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Parents Angry Over Cuts To NYC Special Ed Programs

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- Some parents of children with autism are expressing anger over the elimination of certain special education programs.

The New York State Board of Regents has voted down a long-time rule that mandated speech and language services for autistic kids.

For more than 20 years, the Regents said kids with autism had to receive five days a week therapy and students who qualified for "related services" had to get two days a week of speech and language, until now.

Parents said New York was making a huge mistake.

"My fear is that without these reasonable mandates in place, most districts will walk away from the table and tell parents 'we don't do speech here'," said Louis Conte of the Autism Action Network

Districts are still required to evaluate each student and develop a speech and language schedule that meets their individual needs.

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