We have to change our thinking about special-needs children in Mississippi, said Mary Troupe of the Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities. Photo by Roy Adkins

During the final presidential debate Oct. 15, moderator Bob Schieffer asked the candidates: "Why would the country be better off if your running mate became president rather than his running mate?"

In his response, Republican John McCain brought up special-needs children.

"(Gov. Sarah Palin) understands special-needs families," McCain said. "She understands that autism is on the rise, that we've got to find out what's causing it, and we've got to reach out to these families, and help them, and give them the help they need as they raise these very special-needs children."

Palin mentioned special needs in her acceptance speech last month, in reference to her Down syndrome infant, Trig. She promised that special-needs children would "have a friend and advocate in the White House" with a McCain-Palin administration. Palin also has a nephew with autism.

Mary Troupe, executive director of the Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities, disagrees that Palin's situation gives her a good level of understanding for the situation.

"Sarah Palin has only had a special-needs child for the last seven or eight months," Troupe said, which limits her ability to understand the entire spectrum of special needs, which includes any child with disabilities and developmental delays.

Down syndrome and autism are among that group, which also include physiological learning disabilities such as dyslexia and attention-deficit disorders, emotional disorders, physical limitations such as blindness and deafness, and diseases such as cystic fibrosis, epilepsy and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's and Steven Hawkins' disease), which affect the body and not the mind.

Troupe also was quick to point out that Down syndrome (caused by an additional genetic material in the 21st chromosome) and autism are not the same.

Researchers speculate that autism, which is increasing at record, epidemic levels in American children, is at least partially caused by environmental factors, including high mercury levels in our food supply and childhood-disease vaccines. It's also likely that there is a genetic link, a developmental link and maybe even a link to immune deficiencies. It is this uncertainty of the disorder's causes that has many parents worried.

Autism also has a broad presentation range, Troupe said, although all affected children have some degree of socialization problems.

"There are very high-functioning people with autism … who are extremely intelligent," Troupe said. Often they're the kids who relate better to books and computers than to people; they make the honor roll and get scholarships, but might not be able to match their socks or engage in small talk. On the other end of the spectrum are kids who are completely withdrawn and nonverbal, but can be taught to communicate with assistive technology. Autism expertise usually occurs at some point on the spectrum, but rarely if ever on the entire scope, much like oncologists are usually experts on one or two types of cancer, not all of them.

"It's not just one thing fits all," Troupe said.

Mississippi has a critical shortage of trained special-needs educators, with many of the teachers assigned to working with disabled children holding "special certificates." Troupe equated those certificates to a football coach teaching math when there is no math teacher for a particular slot. That type of placement is often not effective, leaving children warehoused instead of educated.

"What we're seeing is a lot of students with disabilities that are being sent to alternative schools for disciplinary reasons, when that 'discipline' problem that they're having, or behavioral problem, is a manifestation of their disability," she said. "More than likely (the problem) has been set off because that teacher does not understand the disability and how to work with (the student)."

McCain was a co-sponsor of the Combating Autism Act of 2006, which authorized $640 million over five years for autism research, but Congress has to pass actual appropriations under the act every year, and so far, has not approved a strategic plan for spending the funds.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama responded to McCain in the debate by alluding that appropriations without funding does little to further the cause of special-needs children.

"I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we're going to get serious in terms of research," he said. "That is something that every family that advocates on behalf of disabled children talks about."

Obama said that he will appoint a federal Autism Spectrum Disorder coordinator to oversee federal efforts under the Combating Autism Act, which he wants to fund fully. Obama is also an advocate for universal pre-natal and early childhood screening at age 2.

Early diagnosis and intervention dramatically improves outcomes for children suffering from autism, as with any developmental disorder, including dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

"What's needed in Mississippi is early intervention," Troupe said, along with a change in the "institutional bias" of the state's department of health. She believes that everything from the state's high dropout rate to prison populations can be impacted with better early diagnosis and training. Experts estimate that as many as 80 percent of America's prison inmates cannot read and suffer from learning disabilities, dyslexia or developmental delays. But that takes money.

"You've got to pay for it somewhere, so let's pay for it (in pre-school) instead of having to pay for all these dropouts that end up on the system and in prison," Troupe said, adding that we now have generations of families without the resources to help their children succeed in school. "We have to break this chain somewhere," she said.

In reference to intervention programs, Obama intends to invest $10 billion per year in early intervention and development programs for children through age 5, according to the Obama-Biden Web site. In contrast, the McCain-Palin site says McCain will focus federal resources on ensuring the neediest children have access to a wide range of high-quality programs, but does include any specific promises.

Obama said during the debate that funding has been a consistent problem for education programs under the Bush administration.

"I do think that it is important for the federal government to step up and help local school districts do some of the things they need to do," Obama said. "Now we tried to do this under President Bush. He put forward No Child Left Behind. Unfortunately, they left the money behind for No Child Left Behind. And local school districts end up having more of a burden, a bunch of unfunded mandates, the same kind of thing that happened with special education where we did the right thing by saying every school should provide education to kids with special needs, but we never followed through on the promise of funding, and that left local school districts very cash-strapped.