I am concerned with this area's lack of services and opportunities for special needs children. We supposedly have all these great programs and opportunities, but yet only the wealthy can afford them. No one who makes minimum wage or a little bit above that can afford childcare for their children nor an insurance company that will truly help the children for more than a short time.
I have a son with autism who has been denied childcare and early childhood schooling due to this. The excuse is they are not staffed to accommodate his needs. Then with his autism he has to have MA through SSI, which refuses to cover most needs, due to the sorry excuse that day care is not school.
Why is it that there are laws against discrimination but yet so many can do it and get away with it? Where is the opportunities for special needs children? Not everyone can afford to send their children to specialized schools or have great insurance coverage.
How can a day care be understaffed and then demand that if your child remains they must have a TSS or be terminated unless you can pay them even more of an outrageous price for them to actually be staffed?
Why is the state allowing this? How can people who have gone to school for early childhood development be so ignorant to the fact that the development of a special needs child is not the same as a "normal" child?
I think it is obvious the state needs to pay attention to the amounts that are charged and that for what parents are being charged is not covering every child's needs. The state also needs to require that day care or school must employ/hire extra staff that are capable of handling children with special needs.
Kelsey Person
Williamsport
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom
