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BY KELLEY BRANDT - Rappahannock News Contributing Writer ~r Mary is eight years old. Her IQ is ' 54. She attends a special school for * the mentally retarded where she re* ceives training in daily living skills < and academic subjects. Mary loves ' school, and her parents report she ; has blossomed since starting the ' first grade two years ago. * Tommy is nine years old. He suf' fers from dyslexia, a learning disabi» lity making it difficult to read. Test l results show that he should be 5 placed in a class for the learning dis; abled, but the appropriate learning » disability class at Tommy’s school is * full. Tommy is provided with a tutor *; two periods each day. The remain» der of the time he is left to fend for ! himself in a regular classroom. i Tommy is frustrated and disruptive, v These two children have some* thing in common. They are both elii gible for special education under I; federal and state law. However, J • Mary’s school is in compliance with / the law and Tommy’s is not.
Why should those of us who do *. not have a handicapped child care
|! whether proper special education be *1 made available to Virginia children j who need it? One reason is simple
| economics. There are approximately * i 127,000 children eligible for special «' education services in Virginia. I; These children are 127,000 future adults who, if provided with approJ • priate services now, will be less de| • pendent on society later on. * The short term consequences of *; Tommy’s educational program may I not sound severe, but they are »; merely a sign of things to come. The * longer term results can include emoI tional disturbance, juvenile delinj quency and unemployment. t John Noble, former assistant f commissioner of the state Departf ment of Mental Health and Mental * Retardation, notes that handicapped * children who do not receive early inl
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