Orange County Voices, April 22:

Christina Adams’ commentary about how difficult it is for parents to learn about and get educational services for a developmentally disabled child matches the experience of my wife and me in getting services for our autistic son and that of many other parents we have spoken to. The primary reason, as Adams says, is the money.

When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975, it authorized grants to states for the funding of 40% of the cost of special education. The best it has done to date is 8%, and it has left it to the states and local agencies to pick up the slack. Not surprisingly, the regional centers and the school districts are disinclined to advertise the services they are obligated to give but may have difficulty delivering with their current funding.

Special education services are designed to help people with disabilities develop to their greatest potential with independence as the goal. We can prepare them now to get jobs and become productive members of society, or we can shortchange them and increase their demands on social services and the welfare rolls when they become adults. Our society has the choice of paying now or paying forever.

Parents of children with disabilities have no alternative to fighting the regional centers and school districts for the rights of their children. These children need early intervention or they will be left behind. They do not have the time to wait for funding that was promised by Congress a generation ago but has yet to be delivered.

DENNIS PISZKIEWICZ

Laguna Beach

* Bravo to The Times and Christina Adams. Your column had me screaming “Right on! Amen, sister!” in my kitchen last weekend. I appreciate the author’s candid interpretation of “services” not necessarily provided to special education kids and their families in Southern California.

For the people who think “This is not my problem”: It is. Your tax dollars are going to administration and the red tape behind not providing children services.

What this means to you is that your tax bill will increase servicing young children to senior citizens with autism and other related disorders if we do not clean up this mess soon. We should spend our tax dollars in helping these families, not hindering their needs, so these children one day can be responsible tax-paying citizens, not burdens to our communities. Early intervention is key. For some reason, the Regional Center and school districts are not hearing this message. Help us get this message across.

As a parent of a beautiful autistic child who struggles five to 10 hours a week with the Regional Center and my school district, I look forward to your continuing support.

LISA ACKERMAN

Huntington Beach

* Our 5-year-old son with autism began a program at a local school 14 months ago, after we begged for help from the school district. We were told that since he was in a 20-hour-per-week special education preschool class with an hour of speech therapy, he didn’t need additional help. Albeit, he couldn’t answer the question “What is your name?” and was nearly 5 at the time. Their own evaluations indicated he tested last out of 100 children his age in nearly all areas of verbal communication.

After eventually being awarded a 10-hour-per-week program at a school site, some improvement was noted. But it was not until we initiated a letter campaign to the school district that his program came home. His progress since is remarkable. He is completing kindergarten in a regular classroom, and his school recommended regular first grade in September.

If a child destined for a life of special education has made this much progress in only eight months of home programming, why does it have to be an incredible battle with school districts in the first place? The success of his home program will save the county thousands of dollars over his lifetime, and he now has a chance of making an important contribution to our community. We have personally experienced the district’s “Don’t tell” parents policy. If it weren’t for the gracious help of other parents, our son would not have the opportunities for success now available to him.

STEVE AND MELANIE SMITH

Laguna Niguel