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The mother of a 5-year-old nonverbal student with autism in Buffalo Schools seeks answers after her daughter suffered bruises and emotional and behavioral changes from an alleged incident with a substitute teacher. A significant trend has emerged in Western New York: the number of children under 5 years old referred for special education evaluation has increased substantially. Traditional resources to help those children with disabilities, however, have not kept pace. Several parents of students with autism are angry by changes Buffalo Public Schools implemented in July and August to address special education class size and structure for the 2023-24 school year. Sensory processing troubles among Buffalo's youngest learners have soared. Reactions to loud sounds, bright lights, unusual textures, distracting smells and breaks in routine can interfere with the development of basic life skills, hamper learning and elicit emotional responses that disrupt elementary classrooms and at times jeopardize safety. Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10. Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Ben Tsujimoto Reporter Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
