Parents: Autistic Kids Ill-Served 

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CMS offers services and therapies for disabled children via the Exceptional Children department, whose officials provide various support services to school staff members. CMS recently implemented a new autism therapy program known as "Best Practices," which uses a variety of different approaches. This change drew heavy criticism from some autism experts and parents, who say that using a mishmash of approaches without a strong philosophical basis or consistency in teaching strategies will confuse a child with autism, and ultimately slow progress. In addition, they say that teachers charged with running these classes lack proper training, which can result in the child having uneven development toward a variety of long-term goals.

""Best-practices' means teachers in charge of autistic classrooms are expected to teach each child in the method in which they learn best," said Alyson Shaffer, an educational consultant who helps set up and monitor therapy programs known as Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). "So if you have six kids in your classroom, you might have six different therapy methods. Speaking as an educator, that's very difficult to do. It's very tough if you're using a different philosophy with each child."

This past summer, a group of parents made a presentation to the school board suggesting they replace Best Practices with an ABA program.

"It's a program that's been proven to work," says O'Neill. "Our intention was to develop six ABA classrooms in Charlotte, which could benefit all children with developmental problems in Mecklenburg County. When CMS denied the proposal, we served them with papers right then and there. We were backed up against the wall."

"We proposed CMS implement an ABA program for the next three years, and then we could reassess," adds Tucker. "Various other states have used the ABA program to great success. Why won't CMS do it? They have $66 million in their EC budget; they just need to reallocate funds. There's a lot of money in there and it's not reaching our special needs children."

"What we hope to accomplish through the lawsuit is a free, appropriate public education for these students, as guaranteed to them by the law," says Melanie Byrd, an attorney with the Children's Law Center, who is in charge of the case. "And that's an education that's specially designed for each child at no cost to the parent that will allow the child to succeed in school and be educated along with their peers to the maximum extent possible. And with these children, the best specially designed instruction is the ABA methodology. Without this therapy, it really delays any progress they make. Unfortunately, with CMS's current Best Practices program, since there is not a specific methodology in place, the teachers are not adequately trained. They're just trying to piece together different approaches."

Jerri Haigler, CMS Executive Director for Public Information, says she cannot discuss the specifics of the lawsuit, but counters that there are several different methodologies for teaching students with autism, and national research has shown that there's not one program that is the be all and end all.

"We are taking the best methods from various methodologies and using what works best for each individual child," Haigler says. "We're using a lot of professional development for our teachers in looking at the different methodologies and determining what would be best."

The case is scheduled to go to court November 7.

Prior to the current "Best Practices," program, CMS provided TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication-handicapped Children) therapy for children with autism and related communication disorders. TEACCH was developed at UNC-Chapel Hill in the 1960s. In 1972, the state established three TEACCH centers to offer diagnosis and therapies, and soon TEACCH became the dominant therapy for autism in NC, with regional centers opening all across the state, including Charlotte. It was integrated into the CMS system in the mid-80s.ABA therapy uses a systematic approach to teaching complex skills through the use of positive reinforcement and motivation. Unlike the group setting of TEACCH, ABA is a program of intensive one-on-one teaching. It is based on research first published by B.F. Skinner in 1938, and later expanded upon by many others, most notably Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas, a professor of psychology at UCLA. An ABA treatment program is designed for one child, using the services of several paraprofessionals under the direction of an ABA expert. Practitioners say this therapy is far more progressive than TEACCH, and has been proven to be the most effective. The parents interviewed for this story report that their children have shown marked improvements since they started ABA therapy programs at home.

"If you look at all the statistics, ABA is proven to work," says Tucker. "If you have intensive ABA therapy, the chances of a child improving substantially in the first three years and being mainstreamed into the regular school system increase dramatically. And that's my goal -- for my child to be more independent, socially adaptable, be able to communicate, but most of all, to be happy. A lot of these kids, including my son, can't speak. It's like being in jail. Their frustration level is so intense, and that's where a lot of the behavioral problems come from."