NYC failing to provide legally-required services to thousands of preschoolers with disabilities

New York City has failed to provide nearly 10,000 of its youngest learners with legally required special education services — despite promises from Mayor Adams to prioritize kids with disabilities in his plans for public preschool.

Close to 37% of preschoolers with disabilities went all of last year without receiving at least one mandated service, such as speech or physical therapy, according to a new analysis of education department data released Tuesday by Advocates for Children.

The shortfall is likely far worse and the data understates the magnitude of the problem, advocates say.

That’s because the city considers children “served” if they had just one session, and systemic legal violations appear to have increased this year.

“We have had even more difficulty this year getting services in place for preschoolers with disabilities whose parents contact us,” said Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children.

“It is heartbreaking and extraordinarily frustrating for parents when months and months go by and their children are still not receiving the help that everyone agrees they need.”

With the school year ending in just a few weeks, numerous families have been told by one of 10 city-run preschool special education offices that there are no contracted special education teachers or service providers available.

Jackie, whose three-year-old son in Brooklyn qualifies for free occupational therapy and a roving special education teacher to support him in the general classroom, waited since December for their first session last week.

The family, whose last name is being withheld for privacy reasons, is still waiting for the specialized staffer. Citywide, almost one in five preschoolers who qualified for the service last year did not receive it, according to the report. In five Brooklyn school districts, more than 40% of children in preschool finished last year having never received at least one of their mandated services.

In an interview with the Daily News, Jackie said she considered herself “incredibly lucky” and credited her son’s growth this year to his teacher, who has gone beyond her role to research special education and work with him one-on-one. But she recognized that is not fair in a class of 12 students who also need the teacher’s attention.

“You granted me these services, and now you can’t find providers for it,” said Jackie. “My child needs the services — you said he needs the services.”

The dearth of services could pose significant challenges to the administration’s preschool policy agenda, which focused on increasing access to special education rather than adding new spots to programs that already had thousands of open seats.

Adams, who is facing criticism for reneging on plans to expand free programs to all 3 year olds who need it, has responded that universal preschool — as proposed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio — could not reach its avowed aim while excluding kids with disabilities.

“The previous ideas of universal 3-K and pre-K did not account for children with disabilities — it was just wrong. It was unfair and it was wrong,” Adams said at the end of last year.

“And I disagree with the definition of universal that doesn’t include all of our children.”

In December, the mayor committed to providing a preschool special education class seat for every child who needed one by this spring. While 700 spots have been added so far, hundreds of children are still waiting for programs, according to the report. And many of the improvements were funded by expiring pandemic aid.

City Hall deferred a request for comment to the Department of Education, which did not provide a plan to maintain the level of services after federal stimulus expires.

“We agree with the concerns of our parents and advocates that for far too long, students with disabilities were excluded from programming and services,” said DOE spokesperson Nicole Brownstein.

“We are working to ensure that all students receive the services, supports and resources that they need to succeed — from opening more special education seats in early childhood programs to hiring more staff across the system, we are prioritizing our students with disabilities,” she added.

The report found that compliance rates for the three most common services — speech, physical and occupational therapy — are trending in the wrong direction.

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The share of eligible preschoolers who got at least one session of occupational therapy last year has decreased by almost 7 percentage points since the first school year impacted by the pandemic, the report found.

Families who were homeless or required help in languages other than English were even less likely to be fully receiving their special education services. The data show almost half of non-English-speaking preschoolers did not get all the support they were legally entitled to last year.

Advocates called for at least $50 million in the city budget for preschool special education evaluations and services. Those funds could be used in part to hire more preschool service providers and teachers through the education department, rather than rely on contracted agencies that are unable to meet he need.

Brownstein, the education spokesperson, said the administration has hired dozens of speech, physical and occupational therapists. This year, the city has also extended the hours of regional preschool special education assessment teams and plans to do so again next year.

Councilwoman Rita Joseph (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the education committee that is currently negotiating school spending with the administration, said in a statement that the findings were “unconscionable.”

“We know this failure to support our youngest learners will only increase costs for the city in the long run,” she said, “and we must act now.”

A final city budget is due by July 1.