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Expanding autism help on Long
Island November 4, 2007
By John Hildebrand
| Susan Moran, SCO
Family of Services assistant executive director, and Bob
McMahon, SCO Family of Services executive director, in a
Tyree Learning Center classroom in East Meadow. The
organization has obtained state permission to build the
state's first residential school for academically
advanced teens with autism. (Newsday / Ari Mintz /
November 2, 2007) |
Spurred by soaring numbers of
students diagnosed with autism and other neurological disorders, the
state is more than doubling the capacity of residential schools for
such students on Long Island, while lifting a de facto 12-year
freeze on expansion here.
A major state goal is to return to
the Island many students now housed in out-of-state centers, by
adding 162 new residential beds for the severely disabled at five
local sites. One out-of-state facility, the Judge Rotenberg Center
in Canton, Mass., drew widespread criticism last year after a parent
complained of the center's use of skin-shock therapy.
The planned expansion includes the
first residential, college-prep school in the state for teens with
Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism that afflicts many with high
intelligence. The new facility for two dozen adolescents and young
adults will be known as Westbrook Preparatory School and is to open
next year, probably in Westbury.
"This would be a first, and we're
hoping it will serve as a model," said Susan Moran, assistant
executive director of SCO Family of Services, a non-profit agency
headquartered in Glen Cove. SCO, which already operates a home and a
school for 73 students with more severe impairments, will run the
new academy as well.
Westbrook Prep would combine a
strong academic program, including state Regents exams, with
intensive instruction in social skills typically lacking in youths
with Asperger's Syndrome. The residential school would be the first
of its kind in the state to serve students ages 12 through 21. The
only other residential facility of its type is located upstate, and
enrolls students only through age 12.
Along with the new residential
school, the Islandwide expansion also will add to existing centers
102 beds for youths with autism and other developmental
disabilities. The Island currently has 65 beds at residential
facilities for developmentally disabled youths.
Albany authorities say the
expansion will go a long way toward silencing criticism that New
York State ships too many students with disabilities to residential
schools out of state. Currently, New York places about 600 students
in other states -- down from about 1,000 last year. Albany has
already expanded some upstate and New York City facilities as well.
"They're making every effort to
bring these kids home, and that's positive," said Roger Tilles of
Great Neck, Long Island's representative to the State Board of
Regents, which sets education policy.
Expansion plans are applauded by
parent advocates, who have long complained of a lack of school
choices for children with autism, especially Asperger's Syndrome.
The disability often is difficult to recognize, advocates say,
because students may perform brilliantly in specific subjects such
as math, while suffering quietly from a severe social awkwardness
that makes them prey to bullies.
One group that has pushed for
Westbrook is the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism
Association, headquartered in Bethpage.
The existing centers are run by
three nonprofit organizations: AHRC Nassau, based in Brookville;
Developmental Disabilities Institute, headquartered in Smithtown,
and Maryhaven Center of Hope in Port Jefferson. In addition, 36 beds
for youths with emotional disabilities will be added at a third SCO
facility, according to the state.
Much of the funding for added beds
will come from tuition paid by students' home school districts.
Annual rates range from about $100,000 to $130,000 per student,
which is comparable to average rates charged by out-of-state
facilities. Some out-of-state charges run as high as $200,000,
however.
Albany also will provide financial
aid for the expanded facilities, approved under a cooperative
agreement by the State Education Department, the Office of Children
and Family Services and the Office of Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities.
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