Strollerderby

I really hope Palin did not say "don’t really need special care; they just need baby care for a longer period of time than other children since their development is slower". It looks like the reported did, not Palin.

Special needs children NEED special care their entire lives, some due to severe disabilities (even children with Down Syndrome). Some children, like mine, need more intense care as they grow older.

I'm glad Palin is putting the question out there but I would rather her be parenting her special needs child more than I see. JMO

So when will Mrs. Palin be meeting with the therapist for her son?  During lunch breaks?  He will need care for the rest of his life.  People with Downs have many health problems and are midly to severely mentally retarded.  They rarely can live on their own independantly.  They can become productive citizens and have jobs and families but cannot live like a non-Downs person.  She should have opted to care for him rather than throwing him in daycare from day one.  She did not even bother to take maternity leave to care for the little guy.  I wonder how much better off he would be if she had.  

I'd just like to say I appreciate the people first language used on this site.  It has stroke me repeatedly in the news, from candidates and even from Sarah Palin, that people first language is not used commonly.  People's first language means we are not defining the person by their special need.  I think this is more important that most may realize.  I find it particularly disappointing that a mother of a child with special needs would not use people first language, but instead says "Special needs Kids".  At least as a child development professional, who works with child who have special needs, I am disappointed.

I'd almost consider voting Republican if I believed that Palin would work on full funding of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which is supposed to guarantee a "free, appropriate public education" to the nation's children with special needs.  Since the law was passed, Congress has never fully funded its commitment to America's school children to assist schools in providing special classes, or therapies, or assistants, or training, for children with special needs in our public schools.  We now have a situation where many parents are angry and suspicious of children with special needs because they feel that they are getting a "bigger piece of the pie" - schools have limited resources and must give more per-child resources in some cases to children with special needs for them to have the same level of education a child without special needs has.  If Congress were compelled to fund the IDEA, some of that tension would die down.  

As a comparison - in 2002, Congress provided less than half of the funding that would have been required to fund the Act. (See here for figures and Congressional commentary: 64.233.169.104/search) As a basis for comparison, I believe that current spending on the war has reached $576,416,000,000 at the time of this comment.  I always wish that we could take some of those funds and complete Congress' commitment to this important legislation.

>> So when will Mrs. Palin be meeting with the therapist for her son?  During lunch breaks?

She's not a single parent.  I would imagine that Mr. Palin will be covering the majority of the therapist meetings.  (I don't know if that's actually their plan, but it seems like the obvious answer.)