Recommendation: School-based identification and services
What Parents Said...
I had to...almost close down the school fighting....
[After ten months] I said, “Look, I don’t care who pays
for a psychological evaluation.” Because the school was saying,
“Well, DSS has to.” DSS was saying, “It’s the
school’s problem.” and I just got mad... By the time it
got to the board of education, they looked at me and they said,
“How did you manage?” (New York)
|
The parents almost uniformly identified schools as problematic. They
said that mental health services in schools (billable to Medicaid in both
states) were almost nonexistent in most places. Schools routinely blamed
parents, they reported, and denied their children access to the special
education required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA). Day treatment programs were rare and the parents found those
that existed overburdened. Unable to appropriately address children’s
mental health needs, schools instead suspended children—some as early
as preschool. Other children dropped out or were expelled from high school.
More school-based day treatment services need to be developed. In addition,
schools should revise their policies to more accurately identify children
with “emotional disturbance.” These children are being overlooked
and denied the services they are entitled to under IDEA. As a result they
are deteriorating and will require more intensive and expensive care later
in their lives.
|
