How many have had problems with the public school system ( or private schools ) knowing how to respond to Autistic childrens needs ?My grandson is up with his grade but it has been a constant battle for my daughter, who is an RN, has consulted from the beginning with highly respected people working in the field, and is now taking college courses to get her certification to work within the Autistc field, to get the kind of cooperation needed from teachers as to planning his cirriculum and dealing with him in a way that gives him self conficence. Yes, he does tantrum ( as do abt. 70 % of Autistics ) but not if he is dealt with correctly.
They seem to think he can be treated the same as any other child, disciplined the same way, and that they can expect him to be able to apply himself in regards to schoolwork the same way. He has several autistic related conditions and she was told by a Dr. treating him locally that he is doing extremely well considering the number of defecits he has. That has come from other profssionals she has worked with also.
When she approaches the teachers with info and offers to work with them, which would help him, such as planning his cirriculum, giving him time on the computor as a reward for completing work ( and a needed break ) even tho they may at first seem interested, the plans are not carried out and eventually abandoned .
If she tries to explain why things need to be done certin ways, ( that would prevent his becomming upset -- she does not have this in working at home with him ) she is met with an attitude that she is meddling, that he is spoiled and in one instance was told that she could not be in the classroom. It takes a lot of love and persistance in the face of a hostile attitude to keep on working in your childs best intrest.
It is just so sad that our educators are not trained to deal with these children . I realize that they do have a room full of children who also require their attention. It takes dedication to seeing that these children reach their full potential and i think that is lacking in most of the teachers dealing with them. They seem to just be irritated by them----- and i can only conclude, wish they did not have to deal with them.
A concerned GrandMa

I think many people with children on the spectrum would tell the same story. I certainly can relate. For us, it always comes down to the teachers. They don't beleive, don't want to be bothered or think they know what is best for my child and ignore me. They just think that my sons tantrums are because he is spoiled and if his parents were more consistent and stopped making excuses for him then we wouldn't have this problem. Oh....if only it were that easy.

I think the problem is education. There is lots of information on autism now but it has not filtered down to the teachers. My son's teacher last year did not even know what autism is and I live in a big city and in one of the best school districts in the country. I am hoping that the teachers being trained right now will have a better understanding of the disabilities they will face in the classroom and how to help the child be successful.

Take care,

I have spent hours advocating on behalf of my daughter who has very unique special needs. We paid to have psychological assessment which pinpointed some excellent ways to deal with her -- she does not respond to any of the usual behavior modification techniques. My daughter has an individual education plan and attached to it are specific ways of dealing with her -- of course the teachers don't bother reading these things or they read them once and forget about what they have read. The interventions are totally easy and if carried out consistently, they work. My daughter has had so many issues because people try interventions that just escalate her. And then the school calls me and I have to clean up the mess.

I especially hate it when the staff at the school, who have known my daughter for less than
five minutes, try to tell me they know how to deal with her. I really love it when teachers get miffed because you have to nicely tell them they just don't understand what they are dealing with. Then they usually tell me that they have taken the "Special Education courses" -- well, the special education courses don't even start to teach how to deal with my daughter. I have had to remove my daughter from some of her high school classes because the teachers and assistants escalate her on a daily basis. When I tell them they have to change the environment not my daughter -- they just stare at me blankly.

I have gone through 12 years of this and am totally sick to death of it. Only one more year to go. When she started high school, the head of special education, told me my daughter was in high school now so she should know how to "behave". I said, well I guess all her disabilities disappeared over the summer then.

I live in Canada and the amount of money they have pulled out of special education is sickening.

It's all really sad for our children to be treated in such a manner. Kina.

I have often said that if all teacher's were trained in special ed. especially matching an educational program to the individual needs of a child, it would improve the quality of our education system.

However, even this is not a guarantee.

I have done consulting with regular ed. teachers, some good, some not so. Some teacher's are so rigid that something simple like moving a student with ADD or processing problems, to the front of the room, think that is codeling a child. How sad.

Where I live all teachers have to do a semester,not the usual nine weeks, of student teaching in a special education classroom and take several special ed. courses. I think the actual classroom experience helps the most.

When I took a break from teaching to get some social services experience, both jobs I had, where one of the job duties was working with the school districts, were lost because of lack of funding. This was twenty years ago.

I had a regular ed. science teacher kick out one of my students who had an aide with him, and the intellectual ability to deal with the academics. His behavior was not that disruptive but she knew what buttons to push to make him misbehave as she wanted him out of the classroom. When the student, was no longer in her class, he brought cupcakes to school to share. He wanted to share with this teacher and she had the audacity to refuse the cupcake.

I can't believe that a teacher in this day and age, not knowing about Autism. How awful.

gap

ETA I have always advocated classes with ten students. This way the teacher could have children of differnt academic capacities. However unrealistic this is, think of all the problems it would help.

[This Message was Edited on 06/23/2009]

I have 2 kids in Spec Ed and have been fighting the system for 14 yrs. My daughter who is now 17 is bipolar, mildly autistic, devel delayed (4-7yrs old mentally), oppositional defiant, has intermittent explosive disorder...
all in all she can be very aggressive and violent at the drop of a hat. No doctor or therapist that she's gone to has ever seen a child so difficult to deal with.

When she was in 7th grade, she was in a Spec Day Class w a variety of kids that had mainly learning disabilities, ADD etc. The boys were mean and teased her, just making her behavior worse. She became physically violent towards a girl in a wheelchair, hitting mainly. Anyway this was the time that the Spec Ed Dept finally realized that the public schools didn't have the right type of class for her.

She was moved to a Private Spec Ed school (on the IEP it's called a
"Non-Public School") which is paid for by the state and she also gets mental health services from the County (just sees a psychiatrist for meds). She is in a class w similar types of kids, it's a basic skills class and they focus on practical daily living skills. They also have a workablility program where the kids work and get paid (like volunteering at the animal shelter, Meals on Wheels). They set up savings accts and teach them how to manage their money. My daughter will never be able to live independently, but maybe someday in a group home.

Anyway, I thought I'd mention this in case anyone didn't know of this private schooling option. Most of the services that I've found thru the yrs are not "advertised" since they cost the state money. I've had to dig and hunt for everything, there has never been any documents explaining what services are available for these special kids.

IMO it's an absolute crime that there aren't more programs available for kids w mental health problems. My daughter is considered Dual Diagnosis, since she has mental and other developmentally related disorders...many people just say they don't treat patients like that.

I am so thankful for the FEW people that I've encountered that truly want to help her. There are too many teachers, drs, etc that shouldn't even be working w these kids. You know when you find that special person, they connect w the child and the parents. Unfortunately they are a rare breed.

That sounds like an awsome program. I don't know if we have anything like this in Texas. My son can also be agressive and has hit others in school. Because he is also extremely intelligentI have bipolar disorder in my family and this is something we are watching for in my son. I agree that it is next to impossible to find out exactly what the school district offers for children with disabilities. I asked the school nurse and counslor several times over a period of two years for help finding social skills classes for my son. They never bothered to tell me that they had social skills classes everyday, right there in the elementary school. Yes....it is always about money. I hope the best for your daughter.

Take care,

I totally understand what is happening with you and your daughter.
The public school system where my sister goes actually said she could not attend there school anymore because she wasn't staying up with the other kids in her class. They didn't use her touch screen to help her communicate, they didn't do anything. She was in public school for 5 weeks and on the last day of school they said, we don't have classes for children like your daughter and they are sending her to another middle school. She did attend private school for children with moderate to severe autism but it was so expensive we couldn't keep her in there.
I live in Texas.
(She has severe autism and mental retardation both)