Many Philadelphia school district families with children in autistic support classes have had the same frustrating experience: As their kids have grown up, they’ve had to switch schools at least once to access support services.
That’s because Philly has a limited number of autistic support classes, which provide additional educational services for some students with autism and other disabilities. Though the school district distributes those classes across its more than 200 schools, many only have autistic support for certain grades.
That can mean, for example, that a student is assigned to their neighborhood school for grades K-2, but then has to switch to a different school to access autistic support for third grade. District officials, advocates, and families all agree: Those transitions can be particularly difficult for those with autism and other disabilities…