Your child won’t make eye contact with you, or anyone else. He is more attached to objects than to people, and he loses control unless daily activities are done the identical way on a rigid, fixed schedule. He has difficulty expressing his needs, throws frequent tantrums and prefers to be alone. He ignores you; when you talk with him, he acts as though he is deaf, although he’s not. He is overly sensitive to sounds and touch, and sometimes laughs and cries for no apparent reason. Perhaps worst of all, your child doesn’t want to be touched or held.
These are among the realities that many parents face when their child is autistic.
Autism is a condition with a wide range of symptoms from mild to severe, the cause of which is not yet entirely known, and which is particularly distressing to parents because their child doesn’t “connect” well with them or other people. It typically appears during the first three years of life, and affects four times more boys than girls.
In addition, for reasons unknown, it’s a condition that is growing by leaps and bounds. In 1992, Colorado reported 14 cases of autism in children; by 2002, the number had increased to 688. Seven hundred new cases of autism are projected to be diagnosed in Colorado this year alone.
With their growing numbers, learning difficulties and need for structured, individualized attention, children with autism pose special challenges for school districts that have to educate a wide range of children with disabilities. Now, however, a new school specializing in the education of these children has been licensed by the state, opening the way for attendance by public school students.
The year-round Joshua School, named for a special-education student who died unexpectedly several years ago, opened its doors last August. Founded by six educators who previously worked for Denver Public Schools, the new school is located in the historic Olinger Mansion in Denver.
Jason Gruhl, executive director of the nonprofit school, says one key to working successfully with children who have autism is a low ratio of staff to students. The Joshua School opened with six students, ages 3 to 12 years (it will eventually expand to 32 students). A staffing ratio of 1 or 1 1/2 children per teacher allows for intensive, individualized attention.
Speech therapy and physical therapy are provided, as are community outings that reinforce the in-school curricula. In addition, each month, a staff member from the school visits each family at home, helping parents establish a structured environment, reinforcing what’s being learned at school and providing emotional support for stressed parents.
Attendance at the Joshua School doesn’t come cheaply: Tuition can range up to $65,000 per year. Some students have some or all of their tuition covered by their school district, while others are private-pay. Gruhl says some private-pay parents look at it as “giving their child a college education early.” The school also conducts fundraising and grants to help make its education more affordable for families.
Gruhl admits that the school is expensive, but adds, “Studies show that if we can get children with autism into an intensive, structured environment using tailored curriculum while they are very young, they can do well. It’s far cheaper than residential placement down the line and into adulthood, which can cost millions over an individual’s lifetime.”
In fact, Gruhl’s goal is for young children to attend the Joshua School for just a few years, and then return to their neighborhood school by kindergarten or first grade. “Studies show that 20 to 40 percent of children with autism can often return to public school by age 5 if they have the kind of intensive early intervention we provide,” Gruhl says. To reach children with autism as early as possible, the Joshua School is applying for a license that would allow it to serve children as young as 18 months.
“It’s a myth that children with autism can’t learn,” he says. “They just learn differently.”
