A third of parents are telling us that their children are on a reduced school timetable due to their autism.

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"It was confirmed on Thursday that 43 new special education classes will open this September in Dublin, with the number of special classes in Dublin’s primary schools more than doubling in the last five years from 158 in June 2017 to the 340 which have been established for the coming school year….”

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The minister said 106 children do not have a special school place but she believed the number will go down over the next few weeks because some of the schools on the list of 14 "will be in a position to open a special class so some of that will be reduced"….

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Four leading advocacy groups have called for the urgent passage of proposed new legislation to speed up the process of compelling schools to open places for children with special educational needs (SEN).  …

It comes against the backdrop of a crisis over provision for students needing a place in primary and post primary schools next September, with about 100 places still required in Dublin alone.

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The provision of school places for autistic children is a disgrace, Labour Party's Education Spokesperson Aodhán Ó Riordáin has said.

Speaking in the Dáil during a debate on his party's Autism Bill, Deputy Ó Riordáin said the legislation would provide for a National Autism Strategy to address what the party has described as the "inadequacy of services for people with autism and their families".

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UK

The number of children in England approaching councils for special needs support has increased by almost a quarter in a year, latest figures reveal, with 170 young people now starting support plans each day. …

  The LGA, which represents councils, says emergency action is needed now, to help meet the rising demand for SEND support.

It is calling on the Government to scrap the high needs deficits councils have built up, as a result of the spiralling costs of providing support outstripping the SEND budgets available to councils…

With councils having to make difficult decisions over where support is provided, there were 62,180 new EHC plans made in the last year, amounting to 170 children and young people starting a plan each day.

There are now nearly half a million children and young people (473,255) on ECH plans – an increase of over 100 per cent since eligibility for SEND support was extended in 2014 to people aged 16-25.

While eliminating high needs deficits will help councils in the short-term, the LGA says boosting the inclusion of pupils with SEND in mainstream schools is vital….

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Earlier this month the Department for Education (DfE) published the latest statistics on Special Educational Needs in England. In Bristol there are currently 100 more pupils attending special schools than there were last year.

The number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in Pupil Referral Units (PRU) in Bristol has risen by almost 40 per cent in five years.

The total number of children and young people with EHCPs who are waiting for school placements, being home educated or not in education, employment or training, has risen to 32,700.

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The number of children in England seeking special educational needs and disability (SEND) support from councils has risen by nearly a quarter in a year, according to the latest data.

The Local Government Association has called for emergency action to ensure this rising demand for support is met.

The LGA has said that Government needs to resolve the high needs deficits built up by councils as a result of rising costs which outstrip the SEND budgets available to them.

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There are 52,000 children waiting for initial assessment and therapy.

The biggest waiting list is for speech and language therapy at over 30,000 children. Nearly 8,000 are awaiting physiotherapy and over 13,000 are waiting for occupational therapy.

And there are 9,500 children on waiting lists for further speech and language therapy appointments.

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PLANS to transform the vacant Dean Row Centre at Wilmslow into a satellite special school have moved a step closer with the submission of a planning application….

“The satellite school will be required to accommodate a minimum of 70 students with ASD, with a top capacity of 80 students.”

The school will have 37 full-time equivalent staff.

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Lancashire County Council is proposing to expand this special school with the creation of 34 additional places, increasing the school population to 189.

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 NEW sixth form facilities will be created for two of Cumbria's specialist educational needs schools with an investment of nearly £1 million [$1.2M] by Cumbria County Council.

Demand for SEN provision has grown year on year causing special schools in the area to be oversubscribed.

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It comes as the number of children in England approaching councils for special needs support has increased by almost a quarter in a year - with 170 young people now starting support plans each day.

The Local Government Association called for emergency action to ensure the rising demand is met, with councils struggling to manage soaring costs which outstrip the SEND budgets available to them.

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Work on a building project that will transform education for pupils with additional learning needs in Powys will begin this month, the county council has announced….

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Calderdale  councillors  heard one daily journey to and from an out-of-area school costs the authority more than £24,000 [$29K] a year, and other similar journeys cost sums averaging £8,700 [$10K] per pupil, per year….

This costs the council £22,265 [27K] a week. Of the 86 children, 26 go to schools outside of the local authority. The weekly cost for these pupils is £9,595 [$11.6K]….

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The largest proportion of the £1.5 million fund will go towards improving the provision of special school places in the county, including £650,000 [$790,000] for a new 60-place school in Stroud and £150,000 [$182,000] for facilities at Bettridge Special School in Cheltenham.

Council leaders want to expand the provision of special school places amid increasing demand, which means children sometimes have go to schools out of the county or to independent schools when there aren’t places

Meanwhile in the U.S., the accommodations continue

Helping Hands Family (HHF) has expanded their New Jersey footprint by adding comprehensive applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy services to both Monmouth and Middlesex County, New Jersey. This expansion reflects HHF's commitment to the autism community, serving as many families and children in need as they can.

Currently, HHF is providing services to children across nearly 20 locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware, with plans to expand to Connecticut this Fall. …

Clinical Director, Hailey Gould comments "We are so excited to expand our services in New Jersey!

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Apara Autism Center opened a new location on June 13 at 121 Vision Park Drive, Ste. 250, Shenandoah [TX]. Apara Autism Center offers services, such as evidence-based applied behavior analysis therapy, caregiver ABA training, speech and language therapy programs, and feeding therapy programs. Apara Autism Center has multiple locations in Houston and Dallas.

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Michigan lawmakers agreed to hundreds of millions of dollars in new special education funding as part of a new state budget in which they tapped a historic surplus to pass one of the most sweeping school spending plans in decades….

SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING The new budget will sharply increase funding for students with disabilities. Districts will get 75 percent more per pupil with disabilities than they do for students without disabilities. They will also be reimbursed for 28 percent of their spending on special education, continuing past practice….

All told, the state will spend roughly an additional $312 million on students with special needs to address long-running concerns among educators that the state was failing to recognize the true cost of providing special education services.

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Missouri State University-West Plains’ (MSU-WP) ASCEND Program received a significant boost from the state Thursday when Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation earmarking $7.5 million in capital funding for a facility to house the program, which supports students with autism. …

“Our kids with autism are going to one day be adults with autism, and our community should be ready to help them succeed,” said 33rd District State Sen. Karla Eslinger (R-Wasola).

That final story from Missouri says it all.

State Sen. Karla Eslinger is so typical of the people in charge who can’t ask the obvious.

Eslinger acknowledges that KIDS WITH AUTISM WILL EVENTUALLY BE ADULTS WITH AUTISM. They will need support and care. Legislators have allocated $7.5 MILLION to help them.

My questions for Eslinger and everyone else in the above stories talking about autism:

WHY CAN’T YOUNG AUTISTIC ADULTS GO WHERE AUTISTIC ADULTS HAVE ALWAYS GONE?

WHY IS AUTISM SUCH A COSTLY ISSUE FOR OUR SCHOOLS?

HAVE WE CREATED A WHOLE NEW POPULATION OF DISABLED CHILDREN THAT WILL HAVE TO HAVE SPECIAL CARE THAT SIMPLY ISN’T HERE NOW?

The answers are:

….They can’t because we’ve never had massive numbers of adults disabled with autism.

…It is because autism can be a truly debilitating condition.

…Yes, obviously.

No one wants to ask these questions of course. It’s much easier to sound compassionate and supportive and avoid the real problem.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.