A man allegedly stabbed two teachers at a Torrance school for children with special needs Monday and threatened that he had a pipe bomb before he was taken into police custody, according to news reports. The unidentified suspect carried out his attack at the Switzer Learning Center around 8:30 a.m., reported KTLA. The man was described as a former student, according to KTLA.
"Federal law says children with developmental delays, including newborns with significant likelihood of a delay, can get early intervention from birth to age 3. States design their own programs and set their own funding levels, however. They also set some of the criteria for which newborns are automatically eligible, typically relying on qualifying conditions like Down syndrome or cerebral palsy, extreme prematurity or low birthweight. Nationally, far fewer infants and toddlers receive the therapies than should. The stats are particularly bleak for babies under the age of 1: Just 1 percent of these infants get help. Yet an estimated 13 percent of infants and toddlers likely qualify."
I think it's different, but we're still in the same situation: still stuck at home, and not with her peers, and not getting education. They don't care that she's not at school,
Students of color are less likely to be identified with disabilities than similarly situated white students. This trend extends to students from non-English-speaking families, who also face similar under-identification.
"For a special needs child, to change an environment for that child they've been thriving in, and also affect staff that are being very effective, disheartens me," he told San José Spotlight. "To receive an email ... that just said Special Day Class will not be offered next year, and your child will be going to another school ... feels disempowering as a parent when ... you've been told by the district it's a partnership."
