PD*Poll: Mom fights church that banned autistic boy

Exactly ! They are not trying to ban the child just the disruptive behavior , they are trying to give them alternatives... they are not doing it BECAUSE the child is Autistic ..it is BECAUSE he disrupts the service .. the parents should have realized this all on their own ..no one should have had to point it out to them ! I have a son who has Adhd and I had to leave during service several times or I worshiped at home. I still have God in my heart that day and everyday and I also taught him about God too . There are many ways to God !

So, according to you, I should hide my 3 year old away at home and not expose him to the public because he has SPD and tends to have disruptive behavior when he becomes over-stimulated, often by the sensory things he seeks out?

That would make life a little difficult, and my 5 yr old would not get to have any experiences, either.

Now, if he were the size of a football player and possibly violent, there is a need to alter the child's life and routine to accomodate his diagnosis and protect those around him. There is a sensory diet that I understand can help tremendously. (we are still in the diagnosing stage) The parents should definitely enlist the help of the boy's physician, and therapists to come up with a better plan.

You are so right. It doesn't matter what the diagnosis, your children need to be taught appropriate behaviors. Yes, for some children it is more challenging than for others. I think sometimes having a labeled disability gives children a disadvantage because "well, he's autistic, so that's just the way he is."

nancy...ur one of the ignorant ones i speak of...do u think we teach these guys that its OK to misbehave in public places ?? for over a year i wouldnt take my grandsons anywhere in public, but i finally decided that they had just as much right to enjoy all the pleasures as u do, and i started taking them to eat out, shop, etc...and when all the idiots out there look at me as if to say," woman, do domething with that "BAD" kid, i look at them and curtly advise them that they have autism, and that it might be a good idea to research the topic, because the diagnosis is growing daily...they won't be locked away in the basement, they will enjoy the same world that we do, and DONT make the mistake of saying something negative about them where i can hear u...

Absolutly, thats whats wrong with the world today, people use crutches to convince themselves that its okay to let their children misbehave. children with disabilities and challenges can learn just as well the right way to behave in public, it just requires more work on the parents behalf, with some parents arent willing to put in, so they use their childs condition as an excuse, I have an autistic son, if he were ever behaving like that in public I would most certainly not have the right to say ANYONE is at blame for anything but myself. That church SHOULD be intolerable, that is completely unacceptable.

my question is where were the parents I am the mother of an autism child and I take him out all the time but when his mood hits I quickly usher him out until he calms down

You're an @$$hole.

Maybe you ought to advocate for your students the way we parents have had to advocate for our Special-needs students. And advocate. . . .and advocate.. . . it is a never ending battle because the school system and the powers-that-be don't really care about my child. I have to keep his name and situation in their face and make them care so he gets the services he needs. I don't want him pigeon-holed into a Special-ed class where he would be bored and have his intelligence and creativity stiffiled. Even though some from the other post think all special needs children should be thrown into a special-ed class before they infect the other children or something.

All those allowance for our special-needs children didn't come by way of the Fairy Godmother. They were hard won by the families, and, yes through some lawsuits.

I agree, there are not enough resourses for our gifted children, I was one. My son, the one in special-ed preschool, will probably be another. I intend to advocate on that front, as well. After all, I've had a lot of practice being my children's advocate,even at their tender ages!

Michelle, you sound like a great mom! Best wishes for you and your children. I doubt any school could get away with shortchanging your kids with you at the helm :) Keep fighting, and perhaps consider moving to TN because we sure could use someone like you around here.
There were no provisions made for gifted students when I was a kid. Our teachers just moved us up to the next grade's reader, leaving some of us to be left with only reading books from the library and doing book reports. I loved that, but it didn't really teach us anything.
My local school system should be under federal control, in my opinion. Our teachers still haven't received the pay raises and bonuses they were promised in January of 2007. The system won't even pay for the ink cartridges for the classrooms' printers, can you believe that? Some buildings are so ancient, we get asbestos warning letters at the beginning of each school year. (Of course, asbestos is not dangerous unless disturbed, they say.) Our school board is racially divided and too busy trying to undermine each other to care about who they are really working for: the children of this county.
I've resorted to enrolling my older daughter into private school next year. My next goal is to move a county or two over so this school system will not longer be able to waste my city and county tax dollars. I'd rather my taxes go to a school systemm that actually cares about the children.

Michelle,

Here's where you lose me: "we parents have had to advocate for our Special-needs students..." but you don't want him in a special-needs class? Sorry, but if you freely assert that your child is special-needs why don't you advocate for him to be in an environment that is designed to meet those needs with a teacher trained to teach to those needs? By forcing a school to essentially make every teacher - even those not trained to be - a special-needs teacher only hurts both your child and other kids while burning out a teacher who was not trained for it.

There is a reason there are specific educational degrees dealing with teaching special needs kids... SPECIAL needs means what they require to successfully learn is "unique or specific to a person or category" (that's the Webster definition of special).

I have family members who are Special Ed teachers (all with Masters or higher degrees and at least 10 years in the classroom) who complain that they sit in their schools fighting to teach kids like yours with recognized special needs while the parents fight to have the kids in a "regular" classroom. So instead they end up being a school-wide tudor or teaching computers to the whole school...the school is required to have them there and their education and passion is left untouched while they watch kids struggle.

Here's the other flaw in Michelle's "advocacy". If I advocate for a gifted or even just "typically developing" child, I will be advocating for the special needs children to be out of the classroom. So, let's just say that this advocacy goes somewhere and the special needs children end up back in their special needs classrooms (which I am with ikate here; let's use those specialists appropriately) where will that put her advocacy?

It will end up a never ending cycle. I don't know the right answer; I won't even pretend I do. I do think that every child, no matter what their "disability" be taught to function and contribute to society to the best of their abilities.