@lea

Hi Lea! I'm a proud Friend of Leelo.

Usage alert: the term "learning disability" has different meanings in the US and the UK.

In the US, someone who is learning disabled is developing normally, but has specific deficits in one or more academic areas, such as reading (dyslexia) or math (dyscalculia). In general, a person with a learning disability will be able to live independently as an adult.

In the UK, the term "learning disability" is used to refer to a person who has global cognitive deficits -- what is now called "developmental delay" in the US, and was formerly called "mental retardation". In general, adults with these conditions may not be able to live independently and may live in some sort of group home.

The headline needs correcting. The child wasn't "taken away". The local child protection agency made one home visit and closed the file.

#11 -- Max:

Where did you get the "huge cash settlement" idea? What Ms. Leduc wants is an apology from the school board and an appropriate educational placement for her daughter.

And: why would you put 50 grand into a child's education when they have severe mental problems and probably will never be able to contribute to society?

50 years ago, it is likely that Victoria would have been institutionalized -- at a much higher cost to society than the $50K you mentioned. Intensive behavioral intervention can help persons with autism able to interact, reducing their own suffering and increasing their personal dignity.

I'd like to know more about the device Victoria was wearing -- which make was it, and how well does it work?

Oh, boy, it gets weirder: another Deadwood connection:

Remember JT Leroy (allegedly a young boy forced by his drug addicted mother to dress as a girl and work as a truck stop prostitute, who later wrote fiction about the experiences) -- exposed as entirely imaginary and the joint work of Laura Albert and her husband Geoffrey Knoop.

http://graemewatson.blogspot.com/2006/01/cult-author-j-t-leroy-exposed-as-fraud.html

This was not the end of JT Leroy though, the author found the story quite amusing, claiming it had made him busier than ever before, the author claimed he was writing an episode of the TV drama Deadwood, he continued regular columns in magazines but started to be dropped by some publishers who requested he provide ID and a social security number when lodging articles.

It seems to me handwriting ISBNs is a bit...well, low-tech, error prone, and so 20th century.

Why wouldn't you do something a bit clumbsy, like

1. Getting the syllabus of the class, which usually lists the name of the textbook, the author, and the edition number

2. Using Amazon or some other on-line retailer, capturing the ISBN

or

Use something like this

http://isbntools.com/

or this

http://www.lookupbyisbn.com/

or this

http://isbndb.com/