Guest guest Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Sally, I know where you are coming from. I have an autistic kid who has been thrown out of school twice now and since the alternative placements are so bad, I've basically put together our own program using people who truly understand autism. When my son was having trouble, the excuse was "we can't find motivators to implement a behavioral plan". They never looked at WHY the behaviors were happening. My son started back in school in a new program in Sept. and 8 days into the year he was thrown out again--for aggression, elopement and he kicked in a school bus glass panel on the door. The aggression occurred because the teacher restrained him when he tried to get out of the classroom--they never questionned WHY he wanted out of the room and building. He kicked in the bus panel on the door, not to be destructive, but the door was closed and he was kicking it to say that he needed to get out of school, get on the bus and get home. The bus driver said once my son was on the bus he was very calm because she was his ticket to get out of an adverse situation. But never once did the school try to identify WHY all of this occurred. Instead, my son is labeled as aggressive, has elopement issues, destructive and they wanted to put him in programs with severely emotionally disturbed kids and not address the issues that are created because of his diagnosis. Joanne behavior tracking Sorry if my last post was harsh, but I have heard so many people who don't want to identify their child, or have a behavior plan, etc. because they worry about how it looks, or impact on the child or whatever. The thing is, a child who has occasional behaviors is going to be difficult to track the reason why(which is very important-many kids have behaviors due to problems communicating. If you can see from record keeping the child has tantrums just before lunch-wow, maybe he is hungry and could have a snack mid-morning and stave it off) and kids with low language or ones who rarely have a behavior are difficult to protect if they do have a rare and hard to predict behavior(like the kid in jail I mentioned). He didn't have a behavior plan, they hadn't done a functional behavior assessment, and he rarely has behaviors...but he got in trouble-his parents are not proactive, but reactive, and with kids with Aspergers or autism you have to be very proactive and even then you can't prevent things all the time. I am very upset about this kid. Sally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Joanne, I am so glad you got your son out of that situation. Especially before he ended up in the juvenile system. I am so worried about this kid, and I don't know him, but he could be mine(my son rarely has behaviors). I have always had a psychologist involved in his IEP and behavior plan development to help prevent problems. It is so scary. I am sure your son is so much better off with what you have done. I have in the back of my mind homeschooling myself someday as a possibility. Sally:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 When I was at the classroom one morning last week for a ten minute interview with teacher for her class studies - we were in the back and another aide did the circle time. Well my son was at the end with his aide behind him so not really noticing I was there, which was good. Anyway they were singing a song and doing exercise and then all of a sudden they were going outside. I asked the teacher and she said they go out and run a lap or two in the playground. One boy who is also non verbal like my son was getting his coat on and he did something to the aide because we heard her yell at him and say don't hit me. After they left I made the comment to the teacher that this all moved too quickly and I never heard or saw anything letting the kids know they were going outside next. I suggested she use visualization during circle time to prepare the children for the next phase of their morning routine. The aide knows nothing about PECS though and the kid's parents only speak Spanish and will not take the free classes to learn English at the school. They put this large boy next to my son at circle time and he takes all my son's fidgets, I brought a bunch of items I got at discovery store, target and on ebay and this kid took one and put in his mouth and they ran it under water and ruined it. That aide is buying a new item this weekend for my son. But they need to put these kids at opposite sides and not next to each other. I agree about the way they all handle things, they react to the aggression but never get to the root of the problem and why it is happening. Bonnie ==============Joanne Urquhart <DreamTapper@...> wrote: Sally, I know where you are coming from. I have an autistic kid who has been thrown out of school twice now and since the alternative placements are so bad, I've basically put together our own program using people who truly understand autism. When my son was having trouble, the excuse was "we can't find motivators to implement a behavioral plan". They never looked at WHY the behaviors were happening. My son started back in school in a new program in Sept. and 8 days into the year he was thrown out again--for aggression, elopement and he kicked in a school bus glass panel on the door. The aggression occurred because the teacher restrained him when he tried to get out of the classroom--they never questionned WHY he wanted out of the room and building. He kicked in the bus panel on the door, not to be destructive, but the door was closed and he was kicking it to say that he needed to get out of school, get on the bus and get home. The bus driver said once my son was on the bus he was very calm because she was his ticket to get out of an adverse situation. But never once did the school try to identify WHY all of this occurred. Instead, my son is labeled as aggressive, has elopement issues, destructive and they wanted to put him in programs with severely emotionally disturbed kids and not address the issues that are created because of his diagnosis. Joanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Bonnie, how frustrating...I would ask if they could take a photo of the child's coat or the playground or both and hand it to him so he knows it is time to go outside...that is ridiculous there is no warning at all for a child with issues like the boy you are describing...it is so easy to "fix" things like this and they don't have the knowledge/don't want to bother. They would save themselves and the child endless problems if they would just try. Take care, Sally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Cant get thses people to understand that these kids are as sharp as any typicals, they are frustrated. Autism and angry aggression are best buddies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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