Welcome to my Personal Page! Here’s why I am participating in the Vision 5K this year.

To provide our educational programs on campus and in the community, we already supplement the $ we receive from the Commonwealth of MA and towns by millions of dollars. Already, tuition barely covers 85% of costs for teachers, aides, clinicians, etc.

With the recent economic downturn, the risk is greater. Our legislators have done the best they can, but special education has suffered disproportionately. We fight funding challenges every day.

For example, let me tell you about our early intervention program. When parents learn their baby is visually impaired, they may feel confused, alone or unsure about how to aid in their child's development. Perkins helps.

As with any child, education begins from day one for those who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired with or without multiple disabilities. Recognizing the crucial need for specialized services in the first years of life, the Infant/Toddler Program at Perkins provides early intervention services for children from birth to age three, as well as support for their families. In 2008-2009 Perkins served over 600 children and their families.

The Commonwealth of MA Administration is proposing drastic changes to the state-wide Early Intervention Program that if implemented will eliminate services for 1 out of 3 children (10,000 children state-wide). Early Intervention serves over 30,000 children and families in Massachusetts. Here are the changes being proposed:

Changing eligibility or the way that children become eligible for Early Intervention services from the current standard of 30% delay in development to 40%
Requiring a 50% delay in expressive language -To put this in real terms, a 2-year old child would have to be 12 months delayed in their speech and have only 1 to 2 words to quality for services. Every parent waits for their child to say “mama” or “dada” but those 2 words would disqualify their child from EI with this change
Taxing Toddlers: Imposing massive parent fee increases ranging from a 600% to a 1200%+ increase. In fact, the fee for some parents in the lowest fee income category is higher than the Dept. of Public Health cost per child (DPH cost is $650 parent fee is $800); the fee for some parents in the higher income category is so high it exceeds the total cost of providing the service (total average cost per child is $3000; highest parent fee is $3500). Families will be priced out of Early Intervention with these massive increases.

Advocate with your legislator and keep services for the families of MA including the more than 600 children and their families helped by Perkins each year. Provide a donation so that no matter what happens in the legislature, we can be there to help. Be part of my team by donating money, raising money or joining me on the 20th to run or walk. To learn more about the event, please check out the Vision 5K website.

I need your support and so do the families of MA, so please do anything you can.

Cheers!
Cindy