a Kluth seminar - WONDERFUL

[Guest guest]

Here are some of the notes I got from the seminar, " You're Going to Love This

Kid! " by a Kluth, PhD. It was about inclusion for children with autism. She

was fabulous! I would encourage any parent to attend an event that includes her,

as well as try to get your child's educators to attend. I definitely wish my

school district would have this lady deliver an inservice training on inclusion!

If you look for inability you will find it. Too many student files focus on

shortcomings rather than strengths. When she was told what her students'

interests and stregths were, she could teach much better than from learning what

they supposedly could not do

social behaviors need to be explained realisticly to those with autism. She

had a middle school teacher named Ms. Rucker. They had a letter change in what

they called her at the lockers, in the parking lot, on the bus, and in the

bathroom. So a student with autism would hear this and say, Hello Ms. *ucker. "

The teacher would then respond, " We do not call teachers names! " This lead to

confusion because the child obviously heard the teacher be called names plenty

of times. What the student needed to be told is, " We only call teachers names

when teachers aren't around and when you're with your friends at the lockers, in

the bathroom... "

kids need lots of movement in class. teachers should integrate movement for

everything, from answering questions to singing, etc

kids that spit a lot often benefit from increased hydration

have peer buddies help the students every possible chance

honor the person's expertise. She gave an example of someone with a focus on

computers and how the teacher tried to limit his talking about computers to five

min/day. When he would talk about computers past this time he was told he was

boring people and being obsessive again. Yet he would hear the teacher talk

about football as soon as class started, see math problems worked around

football, read assigned stories about football, see the boys play football

during recess, and at the end of the day the students would be excited about the

football game. Who was being obsessed about what? If a student with autism has

an interest, honor his/her interest and right to develop that interest.

when the environment is too extreme, we have rituals to prepare us. She used

the example of jumping into a cold pool. Many of us will go the the edge, lean

over at a lunge, and rock back-and-forth until we've talked ourselves into

jumping. For children with autism, their environment is often like a cold pool.

If they have to flap or jump or yell out to prepare for the change, then why do

we try to stop their coping skills?

When kids say the same thing over and over, repeat words for hours, or sing

the same song for 4-5 days straight, it's not always because they want to. She

had us sing the Barney song a few times and pointed out many of us will be stuck

with it in our heads all day. Many people with autism do NOT want to say the

same thing over and over, but their brains and body are stuck in loops. Try to

be understanding that they are not doing it to simply be annoying or obsessive

or can help it.

public education is for *ALL* kids, not just the ones we deem worthy enough

of attending

she used another story to illustrate NT people's cruelty to those who are

different. She told about two students with autism (or CP, can't remember which)

who were in gym class and supposed to be running laps. The teacher put on some

music and one of the students, a girl, began flapping her hands and bouncing,

but was enjoying the music and picking up her pace. Then behind her came her

aid, pushing her hands down, saying " hands down " . The girl then slowed, felt

embarassed, and was having a difficult time walking again. Then, she once again

began to enjoy the music, pick up her pace, and the flapping again started. The

aid repeatedly did the same thing, " hands down " and put her arms back down. The

girl eventually stopped trying and stopped enjoying the music.

regular ed allows the full range of experience for a person to choose their

life's purpose. She told about a high school student with severe CP who could

communicate little. Yet at home she enjoyed sitting with her father and watching

History Channel and Discovery Channel, so they decided a history class would be

good for her. a wheeled her in the first day and the teacher stopped her at

the door, saying, " This class is not appropriate for her, she will have no

ability to make use of practical applications in life. " a's thought was, " Oh

yeah, like everyone else in here is gonna be able to use Charlamaigne (sp?) in

day-to-day rituals. " The teacher was putting an expectation on this student that

she would not place on other students simply because of her disability. This

student was being denied the opportunity to grow her passion for life and her

interests.

Listen to your own attitudes and perceptions (more for teachers here). She

told the story of someone who thought a particular person needed to know ahead

of time there would be a disabled child in the class. One of the faculty members

said, " Okay, tell them also there is an African-American and two Jews in the

class. " The point being, why is someone singled out for a disability? Is this

not discrimination just as well?

honor the communication of your students. She gave the story of a boy who was

nonverbal and would bring pictures each week to show a girl what he had done

over the weekend. a told the girl to bring pictures from her world to show

the boy. The history teacher saw it and assigned the class to bring a picture

book of their family history. They were to find pictures to explain their

heritage and could not talk at all. Then the class exchanged the picture books

for 30 minutes without speaking at all. This honored the boy's way of

communicating and showed him that he was important.

meet children where they are. She used multiple stories to illustrate this.

One of my favorites ('cause Allie has Caterpillar love) was the story of a boy

with autism and his first day in the library. He saw three copies of The Very

Hungry Caterpiller, jumped up and down, grabbed the books, laid them on the

floor in a row, hopped around, and opened them each to the first page, fingered

the holes from where the caterpillar ate, then licked the first food item. The

faculty later learned from Mom that he has a reading area at home with a red

bean bag chair. The librarian bought two red bean bags for the " literacy

lounge " . The next visit the boy ran for his Caterpillar books, saw the red bean

bag, and immediately fell into his spot, and quietly enjoyed his books. It

became " the thing " for another student to join him in the literacy lounge. This

gave him importance among his peers, joy in learning through books, and

acceptance for them all.

Another great story was about a teacher reading " Where The Wild Things Are " . The

teacher had been forewarned by last year's teacher to NOT have anything about

Where The Wild Things Are because it would make the child " noncompliant " and too

hyper. This teacher filled her room with posters and such about the book and the

boy loved her class. She began reading this book and when they reached a point

where the monsters began dancing or something (forgive me, I don't know the book

very well) the boy could not contain himself and got up and danced around the

room like the monsters were supposed to do. The children were looking at the

student like he was a freak and the teacher told the other kids it was time to

dance and complimented the boy for knowing how to dance so well and when to do

it. The entire class enjoyed it and the students saw this boy as a leader, smart

and intelligent. The teacher later commented " He is so artistic he can even

dance to books. "

Some great quotes from the day:

We can do anything we want if we stick to it long enough. --Helen Keller

Don't quit five minutes before the miracle happens. -- anonymous

She was unaware of my limitations. --Helen Keller

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