Asperger Help

BY JOHN HILDEBRAND | john.hildebrand@newsday.com November 2, 2007 Explosive growth in the number of Long Island students diagnosed with autism and other neurological disorders is pitting parents who seek greater help for their children against school officials struggling to contain special-education costs.

Across the Island, the number of school-age youngsters classified as autistic has jumped nearly 50 percent during the past three years alone, to more than 3,000. Figures at state and national levels have increased more than threefold over 10 years, making autism the fastest-growing impairment among American youths.

Climbing autism rates are partly offset by the fact that many students who might once have been diagnosed as learning disabled or mentally retarded now are being identified as autistic instead. Experts attribute this to improved diagnoses, and to a broadening of the definition of autism itself. Long Island students classified as learning disabled, for example, have declined by 13.2 percent over the past three years while the number considered mentally retarded has dropped by nearly 10 percent.The shift in classifications has sent many school districts scrambling to find money, space and teachers to set up costly new programs. Students with autism require more intensive educational services than many students classified with other disabilities.

Many parents, for their part, voice frustration over continued shortages of programs appropriate for their autistic children.

"I've never come across a parent who didn't have to fight, whether it's in getting a diagnosis, or getting speech therapy," said Debora Harris, founder of the private ELIJA School in Levittown, which serves students severely impaired by autism.