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WINEX - I don't know that IQ has much to do with special ed. or if it can correlated with spec. ed. My oldest daughter was spec. ed. for reading problems for a few years. The girl still can not spell and still confuses b's with d's, but she is way smarter than most folks I know and will graduate from UCLA in a little over a year. Do you know what it takes just to get into UCLA these days?
 
Good point Awgee.





While I think that my statements about people with low IQs is relevant to justifying that at least 10% of the school population could benefit from special education, I ignored the portion of the population that could benefit because of other learning disabilities such as dyslexia (which I assume your daughter has) or autism.





So I think it is safe to say that the OC school districts having 10% of the student population in special ed. isn't caused by parents trying to get their kids into special ed. without reason. Just looking at demographics, it appears that 10% is conservative.
 
<p>Maybe I don't understand what special ed is for California? Seems like a smart kid with dyslexia just needs some very specific help with letter shapes and spelling and wouldn't need help except for that? </p>

<p>Your kid must be very smart indeed to get into that school. Just shows that you can do badly at one thing and be otherwise fabulous, and average about something else.</p>
 
WINEX - I truly have no idea about other parent's experiences, but we never tried to get our daughter into spec. ed. The school told us what was necessary.<p>

<i>"Seems like a smart kid with dyslexia just needs some very specific help with letter shapes and spelling and wouldn't need help except for that?



Your kid must be very smart indeed to get into that school. Just shows that you can do badly at one thing and be otherwise fabulous, and average about something else."</i><p>

I do not think they call it dyslexia anymore or even when my daughter took her special class every day. I still feel guilty to this day because I never gave her enough credit. I thought her reading disabilities were a sign of less than stellar intelligence and I just figured we would guide her toward the less academically challenging subjects. Her mother would say how smart she is and I would smile condescendingly. What a dork I was. She excelled academically and in ballet and took 5 unit chem at a JC during the summer of her high school sophmore year, so Grandpa would take her to France. Not too dumb, eh? It turns out she is one of the brightest and most level headed people I have known and will ever know.
 
Irvine really does need 10% of the class in special ED. Thats because Irvine women have all that plastic surgery done and party longer so by the time their biologic clock starts ticking it's soo late that have to see fertility docs which is why more triplets are born in OC than in all of Europe, and these kids are all premi's. Hence it's the large number of premies causing the increased need for special ED. Freakonomics...
 
<a href="http://www.iusd.org/district_news_information/Budget_Notebook/BudgetNotebook030708.pdf">http://www.iusd.org/district_news_information/Budget_Notebook/BudgetNotebook030708.pdf</a>
 
<p>"Seems like a smart kid with dyslexia just needs some very specific help with letter shapes and spelling and wouldn't need help except for that"</p>

<p>Liz, that kind of help is considered Special Ed in CA. Not sure about everywhere else... </p>

<p>Speech therapy would also be considered special ed. A kid with allergies that needs monitoring (I believe they call it a "504") is also considered special ed. </p>

<p>Special Ed is broadly broken down into RSP, which is targeted help to otherwise high functioning kids with mild learning disabilities (awgee's daughter's reading problem being a great example), perhaps for one or maybe two class periods a day.</p>

<p>Kids with more severe learning, emotion, or physical disabilities would be in an SDC program, usually for most of the day school day. This is where you will find the populatoin of kids with MR, Autism, CP, etc. </p>
 
<p>I still say that education is more screwed up now than 30 years because society in general is more complicated now a days. Thirty years ago, many students were marginalized but survived because of good paying union jobs in factories and plants. Those job emphasizes dedication, loyalty, and focus more than intellectual and book smarts. Unfortunately, those jobs have gone by the way side and those "marginalized" students have nowhere to go. Not to mention that just about everyone has college degree now and you really need a professional degree to get a "good paying" job. </p>

<p>On top of all that is the breakdown in the family structure and the increased incarcineration rate of minority leading to lower (much lower) focus by the students and their families on educations. Additionally, gang violence, drugs, teenage pregnancy, abusive family, poverty, and general hopelessness have pushed down many students from achieving their full potential. I mean, I know I would not have done very well in school if I a) knew that I could get shot walking home from school, b) has an alcoholic father who beats my mom and/or me or c) have to take care of my brothers and sisters while my mom and/or dad work double shifts to make ends meet. </p>

<p>Those things are not excuses but they are reality for many students. It is still up to the student to do well but it is too easy to push education down on the importance scale.</p>
 
<p>"Are the gifted programs counted as special Ed? If so, then why not. More gifted programs = more state funds. "</p>

<p>No, and to the best of my knowledge, they don't exisit anymore.</p>

<p>I participated in a program called MGM (mentally gifted minors). After Prop 13 passed, both that and summer school dissapeared overnight, never to return. Along with school district funded paper and pencils. The next year, we were expected to provide our own. 1977. Good times.</p>
 
Hmmm, I went to school in San Diego, Santa Monica, Northridge, Newhall, and Canoga Park before Proposition 13, and I always had to bring my own paper and pencils. (And yes, I was in advanced programs in all of the schools, but was in too many different schools and it was too long ago and not important enough for me to remember what acronyms the various schools placed on the classes I was in)
 
<p>no_vas, </p>

<p>I think they call them Gifted And Talented Education programs now. I was in GATE classes in 1981, courtesy of University Park elementary. I then went on to become a criminal mastermind and amateur pharmaceutical engineer, so I can't really recommend them based on personal experience. </p>
 
<p><em>So did you leave OC because of warrants ?</em></p>

<p>I'm going to have to invoke my 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination for at least another 53 days. That's when the statute of limitations runs out.</p>

<p> </p>
 
I also was in GATE - that was the late 80s to the 90s. I didn't hear anything about it being discontinued, but obviously it's been a little while now since I've heard anything about it.
 
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