Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1957-08-15
IN Montgomery
Only | Of 3 Students in Need
Get Special Education Help

year are not true gains as they are the result
of shifts in personnel and replacement Of past
pupils
PERCENTAGE-WISE the program is smaller
than last years because of the increase in total
enrolment
Another rude shock awaits the new superirl-
tendent when he learns that there is special
education program the secondary level at all.
This will hit Dr. Whittier particularly hard
he has stressed his interest in the emotional
problems of the young adoescent. especially those
on the junior high level
On the right side of the ledger, DR.. Whittier
win find that although the program has not
ceived the recognition it deserves in the county,
1t has won national fame in educational circles
through the past two summers special education
workshops sponsored by Syracuse University and
the University of Maryland
The latter has added special education
course to its yearround program that will attract
a number of the best teachers in this field to
the area and thus make them available to the
Montgomery school system.
ANOTHER ENCOURAGING factor is that
a number of local parents have organized to pro-
mote better special education programs in the
public schools through two highly efficient groups
the Montgomery County Association for Help for
Retarded Children and the United Cerebral Palsy
of Montgomery County, Inc
These groups conduct continuing campaigns
to educate the public to the needs of handicapped
children and have aroused much interest from
the women's clubs and other Gvic and service
organizations
Also the county PTA Council and the League
of Women Voters fight hard with facts and fig
ures each year at budget time for the full re.
quests of Mrs Tannhauser and her staff before
the School Board and the County Council in an
effort to loosen the purse strings.
Above all, the new superintendent is fortu'
nate in having such highly qualified and dedi-
Gated personnel as Mrs Tannhauser and her staff.
major consideration is the county's oppor-
tunity to benefit from the staffs and research
projects of National Institutes of Health and Be
thesda Naval Hospital; and this years joint prof
ect with Syracuse University in specialized teach
ing methods which has brought money and out
standing personnel into the county special educa-
ton program.
With all this support, Dr. Whittier still has
a major job in arousng the interest of the county
as whole and the members of the School Board
and County Council in particular in his special
education program and convincing them of its
importance.
ONLY IN COMMUNITY unaware of the
facts or their importance could situation facing
the special education people right now occur
A child with whom the regular staff and
special consultants have worked for considerable
time is about to be dropped from his special edu-
cation class because two large buses and one
small bus instead of three large buses were all
that allowed in the transportation budget for
special education.
Some $500 of the taxpayers money spent on
testing and special consutants is about to be
wasted for lack of seat on bus.
DR.. Whittier must set up publicity program
on year-round bass-not just at budget time
that will din into the consciousness of the people
and their representatives who allot the funds the
Importance of special services in the schools.
Gifted children and the problem of housing
the special education program will be the subject
of future column by Dorothy Walesld)