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"A Struggle to Educate the Severely Disabled" written by Sharon Otterman on June 19, 2010 was published by The New York Times. This article describes the life of a 20 year old boy, Donovan Forde, and the life he faces each day with multiple disabilities. When he was only 6 months old he had serious trauma caused to the head when he was dropped after being hit by a car; he hasn't been the same since. He attends a Public School 79 in the New York school system where he  receives one-on-one interaction with many different people. They started a new thing where they treat the disable students as if they weren't by allowing them to rotate classes and have different teachers teach different subjects. He is fully taken care of and they are trying to transition him into a new nursing facility that he will have to attend the following year because he will have graduated from the public school system.

I chose this article for many different reasons. I can use it to to help describe the problem and a way to use it as a solution. The main reason it could be part of the problem factor in my paper is because of the age. This boy will have grown up with the one-on-one attention and stimulation and has made improvements and at the age of 21 he will no longer be able to attend the public school system and receive the attention that he desperately needs, but instead will be moved to a nursing facility where he will be responsible for continuing what he has learned. There are several reasons i could use this article in my solution, and one of them is the attention that he does receive while he is at PS 79. The teachers that he has and that take the time to sing Old McDonald with him is a very special thing. Not all public school systems above and beyond with the disabled students. The one thing that has stuck out to me through it all is his vision teacher saying "If I have one issue with the Department of Education, it's that one size doesn't fit all".

Introduction

I chose to write about the public school system and how it is being used for students with special needs. I have always been very involved with the special needs children at my high school and Special Olympics, but I have also seen that many of the students once they graduate at the age of 22 do not have anymore learning to do. They generally end up sitting at home and do not get to practice the skills that they had learned while in high school. Some of the families also may not have the money to care and do everything needed for these people. I would really love to find a solution to give special needs children a place to learn in the public school system past the age of 22.