Her son was promised a special education class. He’s still waiting.

Taslima Amjad has been calling, emailing or visiting government offices in New York City almost every day for months, seeking help for her 3-year-old nonverbal son.

Her son has physical problems and developmental delays and needs individual help and therapy sessions to learn. He also has the right – enshrined in federal law – to attend a special kindergarten class with only six students for free to receive that support.

But this school year, officials told Ms. Amjad there were no spots available. Months later, he is still in a regular large class of about fifteen students. He doesn’t eat his lunch and rarely participates. Until recently, the program required him to leave early — at 11 a.m. — because his teacher was unable to support him.

“They have no idea how much my son is suffering,” said Ms. Amjad, who lives in the Bronx. She added: “I cry all day, every day.”

The family is looking for a place for a special education preschool, a year after Mayor Eric Adams promised to provide access to any student who needed it. While many 3- and 4-year-old students with disabilities learn with their peers in the general education classroom, students with more advanced needs are often entitled to small classrooms with additional staff.

But at the end of last school year, more than 1,110 children were waiting for a seat Data from the Education Department released this week. More than 40 percent of preschoolers never received a single session of a required support service, such as speech therapy, in their special education plans.

The gaps come as financial problems threaten the city’s broader network of childcare services. Many special education seats are paid for through federal pandemic relief dollars, which expire next fall. Officials have offered no plan to preserve the sites.

Thousands more free preschool spots for 3-year-olds will also be eliminated after the mayor announced separate cuts last month.

The Department of Education and City Hall did not return requests for comment.

New York City’s preschool programs grew into a national model under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. But he also faced criticism for the lack of appropriate seating for children with disabilities — who make up 20 percent of the entire public school system — while the program added tens of thousands of general education seats.

During a press conference last December, Mayor Adams strongly criticized the previous administration. He said the discrepancies were evidence of dysfunction “at the highest level”. promised to fix them. Every special education student would have “the support they need to thrive” by spring, he said.

“The previous ideas of universal 3-K and pre-K did not take into account children with disabilities,” the mayor said at the time. “It was unfair and it was wrong.”

A year later, however, the city has failed to fulfill Mr. Adams’ promise.

During his administration, the city used expiring federal pandemic aid to open about 700 spots and close gaps, but kept hundreds of other students waiting. During a crucial developmental period, these children missed out on hundreds of hours of specialized instructional time that could have helped improve their future performance. The list typically grows significantly throughout the school year as more children are identified as needing assistance.

With the school year only halfway through, “the problem is only going to get worse,” said Betty Baez Melo, who directs children’s ministry at Advocates for Children, which works with families without seats.

Many children with severe autism are assigned to classrooms with five other students, a teacher and two assistants. But in Manhattan, the Bronx and many parts of other boroughs, there are no more spaces in those classrooms.

In the Bronx, Kathia Morales worries about her three-year-old son, who has autism, being left behind.

His special education plan calls for a small classroom. But since September, he has often been cared for by his grandmother while Ms. Morales, a single mother, works. They struggle to navigate his speech delays and behavioral issues on his own.

“I don’t know anymore because I don’t know what else to do,” Ms. Morales said, her voice breaking. “Time is wasted. It’s not fair to him,” she said, adding: “I don’t think they’re taking this as seriously as they should be.”