The rising cost of autism

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The rising cost of autism

400 percent increase adds to strain on school budget

Fred Musante, Editor May 12, 2005

Autism cases have exploded over the last decade here, just as it has across

the state and the nation, putting a heavy burden on school budgets that

experts say may grow worse in years to come.

In Stratford, the number of children diagnosed with autism who receive

special education services has increased 400 percent since 1996.

Although only 20 children in the school system this year have autism, the

cost for educating them may exceed $750,000.

The explosion in autism, which some are calling an epidemic, is mirrored

statewide and nationally. Statewide, the number of autistic children

educated at public expense has increased 325 percent since 1996, according

to the state Department of Education.

Special education experts caution that an undetermined amount of the

increase is due to the adoption of new diagnostic tools and new definitions

of autism, but they are still convinced that the actual incidence of autism

is rising fast.

A highly respected expert on autism at Yale University disagreed, however.

Ami J. Klin at the Yale Child Study Center said there is no evidence that

an epidemic is occurring. He said other factors, such as better diagnoses,

news reports and greater awareness in general may account for the increase

in autism cases.

Whichever opinion turns out to be true, there is no doubt that there has

been a huge increase in the number of autistic children being educated by

specially trained teachers, aides, and other professionals who command much

higher salaries than ordinary classroom teachers.

Autism is a neurological disorder that impedes a person's ability to

function practically and communicate with other people. Klin said an

autistic person may have high intelligence and high verbal ability, but

cannot function practically in the world. Like the character in the film

" Rain Man, " he may be a genius in some respects, but be unable to pay for a

hamburger.

The condition may range from severely disabling a person, to making the

individual just appear quirky or eccentric. It runs in families, and occurs

at a higher rate in boys than in girls. The cause is unknown and there is

no cure.

Federal law mandates that local school districts provide appropriate

education for all special education students, including autistic children.

The federal and state governments provide aid to local schools to help pay

the expense, but their total aid falls far short of the actual expense.

Governor M. Jodi Rell included a 38 percent increase amounting to $25.5

million in the state's reimbursement for local special education costs in

her budget this year.

Figures mounting

The Stratford school district's Strategic School Profile shows that in the

1996-97 school year, the first year statistics were available, the town

paid to educate only five children diagnosed as autistic. That number

climbed to 19 in 2000-01 and has hovered around that level ever since.

In 2003-04, the last year for which figures are available, the district

educated 20 students with autism.

Angelo Vespe, Assistant Supt. for Pupil Services, said most of those

youngsters were educated in an in-district program at an average cost of

about $30,000 each. The cost of educating a non-disabled student in

Stratford is $9,200.

However, some of Stratford's autistic children were educated out of the

district in special programs at a cost of $60,000 each, including

transportation.

Vespe said he has heard that the prevalence of autistic children educated

at public expense was higher in Fairfield County than in other parts of the

state, and he had heard that one Gold Coast school district paid $170,000 a

year to educate a single child.

The cost of out-of-district education is increasing at a faster rate, 5 to

9 percent a year, than the cost of in-district programs, which is

increasing by about 3 percent a year. That is putting pressure on Stratford

to educate as many of autistic children locally as possible, Vespe said.

Special education teachers are not considered qualified to teach autistic

children unless they have had two years of special training in applied

behavioral analysis, for which the state doesn't even have a certification

program developed yet.

Vespe said the minimum starting salary for a teacher with that training is

$46,000, compared with the $39,800 minimum salary for a classroom teacher.

And the specialists are in such short supply that the district usually pays

them a lot more than the minimum, he said.

State statistics are based on the number reported in December of each

school year. The numbers reported for December 2004 are still being

analyzed and have not been released officially yet, according to

Frant of the state Department of Education's Bureau of Special Education.

However, the statistics show that the trend toward increasing cases of

autism is still continuing as before, he said.

Frant said in 1996-97, for kindergarten through grade 12, Connecticut's 166

school districts were educating 661 autistic children. The number rose to

1,375 in 2000-01 and to 2,154 in 2003-04, an average yearly increase of

about 18.5 percent.

In 1996, autism in Connecticut occurred at a rate of 1.2 of every 1,000

children, but by 2003 it had risen to 3.7 of every 1,000. Frant said it is

projected to hit 4 - or 1 case for every 250 children - when the 2004

Strategic School Profile statistics are released.

" That's pretty consistent with the national figures, " he said. " The numbers

are still going up. It hasn't plateaued yet. "

Frant said he believes part of the increase is due to greater awareness and

better diagnosis. Many undiagnosed autistic children previously were

included in the category of " multiple disabilities, " he said.

Stratford's Strategic School Profile does not support Frant's contention,

because there was no decline in the multiple disabilities group

corresponding to the increase in autism. Instead, the multiple disabilities

category also increased, although at half the rate - 42 cases in 1996, 76

in 2000, and 83 in 2003.

One good development is that the total number of special education students

in Stratford has gone down over the same period. There were 973 students

with special education needs in 1996-97, but the number declined to 847 in

2000-01, and to 798 in 2003-04.

Vespe attributed the overall decline in special education students to

improvements in early identification, better support programs and more

effective remediation methods. Students learn how to compensate for their

disabilities and graduate out of special education programs, he said.

©Stratford Star 2006

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