It's important to identify our kids with special needs

Thanks to Sophia Fischer for a great article regarding the failed H6 Bond Measure. Her piece was informative and specific, and finally gave us some real answers to our real questions, mainly, "Where is the money going, who's minding the store, and how are we moving forward to provide the schools what they really need?"

My only suggestion is that we take another look at the rising cost of special ed.

As a parent of a learning-disabled child who went through the OPUSD, K-12, I will tell you that, from my own experience and that of so many other parents in our district, this district still needs to be more proactive in identifying special needs earlier and acting upon it.

In my case, I was told by this district, "Your son is young; boys mature slower; we'll watch him; he'll be fine." These are all words every parent wants to hear, and so we wait and we watch them, and we hope the teachers and the district are right. We take their lead, and we agree to "a little resource here and a little tutoring there."

But when we find out that our kids really needed more than that, many times it's too late. They're now getting ready for middle school where there's greater peer pressure and social stigmas attached to being pulled out of class for resource. And every year that passes by without the proper academic intervention, it's another year lost.

Learning is accumulative. First, our kids must learn to read--then they must read to learn. And many learning disabilities prevent kids from even doing that. Had my son's issues been acted upon properly at Oak Hills and Red Oak 15 years ago, he never would have had the degree of accumulative academic struggles he encountered at Medea and Oak Park High.

Let's start by making sure all of our teachers are trained properly at every grade level in identifying and teaching kids with learning disabilities, especially in their younger years, and not leave it all to a wait-and-see approach. Maybe then our special ed. costs won't be as high in middle and high school, and we'll be turning out kids who are better educated, with more self-esteem, who are even better prepared to lead more productive and successful lives.
Judi Fields
Oak Park