September 29, 2008

Us, Our Kids, and My Ration Book from WWII

News flash! It was not our kids who broke the banks of the United States. For 20 years special education costs have been the whipping boy of newspapers and school board conventions. They insisted that we were to blame for the financial problems they faced. We knew it wasn’t true, but often felt guilty because some of the services our kids need are expensive. So when one enormous financial institution after another collapsed last week, it confirmed our worst fear- nobody knows what they’re doing- ANYWHERE. The smartest people in the world could not save America from itself. We imploded and all bets are now off. We have war. We have upheaval and unrest around the world. And we saw it perhaps first in special education. For all of its promise, the system grew fat, top-heavy and greedy, with little interest in serving its designated population. Instead, it became a way to make money. No matter where you look, somebody is selling something about special education. If you don’t sell a product, whatever you say or do must not be worth anything. Unless you have more of it than somebody else, you’re a looser. While the bail out of Wall Street and the banking industry is being finalized, who is going to bail us out? Who is going to sell our futures for an investment upon which we can borrow?

During World War II, every American had a ration book. Here is what mine looked like when I was four years old. Each person’s book contained stamps that let them purchase goods that were in short supply in the amount and location designated by the Office of Price Administration. Each geographic area had a Local War Price and Rationing Board that controlled the sale of certain goods. Rationing was considered a…

“vital part of your country’s war effort. Any attempt to violate the rules is an effort to deny someone his share and will create hardship and help the enemy. This (ration) book is your Government’s assurance of your right to buy your far share of certain goods made scarce by war. Price ceilings have also been established for your protection. Dealers must post these prices conspicuously. Don’t pay more. Give your whole support to rationing and thereby conserve our vital goods. Be guided by the rule: If you don’t need it, DON’T BUY IT. (U.S. Government Printing Office: 1943).

Whatever happened to this idea of shared sacrifice and equal opportunity? In 1943, the Government at least went on record as trying to be fair, stating that equal opportunity was considered to be patriotic. This did not have to do with civil rights. It had to do with the material stuff we liked to buy. Up until our 2008 calamity, which is likely to last a long time, the governmental remedy for any national crisis was, “Go out and buy. Spend your money and support the economy.” Buy more gas. Buy clothes. Buy a bigger house. No emphasis was placed on responsibility. For children, of course, it was designer jeans and sneakers- anything that showed you had the money to buy something ridiculously expensive.

Only one population had its own ration book since 1975- special education. Our ration book was the IEP- the child’s fair share of the educational goods he/she needed in order to equalize their opportunity to an education. They could not have the best, but just what was appropriate. The problem was that the cost of the services became too high and there were too many children that needed them, too many ration books without the stuff in the store to purchase. Today, there are not enough providers, too little space, and too little time to deliver what is needed. There is too much disparity between good schools and bad schools. Special education has become the bastard child of failed interventions, too little and too late. But that was yesterday. We are living now, quite literally, in a new time when we have to start over from scratch in order to rebuild what has been lost. The mantra for special education must be conservation and restoration.

Things for Parents To Do

1. Do not emphasize things. Emphasize ideas, the adventure of a walk, a talk, organizing a drawer, watching the movement of a fly, an ant, a cockroach. Curiosity and laughter make us human and they are free. Fun and discovery have no price tag. Nothing is too small or too large, from a speck of sand on the ground to the galaxies above. Value who we are and not what we buy.
   
   
2. Recycle. In World War II, the ration book said…

   When you have used your ration, salvage the tin cans and waste fats.
   They are needed to make munitions for our fighting men. Cooperate with
   your Local Salvage Committee.

Today, we call that “thinking green.” We recycle paper, plastic, glass, and cans for the survival of our planet. Fine motor coordination, pretend play, language and social skills can be helped as much or more by toilet paper and paper towel spools in arts and crafts than a video game. For years I made finger puppets from empty Tampax tubes for my children and students. They were perfect for little fingers. Add cheap flour, salt, water, and a dab of oil- play dough. Mold it over the tube. It is always more fun to do than to buy- an idea that some people think of as radically new and imported from Italy!

3. Eat together. Cook real food. Have the kids help. They can each pick an item from your “ration book”. Clean up together. You have reading, measuring, sharing, higher-level thinking skills, social skills and sensory integration as a bonus. You learn more about your children at the kitchen table than anywhere else. If their disability does not let them come or stay at the table, take the family to them. The floor is as good a place to eat as the table.
   
   
4. Value health. Winter colds and coughs get us all. But if we work on the basics of health- keeping a schedule, being physically active, having friends, being creative and enthusiastic about your interests, eating healthy food, washing you hands, getting enough sleep, turning off the television and computer- we will improve. We all know these things. But now we have to do it, for this is a new beginning and we must be a part of the solution.

As parents, our responsibility is to nurture, protect and love our children. That includes actively learning about their disability and how to help them at home. We provide the foundation for formal education. That is the job of our public schools.

Things for Schools and Staff To Do

1. Ration paper. Do away with all computerized IEPs and save forests of trees. Millions of pounds of paper are used by schools in generating completely worthless IEPs that have nothing to do with the child. Most individualized IEPs can be written on no more than four pages, often only one.
   
   
2. Change the kinds of evaluations given. Do away with school psychologists and educational testers. Replace them with neuropsychologists who are able to do all testing except motor, mental health, and certain kinds of speech-language problems.
   
   
3. Use the IEP meeting more efficiently. Don’t read evaluations out loud that the parents have already read. Substitute number scores for narratives in reports, and explain what they mean. Don’t talk about your children and their experiences and problems.
   
   
4. Integrate all resources in order to service the entire child and family. Dissolve all barriers between health, education and welfare. Merge all services into one administrative unit in each school building. This would include doctors, dentists, OTs, PTs, language therapists, and mental health professionals. It would include after school and day care programs. Educate and work with the child and the family as a unit and as members of the community. The financial savings in both prevention and outcome would conserve both human and financial capital.

Special education is that tiny little yellow canary carried into the coal mine to test for toxic fumes. It began to die 20 years ago, but could not be resuscitated by the year 2000. It was strangled by misinformation, corruption and political convenience. Oddly enough, that gives us a head start in facing the hard realities of the last year. America’s coalmine caved in under the weight of too few taking too much from too many. Special education has experienced that for a long time. Let’s rebuild what has been lost, careful to consume goods in only the quantities needed, while protecting the ration stamps given us to use.