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Sending kids away

Inadequate facilities linked to finding that New York moves more disabled students out of state than any other

BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Newsday Staff Writer
March 22, 2006

New York is sending more disabled students beyond its borders for special services than any other state in the nation, the state Education Department said yesterday, a trend driven by inadequate facilities closer to the communities where the children live.

"We are significantly higher than other states in sending kids away," said Rebecca Cort, deputy commissioner of the department's Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities. "But we are significantly higher in our population of kids with disabilities."

About 1,000 students of 410,000 with disabilities are attending schools in states including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, Cort said, costing New York State about $170 million a year.

By comparison, the California Department of Education sends 574 students with disabilities out of state, said Jerry Elmore, a state consultant on the issue.

"Better facilities" needed

Cort's office this week presented the New York State Board of Regents with a report that questioned whether to stop sending children to schools that use aversion therapy, including mild electric shock, to control behavior. The treatments are not offered in New York.

A Freeport woman plans to file a lawsuit in the coming days against her school district for placing her son at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts. Students there wear a backpack that emits mild skin shocks when they misbehave.

Troubled by that kind of treatment, state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) and Assemb. Joan Millman (D-Brooklyn) recently introduced bills to prohibit spending state funds on facilities that use aversion therapy. "We need to bring our children home," said Millman's spokesman, Sam Cooper.

Cort said the volume of out-of-state placements makes it difficult to monitor far-flung facilities, including the Rotenberg Center.

Roger Tilles, Long Island's representative on the Board of Regents, said that if New York is spending millions of dollars to send students away, "we ought to be able to develop better facilities in state."

Tilles said he wants Cort's office to provide more information on aversion therapy, given the controversy surrounding Rotenberg's method. "When kids are getting strapped up and given electric shock, we don't know how much education is taking place," he said. "It's possible that's an accepted way of treating kids but we don't know enough."

Determining best treatment

Rotenberg's director, Matthew Israel, defended his methods, and he took issue with the contention in the Regents report that electric shock is also used on students with less severe issues, including truancy. "Why discriminate against them?" he asked. "What if it's the most appropriate treatment?"

Cort said discussion about aversion therapy was included in the report to the Regents partly because her office is concerned that students will become dependent on the treatment. "If you see a return to negative behavior as soon as you stop this, have you achieved your goal?" she asked. "The student can't wear the pack for the rest of his life. Sooner or later he has to be discharged."

Finding place for children

In response to the state's focus this month on curbing out-of-state placement, the Developmental Disabilities Institute, which has four locations in Suffolk County, has already submitted a proposal to the state, seeking to expand its residential program, said John Werner, director of children services. He said DDI has 41 students living at its Smithtown facility, which is at capacity.

But there always seems to be more than enough room at the Little Flower Union Free School District in Wading River, Superintendent George Grigg said. "We don't have enough kids being referred to us," he said. "We were on the brink of shutting down because we don't have enough enrollment."

Grigg questioned why students are being sent away. "I've got psychologists, psychiatrists," to accommodate emotionally disabled students. "I've got social workers."

Still, he said he was hopeful the state's push to bring children home will help. "I haven't seen these kids yet," Grigg said. "But I've been told they'll be coming."

Out-of-state treatment

New York State sends about 1,000 students with disabilities to out-of-state schools with special programs. Here are descriptions of some of them.

NOTE: Distances are from Nassau county seat in Mineola from Mapquest.

JUDGE ROTENBERG CENTER (Canton, Mass.)
Treats students with lifethreatening behavior disorders who have been rejected by other schools or who do not seem to respond to other psychiatric and psychological treatment.
212 miles from Mineola

CROTCHED MOUNTAIN SCHOOL (Greenfield, N.H.)
Treats students with deafness, deaf-blindness, visual impairment, multiple disabilities, traumatic brain injury and other health impairments.
246 miles from Mineola

HILLCREST EDUCATIONAL CENTERS (Pittsfield, Mass.)
Treats students with emotional disturbances, mental retardation, multiple disabilities and other health impairments. Treats children whose behavior is "severely problematic."
168 miles from Mineola

DEVEREUX GLENHOLME (Washington, Conn.)
Treats students with autism, emotional disturbances, learning disabilities and other health impairments. Affiliated with Pennsylvania-based Devereux Foundation, which has centers in 11 states, including New York.
92 miles from Mineola

THE BANCROFT SCHOOL (Haddonfield, N.J.)
Treats students with autism, emotional disturbances, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, traumatic brain injury and other health impairments. Program dates to 1883.
115 miles from Mineola

WOODS SERVICES (Langhorne, Pa.)
Treats students with mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, brain injuries, autism and severe behavioral disorders.
104 miles from Mineola