Moms-turned-activists expose Santa Barbara’s troubled special education program
Marcia Eichelberger isn’t spending most of her waking hours trying to ensure that her 17-year-old son, Jerrod, gets killer SAT scores and an elite university education.
The best hope that she and husband, Derrick, a Santa Barbara landscape architect, have, is that Jerrod will ultimately learn to partially take care of himself.
Jerrod suffers from autism. Sometimes the Eichelbergers are so worried about what will happen to Jerrod after they are no longer around to care for him, they don’t sleep at night.
It is that fear, as well as regular and healthy doses of anger, that motivated Marcia and a handful of other parents to embark on a remarkable grass-roots crusade to improve the shockingly dismal quality of the special education classes offered through the Santa Barbara School Districts.
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About The Author
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts is founder of Support for Special Needs and has been a regular contributor since its inception in May 2010. A mom to two kids with special needs, she didn't want other parents to feel what is the often isolating world of raising a child (or two!) with disabilities. Her kids had kidney transplants at the age of eight and will need liver transplants in the future as a result of ARPKD/CHF. They both have vision disorders and learning disabilities.