Why so many?

 Why so many?

 

The number of American children and adults diagnosed with autism increased 175% in roughly a decade.  This information is according to new research that shows the uptick is particular to a few groups.

In a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open indicated that autism prevalence jumped from 2.3 per thousand to 6.3 per thousand in the roughly one decade studied.  

The biggest jump was seen in adults ages 26-34 which saw an increase of 450%.  This jump included a significant increase of female vs male children.  The highest prevalence was found in children ages 5 to 8.   Kids from racial and ethnic minority groups saw the biggest jump.   But this trend did not hold to adults.

The big question is why???  Have you ever had the experience after buying a blue car to notice how many blue cars there are out there.   Something similar is happening to diagnosing autism.   There has been an expansion of universal development screening that accounts for some of the increase in diagnosis rates.  There is also the notion of status.   Many years ago, the formal diagnosis of learning disabilities became a reality.   Suddenly,  many children who had been diagnosed with mental retardation became learning disabled.  As we learn more about autism, some historians are looking back at famous people and deciding that they too had autism.  Perhaps autism has become a status diagnosis.   People on the spectrum are featured in prime time TV shows.   It has become sort of a boutique diagnosis.

Interestingly, the increase has been more in the higher functioning areas of the spectrum.   Although the increases in the lower functioning areas sends out a call for society to be looking at adult care for these individuals who may not be able to live independently.

What you look for you will find.   Is that true of autism?

Jump down, spin around, pick a bale of cotton

 Jump down, spin around, pick a bale of cotton

 

Gotta jump down, spin around,  pick a bale of hay.  Some of you might remember the old folk song.  It seems it might be coming back to life.

A federal lawsuit claimed an Illinois teacher gave Black students a bag of cotton- and ONLY Black students- after a lesson on slavery.

The racial discrimination lawsuit was filed against a teacher at Julian Middle School in Oak Park Illinois.   The lesson involved all students putting their hands into a box that supposedly contained raw cotton from cotton plants.   The teacher then gave the 2 African American children a separate bag of cotton for them to take home.   No white child was given the separate bag of cotton.   The incident caused an outcry at a Board meeting.   Numerous parents said their children had experienced racial discrimination in the district was this was the last straw or piece of cotton.

At the meeting, parents spoke about many different instances of overt racial bias.  Representatives of the local NAACP were also at the meeting and said it was their intent to also file a compliant with the U.S. office of Civil Rights.

The lawsuit said that Oak Park school administrators held a meeting with the teacher after the incident.   Administrators explained that the use of cotton in the lesson had not been “approved” by the school district.  The teacher allegedly cried during the meeting with her principal and said she didn’t think it “would cause any harm”.  It is difficult to figure out just what she thought it would do to those two students.  And why were they treated any differently than the remaining white students?

Another question that needs to be asked is where has the local NAACP been during all these months when Black families have been complaining about racial bias and harassment.   Are they just waking up to the need to do something?

The NAACP asked, “why are Black families not taken seriously when they report something?”   The same question could be asked of the NAACP.   What caused them to finally wake up to the issue?

Maybe the school district and the teacher are not the only ones ignoring feelings. Maybe folks need to jump down, spin around and pick up some good sense.

 

 

Promises Made, Debt Unpaid

 Promises Made, Debt Unpaid

 

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future makes lots of promises for a great tomorrow in education.  There are many areas where doubts are being expressed about the cost as they begin to come due in the next few years.

One of the areas of greatest need and least fulfillment is the promise of free early childhood education.   With the number of kids in single parent homes and the number of children in families where both parents are working, early childhood education is critical.   Not just for the child but for the family.

Child care usually falls to the mother in the family.   Private early childhood education runs about $1,800 a month.  If a family has more than one child, the cost can equal the net salary of the mother.  Consequently, many women decide to give up or delay their careers to stay home and provide child care.

The plan in the Blueprint is for there to be a public/private partnership to provide the free childcare.   That plan isn’t working for multiple reasons.

