Everything Old is new again

 Everything old is new again

 

Many years ago children with less than typical intelligence were called retarded.   It was decided that was unkind so now those individuals are called intellectually disabled.

What else has changed besides a better vocabulary?  Sadly not so much.

Years ago students with limited intelligence were classified as “trainable”.  They attended school and were taught to handle daily living skills and to do repetitive job tasks.  Their teachers were often acknowledged by administrators as being the weakest teachers.   I was told by an assistant superintendent of a local school system that they “assigned the teachers who couldn’t teach to the students who couldn’t learn.  No harm no foul”.

Today these youngsters still get the weakest teachers, because the unions do everything they can to keep these people from being terminated.  What else is the district to do with them.  If you go into one of the classes for the intellectually disabled you are most likely to attend a “movie day” when students are watching a movie.  On another day you might see the students coloring very primary looking worksheets.  Or perhaps doing some simple craft. 

Years ago, when these students aged out of school they attended “sheltered workshops” where they were paid pennies for piece work.  The tasks were repetitive such as stuffing plastic flatware into bags for restaurants or packaging marketing materials for give-a-ways.   But those facilities were outlawed as being exploitive and they were.  But they did provide a social setting and a sense of work.

Today, federal funds are provided for agencies to offer work training and daily activities.   Sometimes the adults work in cohorts at airports or other large facilities as cleanup crews with a non-disabled supervisor.  At these jobs they earn minimum wage.  Problem is there are not enough federal funds to provide service to all of the individuals who need the help.  So those people without the federal funding support get to stay at home.

Years ago, transition services were almost nonexistent.  Transition services are supposed to assist the individual in making the transition from school to work.

Today every school has transition service.   But the service is so poorly staff it is like dragging one chicken leg through several gallons of water and calling it chicken soup.  It is not unusual for one transition specialist to be responsible for over 100 students! Hardly sufficient staff to help anyone.

Everything new might not be as good as everything old.  Sometimes the good old days really were.