Students in special education, led by a surge in children with autism, have risen to about 13 percent of public school enrollment in Oregon, new state figures showed Wednesday.
The count of children with disabilities, done each December for the federal government, showed 79,913 between birth and age 21, up nearly 750 from a year earlier.
Children diagnosed with autism, a brain disorder that disrupts a child's communication and social skills, jumped from 5,070 in 2004 to 5,637 in December. Over five years, the number of autistic students rose by 67 percent.
In the same period, Oregon students with specific learning disabilities -- the most common classification in special education -- declined by more than 10 percent, from 33,604 to 30,118.
Educators and researchers cannot fully explain the sharp increase in autism, which also is reported in other states.
"We wish we knew exactly what is going on," said Dr. Bob Nickel, a developmental pediatrician who heads the Autism Training Network at Oregon Health & Science University.
Nickel said one reason is that the autism spectrum has been expanded to include more symptoms and behaviors, and another is that educators and doctors are getting better at diagnosis. The medical and educational definitions of autism are different, but often occur in tandem.
But Nickel said better diagnosis and a wider definition cannot explain the entire increase. Some researchers suspect environmental factors may be a culprit, he said.
"The prevalence in autism has increased around the world," Nickel said. "And the increase has been seen in countries with various levels of environmental concerns. We are a long way from understanding this."
Eric Richards, state director of special education, said Oregon has responded with more training of specialists and has established model classrooms teachers can visit and learn state-of-the-art educational practices for autistic children. The state report also shows that Oregon is educating fewer students with disabilities in separate schools and treatment centers, rather than in regular public school settings.
Five years ago, 2,600 Oregon children with disabilities, including severe emotional problems and brain injuries, were educated in schools or treatment centers exclusively for students with learning or behavior problems. This school year, that figure is 1,400.
Oregon spends about $800 million a year on special education and early intervention with children with disabilities, with about 19 percent of that covered by federal government. School districts get most of their special education money from the state -- $11,000 per student.
School districts are not supposed to get special education money beyond 11 percent of their students, but those with a bigger proportion of special education students can receive a waiver from the state for more money.
The state annually collects information on special education for the U.S. Department of Education, which oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But this is the first time the state has released a general report on special education students and services, and is including information on how they have changed over time.
Nancy Latini, assistant superintendent in the Office of Student Learning, attributes the decline in learning disabilities to finding teaching strategies for kids to keep them out of special education. A child has a specific learning disability if there is a gap between his intellectual ability and his achievement.
Working on early grades
Latini said Oregon educators are getting better at bridging this gap in the early grades. For example, a focused emphasis on reading skills can help a child catch up with peers and avoid being placed in special education.
Latini said the decline in separate schools for special education students is due to recognizing that disabled children belong in their neighborhood schools whenever possible. School districts sometimes save money and have greater educational control if they educate students who have been in outside programs, she said.
Inclusion in the general classroom has been the watchword of the Tigard-Tualatin School District special education program for years.
Five-year-old Suzie Duncan-Winn spends most of her day with her kindergarten pals in Nancy Borman's brightly lit classroom at Mary Woodward Elementary School. On Wednesday, she was designated the "star student," led classmates in counting to 87 and then headed the line as the kids filed out for recess.
It wasn't this way when the blue-eyed girl started last fall. She had trouble relating to other children and would shout and disrupt the classroom at inappropriate moments. She had trouble following directions.
"She has really been a success story," Borman said. "She has lots of friends in the class."
One-on-one
Duncan-Winn leaves Borman's classroom twice a day for 80 minutes of one-on-one instruction that hones her academic and social skills. The school uses STAR, a program from Portland State University, that teaches autistic children in a highly scripted manner.
Another Woodward student, first-grader Marcus Zyweck, 6, needs more time out of his regular classroom for intensive work on his autism.
In a corner of a big room called the Learning Center, Zyweck works one-on-one with special education aide Cynthia Sax on following directions and identifying numbers.
Sax puts a number on paper down in front of him.
"What number is that," she says.
He hesitates, then says, "19."
"Yes! One more number and you get the prize," Sax tells him.
Rewards help children with autism stay focused on tasks, says special education teacher Sandy Collins, and are a major component of the STAR program.
Zyweck is improving. At the first of the year, aides covered the window by the station where he works with Sax, because he would gaze at kids at recess on the playground outside. Now the shield is down and he pays attention to his lessons.
"I am so happy to have found this school," said Marcus' mother, Ana Zyweck.
Betsy Hammond of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report. Steven Carter: 503-221-8521; stevencarter@news.oregonian.com
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