Application for the funds by private providers is long and complex.   Add that to the fact that the State Legislature does not end the session until mid-April so MSDE does not know how much money it has to allocate for the effort.  Private providers do not know how many free seats they will have until sometime after the school year has begun.   At the present time there isn’t a system for public programs that are full to refer candidates to the funded private providers.    Consequently, private providers may have openings for funded students but are unaware of where those students are.

On the other hand, some private providers may chose not to do the lengthy paperwork required or to work with the state bureaucracy.  Additionally, participants in the funding plan need to have staff with certain credentials and need to pay their staff at a going rate.  Some private provides do neither.  As a result, those private providers are finding their census down dramatically previously paying customers are going to free seats elsewhere.  In some cases, threatening their viability of staying open; thereby decreasing the number of paid seats available to those families who can afford the cost.  

The subsidy is currently $13,000 a year.  It is set to increase to 14k next year and up to nearly $20,000 the following year.

But the piper must be paid.   Already candidates for Boards of Education spots are worrying how the cost of the Blueprint is going to be paid.  The Blueprint was passed without a funding plan.   Public schools are fighting to find physical spots for public pre-K, in addition to the cost of pre-k teachers who need to be paid on the public teacher salary scale.  Commitment to the Blueprint is showing signs of fragmenting.

Of all the pillars in the Blueprint, pre-k education for all of Maryland’s children is  a debt that must be paid.

 

Big Change for SSI

 Big Change has arrived for SSI

 

People with disabilities may receive Supplemental Security Income or SSI.   Recipients of the benefit are required to report how they spend the stipend.  Until recently if a recipient paid less than fair market value for his/her rent, the difference between the fair market value and the actual rent was deducted from the stipend.

This situation was most likely to occur when the recipient lived at home or with other family members.  Yet, the benefit did not pay enough for fair market value in the open market AND the recipient’s disability often made it very difficult for him/her to live independently.

Recipients went to court in a number of states.  As a result, there was variety around the country.  In seven states, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Texas, monthly payments were not reduced if the recipient was paying more than a third of his/her income for housing even in those instances when it was less than fair market value.

With the new rule, Social Security will apply the less stringent standard nationwide.   Social Security administration expects that as a result of the new rule about 41,000 people will see their SSI payments increase an average of $132 a month.  An additional, 14,000 are expected to now qualify for SSI.

The new policy took effect on September 30.

This rule change is part of a wide-ranging effort to reconsider how the Social Security Administration is handling SSI payments.  Earlier in the spring, the Social Security Administration said it would also stop counting food as part of the “in-kind support and maintenance” this fall.  How Social Security views income from other public agencies is also being examined.

Martin O’Malley, Director of Social Security,  explained that the plan not only had huge benefits for recipients but it also reduced agency time spent calculating and administering rental subsidy.

A win-win for people with disabilities and the bureaucracy that serves them.

 7%- That’s Amazing

Only 7% of the 8^th graders taking the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment in math passed it last school year.   That’s terrible.  Well actually it is quite amazing if you take the trouble to look at some of the practice items that are published online.  If you did that, you would not only be amazed that anyone passed the test but  you would also have to ask the question – why on earth do we even TRY to prepare kids to pass this foolishness.

Sample question:

Which expression below is equivalent to +=

A= -8

B= -1/8

C= 1/8

D=8

 

Truly the above is a sample question for an 8^th grader.  The vast majority of 8^th graders got this wrong.  Probably the vast majority of job holding successful adults got it wrong too. Other questions on the test are similar.

Time is finite.   Once elapsed you can never get it back.  Teachers are working and wasting students’ time teaching them to try and do this foolishness.   To what purpose??  Evidently so they will not be among the 93% who do not pass the test.  How many more useful functional things could our students be learning instead of wasting their time on this. 

 

One of the easier items is =49/16

Again, how useful is this?  

Students need to pass these tests to get a high school diploma.  Check around with people you know and see how many can answer the questions.  Then ask yourself, are they relatively successful adults?   Are they employed, self-supporting, have jobs, contributing to society?  And yet they can’t do these math questions. 

