Children from the ages of three to twenty-two who are in special education, receive funding from their local city or town’s education budget. If they are in residential schools, there is cost sharing between the Department of Education (Circuit Breaker Account, 7061-0012) and the local city and town.

 

Once a person leaves special education, the local school system no longer has any responsibility, regardless of the severity of the disability. Most people move on with their lives as individual citizens and receive no further services.ÂAbout five to eight percent are so severely disabled, they needs ongoing supports and are assigned a state agency through an Individual Transition Plan (ITP) under Chapter 688, Massachusetts’ Turning Twenty Two Law. Most people are assigned to the Department of Mental Retardation, an additional twenty or thirty go to the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and about eight to ten who are blind and mentally retarded are assigned to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.

Chapter 688 was put into law in 1984. Since that time, the Commonwealth has used 450 people as the number assigned to the Department of Mental Retardation who are expected to Turn Twenty Two each year. This estimate was fairly accurate up until the last few years when the number of people increased from 450 to 620. (speculation about the increase may be due to the dramatic increase in children with autism as well as the number of children who are kept alive at six months gestation). Because the allocation, $6,400,000 for new students has stayed the same each year and more people are turning twenty two, parents are reporting that their family member is only receiving two or three days of supports per week. This makes it extremely difficult for parents to work full time. Many families are headed by single parents and care for their children at home. A full day program for ones son or daughter is critical.