Autism Education And Chicago Public Schools

Le Moyne Elementary in Chicago has an enrollment of 59 students, 32 of which are Autistic. In 2005 the school board voted to close the Early Childhood Education program for students with Autism as part of plans to phase out the school. In place of educating the schools most academically vulnerable students, the Chicago Public School Board will move the Inter-American school for the gifted into the Le Moyne building.

Chicago's first, and arguably best, Autistic program is facing a closure that will effect more than Le Moyne's current students, but also the hundreds of students who will be entering the Chicago Public School system in the next several years.

According to a 2007 report by the Center for Disease Control, one out of every 150 children born in the U.S. is born with Autism. 560,000 individuals in the nation are effected directly.

Approximately 1,700 of those 560,000 are students in the Chicago Public School system.

Only handful of schools within Chicago Public School system provide specialized education for students with Autism, an increasingly common disorder that experts say is best treated through individualized attention.

While some Chicago Public Schools use generally trained special education teachers to attend to their special needs students, other Chicago Public schools take a different route. Like Le Moyne, Walter Payton College Prep provides teachers specialized in teaching those with Autism to its 18 Autistic students. However, many of the schools, some of which cater to more than 20 Autistic students, use the more traditional special education system and have no educators devoted specifically to their comparably large autistic population.

Many schools use a generalized system for students of all disabilities. As such children with Autism often receive a less comprehensive education than they are capable of processing and utilizing.

Autism is a commonly misunderstood disorder. It limits a person's ability to communicate but not their capacity to understand. Thus, experts emphasize the importance of specialized attention to ensure Autistic students reach their full academic potential. Often times thought of as a mental disorder, Autism is actually a genetic disorder. It is a result of gene deletion somewhere in the growth process of a child. This gene is a primary part of the child's ability to communicate and the result is apparent even at a young age.

"Most autistic children have an onset of symptoms prior to the age of 3, usually in the first or second year of life," said University of Chicago psychiatrist Bennett Leventhal.

Because Autism is misunderstood and the treatment unknown, it is all to often seen as a debilitating disorder. However, this is not the case in most children. High functioning Autistic children display a high aptitude in academics as well as significant indications of success in the working world.

With the increasing number of Autistic children in public schools and the growing need for specialized programs, some argue that the lack of proper attention in generalized special education is destroying untapped potential.

"I went to college unprepared because of my freshman year [of high school] lack of qualifled teachers," said Curtis Harris, Le Moyne's first Autistic student who later attended upper grade schools with generalized special education programs.

Harris is one of the few students who was able to attend the special Autism program at Le Moyne's in 1984. It was the first year a specialized Autism program was available at a Chicago Public School.

"When the Board decided to close Early Childhood Autistic Program at Le Moyne, a lot of the parents were furious and feared their children would regress to their former anti-social behavioral ways. I agreed with the parents and special education teachers, and my former teacher aides, that the Board decided to put more of their emphasis on the gifted schools and programs than on the Board's most vulnerable children," said Harris, who is now at the forefront of Autism education awareness.

Harris attended Le Moyne's program from 1984 to 1987 when it was the only program accepting Autistic children. He attests much of his later success to the personalized attention and tailored curriculum he received while attending the school. Because Le Moyne only began keeping students through eighth grade a few years ago, Harris had to switch to another school that provided upper level Autistic programs. A move him and his family found to be a striking blow to his academic development.

"In 1992 the Board tried to do total inclusion of autistic, learning disabled, emotionally mentally handicapped and severe learning disabled students. It didn't work, because not all of them are capable of doing academic work," he commented.

Though Harris' father ended up filling a lawsuit against the Board, charging them with violating disability laws and demanded that his son be removed from the program because of its lack of success, the majority of Chicago Public Schools still use the generalized system.

Harris believes that the success of individuals with Autism, like himself, comes through integration with students in regular classes, not with students in special education classes.

"Autistic students with high functioning skills must be mainstreamed in academic classes like Social Studies, Science and Computers, while they must do reading and writing in their self-contained classroom with their teacher and teachers' aide."

Over 300 Chicago Public schools are responsible for the education of at least one Autistic child, a fraction of which use a specialized program with trained educators, independent of collective special education programs. Those that have trained specialist and special programs often find themselves at risk of closure for multiple reasons. This places a major strain on an aspect of the school system that many feel is a necessity, not merely an option if convenient.

"This is a disorder that is vastly overlooked by general special education teachers, and thus the kids don't get the attention they need," said Omar Khan, who's brother is an Autistic student. "It doesn't allow them to grow academically, and it impairs the learning they could receive."

As scientists continue over 15 years of research hoping to uncover a potential treatment for Autism, there are mixed feelings of fear and hope. For some, the growth of their Autistic child, brother or sister was stunted because of a lack of understanding of the disorder. To many others, research and awareness are simply ways for them to ensure their loved one is given the same chance as any other bright-eyed grade school child: the chance to understand and the feeling of that comes with being understood.