There is a lot of hype around the poor math scores of students.   Very few people ask the question, what is being measured and is the juice worth the squeeze.  Do we really care if our kids can do these things or not and isn’t there some better way for them to be using their time.

Sort of reminds me of the Emperor’s New Clothes.  While we are arguing over the color of his cloak, we fail to acknowledge he isn’t wearing a cloak at all!

BTW, the answer to question 1 is D-8.   The answer to question 2 is 1 ¾.  Let me know if you can ever use this information.

Do we want to feed the kids or not

 Maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch?

 

Eight states in our union have promised every student a free lunch.   No paperwork, no forms, no how much money does your family have.   Nope, everyone who comes to school gets a free lunch- or at least free to the student.

Governor Walz of Minnesota said that while other states were banning books, his state was banishing hunger.

The Federal meal program for k-12 students was created to provide food to children from low-income families while at school.   The program is funded through the US Department of Agriculture.   While originally created as a kind of stop-gap for hungry kids, it has become in many ways an entitlement program.

As with all things there are three sides to every story.

The US House of Representatives has passed a budget package that would eliminate the community eligibility provision.  This is a policy that allows entire school districts, groups of schools or a single school to provide all students with meals regardless of the income of any single child.  Project 2025 and the US House of Representatives argue that the program should return to its original intent and only serve low-income kids.

California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico and Vermont all join Minnesota in providing free lunch to all.  Under the typical meal system, some students pay the full price, others pay a reduced price and still others get a free lunch.  Universal free lunch dramatically reduces the paperwork and each child can feel good about him or herself. No more stigma for some kids if they want to eat.    Under the typical system, some kids would rather go hungry than have to identify as poor enough for a free lunch.   As Scrooge would say, “if they would rather go hungry then let them”.   A bill sponsored in both houses of Congress calling for free breakfast and lunch has gained no traction among Republicans.

For many children, school lunches (and breakfast in some cases) provide the major food source for a child in a day.    Some schools send home weekend bags too.

These lunches aren’t free.   Someone is footing the bill.   So, the questions are should all kids eat, should some kids eat, and who should be paying for the groceries, because there really isn’t a free lunch.

 

Let's Redshirt that boy!

 Let’s Redshirt that boy!

 

More and more parents are “redshirting” their young children.    College sports teams aren’t the only ones to “redshirt”.

Maryland law requires that kindergarten is the first compulsory year of school attendance.   But the law also allows for caregivers to ask for a maturity waiver.   Mostly this rule impacts boys who tend to mature more slowly than girls.  

Many families do not feel their child is ready for kindergarten.   But as in many benefits this bonus comes with several considerations.

First of all, kindergarten is free.  And that includes free transportation.   Providing your child with an extra year of child care is not free.   It is not unusual for day care to cost around $235 a week.  That’s a chunk of change.   Maryland’s Blueprint for Education will eventually provide free pre-school as well, but the roll out of that program is just getting started and limited free spots fill quickly.  Last year about 300 families in the Baltimore metro area took the maturity waiver.   Not surprisingly these were mostly upper income families.

Another consideration is the maturity of the child.   While Kindergarten begins at age 5, not all 5 year olds are ready to begin the more formal schooling.   This situation is particularly true today when kindergarten has become more academic centered and not play centered.  Summer birthday kids are particularly at risk.   Kids with winter birthdays turning 5 have almost a full year before they need to start kindergarten.   Whereas, summer birthdays are right on the cusp.

In making the decision, families need to talk with day care providers, sports team leaders and other trusted adults.   How is the child doing on focus, communication with peers and setting boundaries?

When thinking about redshirting, families need to consider the here and now as well as the future.   A child who is redshirted because of emotional immaturity may be academically on target or even ahead.    What will that mean for the child who then starts kindergarten even more ahead of his class peers academically ?   In an environment of pacing guides, teachers don’t slow down nor hurry up for differences in learning rate.  Being academically ahead of classmates becomes hard on the teacher and the child.

Decisions need to be made carefully.   And sometimes family economics make the decision.   There is no need to rush childhood.   And redshirting only benefits some athletes and kindergarten kids.