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Topic Autistic kids at risk for bullying, so lets push for more mainstreamingPosted by KABA
Why autistic kids make easy targets for school bullies This article has way too many tangents, but makes for an interesting read into the mind of the modern generation. Autistic kids tend to be bullied more, but don't recognize they are being bullied, so we should mainstream them so the generation spawned by bigots learn to love and tolerate, and those without autism are the true autards. The comments are also a roller coaster ride into the minds of the modern generation. Seems those with ideas like us are nothing but trolls in the world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I walk the path of life to my own rhythm, my own beat-if you don't like it, step off and find your own damn song!
When I was in school, retarded and handicapped children were not mainstreamed. They shouldn't be mainstreamed. This is why they are getting bullied. That,and the fact that parents refuse to see that the real truth is that their kid has special needs and shouldn't be forced to try and keep up with the other kids.
I'm sick of this mainstreaming shit! My uncle had Down's Syndrome and my grandma was thankful she could send him to a special school. It worked wonders for him. I noticed that he was usually very calm and actually quite sociable. She said it was less stressful for him (he got the one-on-one care he needed) and it was less stressful for her (it gave her a break during the day and she knew he was in good hands). Nowadays alot of these stupid parunts don't want to admit that their snowflakes aren't perfect, don't want to pay for the specialized care, and/ or get off on the attention whoring when the creature has its episodes. My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can. Cary Grant
Teachers are expected to serve two masters: They want reading and math scores to go up, but then they put ten or twelve students with major learning disabilities in our already overcrowded classrooms, and we are expected to dumb everything down so that the special snowflakes don't flunk. Right now, I have a class of 29 sophomores. One is in a wheelchair, can barely move, and can't speak. One is autistic. Two are classified as MR, and five more have varying degrees of "learning disabled" (code for stupid) IEPs.Then I have I have 20 regular ed students to worry about. Now, If I just had the 20, I would assign outside reading, and class time would be for in-depth discussions. However, because of the special ed kids, I have to read everything aloud in class, and spoon-feed everyone the information. The scores of the regular 20, who actually have a chance of getting smarter and better at reading, are doomed to stay stagnant, or go down, because they are forced to endure a special ed environment.
Gymrat speaks the truth--I saw the same thing when I was teaching. What's particularly insidious about the watered down curriculum is this--the regular ed kids get lazy, start to believe they're really smart, and put forth zero effort, and can still get good grades, while the special ed kids continue to struggle, no matter how easy you make the class. Despite what administrators will tell you, it is ridiculous to expect a teacher to successfully differentiate instruction for upwards of 30 kids in a class. Oh, how I wish a group of parents of bright kids would sue their school district because their kids received a sub-par education from such an oversimplified curriculum. It is wrong for the regular ed kids to have to suffer intellectually so that the Derpleys and Spedleys of the world can have a mainstreamed school experience.
READ EVERYTHING OUT LOUD?? what is this, KINDERGARTEN??? I can only imagine what this is like. we'd have maybe ONE derpy kyd in class, and he may not have been technically retarded. or one REALLY WEIRD kyd who surely had some serious mental problems. most of them were elsewhere, so our teachers didn't have to deal with them. "One is in a wheelchair, can barely move, and can't speak" how can you even give him GRADES? that makes NO sense!
This mainstreaming thing is getting ridicolous. I get mainstreaming, say, a blind kid, or a deaf kid. Teaching other children sign lenguage is not bad, after all, and a blind child only needs to learn how to operate. Same with the one who had an incident and are paralized waist down or such. After all, it is a brain matter. But everybody who can't follow a normal curriculum shouldn't stay in a normal classroom. There is a beautiful book by a special ed teacher, Torey Hayden, called Twilight Children. In this book she describes how awful normal school is to a girl who is not stupid but, due to a brain damage (done by her duh, of course) she can't learn to read. It is heartbreaking for the poor kid. They keep trying to force her to do something she can't do. It is all about the parents, of course. They CAN'T ADMIT that their children is different and unable to do things like the others. Period. _______________________ “I was talking about children that have not been properly house-trained. Left to their own impulses and indulged by doting or careless parents almost all children are yahoos. Loud, selfish, cruel, unaffectionate, jealous, perpetually striving for attention, empty-headed, for ever prating or if words fail them simply bawling, their voices grown huge from daily practice: the very worst company in the world. But what I dislike even more than the natural child is the affected child, the hulking oaf of seven or eight that skips heavily about with her hands dangling in front of her -- a little squirrel or bunny-rabbit -- and prattling away in a baby's voice.” ― Patrick O'Brian, The Truelove lib'-er-ty: the freedom given to you to make the wrong decision, based on the reasoned belief that you will normally make the right one.
I had one teacher who dealt with this problem by basing the grades on her perception of your abilities. It didn't seem fair to me that my work had to be better than another student's work for me to earn the same grade, but in retrospect at least I was encouraged to try my best. It probably wouldn't be allowed now, because the kids would identify that 'unfairness' and complain about it. At that age it can be hard to recognize that what you get out of it is what you put into it. Still, it would be nice if teachers would offer more advanced work for students who are motivated and want to learn - maybe they could even offer something like "if you turn in this 'extra credit' assignment you won't get extra credit but you are excused from turning in 'regular dumb assignment' and you can go to the library next week instead of spending it in class." Of course that's not the best solution, but I don't think any teachers have the power to really fix the problem.
I'd like to see that, too. I feel that I got screwed over by not being challenged at all in the classroom. I was not intellectually lazy when I entered school, but I was when I left it. It took me years to overcome these tendencies which school nurtured.
That is actually what we teachers are supposed to do, Yurble, but it is difficult when you have 30 students. I do differentiate the tests. The Snowflakes get the watered-down, easier version. The regular ed kids get a tougher test, and I grade it tougher, as well. As for the kid in the wheelchair, he has a woman with him at all times who does all of his work for him. He just sits there and moans, most days. And, Oh yeah - he consistently makes the honor role! LOL! He is actually a nice kid, and I try to interact with him as much as is possible. I feel bad for him because once he reaches the magic age of 21 and isn't allowed to darken the school's door anymore, what little social interaction he gets will be gone. He will probably be parked in front of a TV at a nursing home for the rest of his short, sad life. I've seen it before. Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum. |
