This law provided us with the responsibility of not doing that anymore. During the past two decades, the system and its professionals have developed new skills to spot who's disabled, and at an earlier age than before. So, there are more kids to serve, and sooner. The classmate who struggled with reading out loud when you were in school is now identified as having a learning disability. Identifying more special students naturally drives up the expenses of special education.
Professionals say probably a bit of both.
Now, not only do we recognize them, we classify or code them with a specific disability, and begin the process of educating them. And for some districts, providing special-education services is cheaper than fighting parents in court. The administrator uses himself as an example. Demanding parents may cause headaches for school officials, but Thielen says that's minor compared to other pressures that are swelling the numbers of disabled children in schools. From an increasingly unstable, insecure population, apparently.