A worthy payback for autism intervention
A Guest Opinion by Gadi Naaman
Published February 16, 2017 in Bucks County Courier Times & The Intelligencer
“What is frustrating about this case and about this statute is that we have a blizzard of words.”
Those were the comments of Justice Samuel Alito after hearing oral arguments in the case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, which came before the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on January 12, 2017.
Endrew, or Drew, is a 17-year-old boy with autism, who, according to The Washington Post (WP), “started attending schools in Douglas County — south of Denver — in preschool and began showing an increase in behavioral problems in the second grade, according to court records.”
In 2010, at the end of fourth grade, Drew’s parents placed him in a private school specializing in educating children with autism after they felt he was making little or no progress in the public school. He started to improve immediately, achieving his IEP (Individualized Education Program) goals within a few months.