Hot on HuffPost Parents:
Linda Bloom LCSW and Charlie Bloom MSW: Overwhelmed Parents: A…
Allison Tate: What I Would Like to Tell My Son's 5th Grade Teacher Now
Why Can't My Asperger's Son Be Mainstreamed in School?
Filed under: Opinions
Dear AdviceMama,
The school district wants to put my son in a self-contained class all day at school. What is the best way to fight this? He has Asperger's, ADHD, and some behavior problems, but he is very smart (tested above average on their IQ test). He mainly throws temper tantrums if things don't go exactly his way, and has tics when he is anxious. There is a class in the district for Asperger's, but they do not want to put him in it because the Asperger's kids don't have behavior issues in this class (what?!). I really want to keep him out of the self-contained class. Please help.
Signed,
Unrestrained or Self-Contained
Dear Unrestrained,
You're asking an important question, one that many parents face as they try to find the best situation for a child who can't always conform to the behavior guidelines in a typical classroom. Deciding what's right for a child with behavior management issues is difficult at best, and can feel impossible when their intellectual and emotional maturity are dramatically far apart.
On the one hand, your son sounds very bright. This isn't uncommon; many children on the ADHD/ Asperger's spectrum test very high -- even gifted -- on intellectual assessments. I understand your desire to make sure he's stimulated and challenged in the academic arena, and your concern that a self-contained classroom might not meet his needs. Still, you are describing a young man who -- regardless of his label -- has temper tantrums when things don't go his way. While my work is very much about teaching strategies to use with youngsters whose frustration gets the better of them, a teacher may not have the time or patience to handle his outbursts, and certainly can't be expected to avoid making any demands on him that may trigger his upset.
In this situation, as hard as it might be to hear, it's my opinion that your son's behavior issues and emotional immaturity take precedence over his intellectual abilities. This doesn't mean that you can't supplement his academic work by giving him additional scholastic exercises. And even more importantly, it's not a given that being in the self-contained classroom means that his work will be too easy. Each youngster's work should be customized to their level in each subject, allowing them to work at their own pace. But the fact is, a child who is chronically anxious and very reactive may not be served by the stimulation of a busy, over-filled classroom, impairing their ability to focus and learn.
If you are bound and determined to try to get your son mainstreamed, I would advise you to offer evidence to the school that you are doing serious work with a behaviorist or therapist to help your son develop skills to manage his impulsivity, anxiety and anger. Perhaps if you can convince them that he can handle frustration and disappointment without the tantrums, they will reconsider their decision.
Yours in parenting support,
AdviceMama
AdviceMama, Susan Stiffelman, is a licensed and practicing psychotherapist and marriage and family therapist. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in developmental psychology and a Master of Arts in clinical psychology. Her book, Parenting Without Power Struggles, is available on Amazon. Sign up to get Susan's free parenting newsletter.
Have a question for AdviceMama? Submit your question here.
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
Margaret Honey on the No Child Left Behind Legacy
Margaret Honey, New York Hall of Science CEO, argues that the rigid testing mandates of No Child Left Behind have pushed more creative and hands-on activities out of the classroom. Honey hopes the makerspace in her museum will enable teachers and students to be more creative and engaged in school.
-
Tips From A Real Mom: Supporting Your Students
Hey parents, your child may be going to school, but without your help, they will not learn. Teachers can only do so much. Both your students and their teachers need your support in the classroom and at home to make sure your child is getting the best out of their education.
-
School Evacuated After Child Brings Grenade For Show and Tell
A school is evacuated after a child brings in a grenade for show and tell. Show-and-Tell day is an exciting time for kids. However, an 11-year-old girl in Australia picked the wrong item to showcase.She reportedly brought a hand grenade into her Newcastle school. The grenade resembled a World War II ‘pineapple'. The child's 5th grade teacher took it to a school official who showed it to Boyd Allen, the principal.
-
How to Deal with a Child Who Hates School
When a child announces that he or she hates school, it's often because of a problem that has nothing to do with school work. Parenting expert and author Ann Pleshette Murphy has excellent advice for parents who need to know how to respond to a child who hates school.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 3)
12-15-2009 @ 9:46AM
Rachel said...I don't know if your child is already in a mainstream classroom but mine is -- he has aspergers & adhd and we, too are having some behavioral difficulties in the classroom.
You should know that you have the right to request an FBA (functional behavioral assessment) by law -- in which a trained person will assess what triggers the misbehaviors. They will then come up with a Behavioral Intervention Plan -- to help curb those behaviors. Additonally, you might call an IEP meeting a request a behavioral Para -whose job it would be to implement the "BIP" and keep your son on track.
Generally the school prefer a "least restrictive" environment for special ed kids and if your child is in a mainstream class right now - I think you need to try other possibilities before you change his class assignment.
Reply
12-18-2009 @ 9:14PM
Michael said...I am an adult with Aspergers that went through the main line schools the only issue I had was that I would beat a subject to death that I was very familiar with. I now have 2 college degrees I did have bahavorial disorders before schools but my teaches thout I was austistic. The truth is I was smarter than half of the kids in my class and proved it with my knowledge. my teachers understood that I had some difficulties and helped me through them. It is to those teaches that I was able to confire to the mainline stream. I feel if a teacher knows there is a student with issues and they are patient the kid will prosper in every class.
12-14-2009 @ 3:21PM
LAB said...I respectfully disagree with the response from AdviceMama.
The above commenter, Rachel, is correct, Unrestrained should call an IEP meeting and request an FBA. The IEP should then be amended to reflect the new supports that will be put in place to help this child in the classroom. The child, by law, needs to be in the least restrictive environment. A self-contained classroom is the most restrictive choice in the average school.
If Unrestrained has difficulty with the IEP process, hiring an educational advocate might be a good idea. You can find one in your area by contacting a local chapter of the Autism Society of America or a local Asperger's support group. An advocate can help the school understand that this child may need an aide in the classroom so that he can remain in the LRE.
Unrestrained does not say how old her son is, and that makes a bit of a difference: is he in fourth grade and mainstreamed all this time but the school wants to change this, or is he in preschool and the school wants him in an environment where he can get more one-on-one assistance? Self-contained preschool classes can be helpful for some kids with Asperger's, especially if the extra help that year leads to the child being fully mainstreamed in the following years.
Unrestrained can find lots of information on this subject at the OASIS message boards. Unrestrained may also want to pick up the book Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments by Brenda Smith Myles, and share it with the school.
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 4:50PM
SKL said...If the child is having frequent tantrums, he should get some intensive help targeted at helping him to better respond to stimuli and disappointment. If that is best gotten in the "self-contained classroom," then it could be a win-win. Either way, Mom should make sure he's getting serious help as well as academic challenge every single day. I think it's all too easy in some school systems to "park" kids in special ed instead of getting them prepared for mainstreaming as soon as possible.
I also think Mom needs to commit to doing intensive behavior management work with him at home every single day, to help him have the best outcome.
I don't think other kids should have to be distracted continually just so that one child can be mainstreamed. I could see it only if he was displaying rapid behavioral progress that pointed to a good learning environment for all in the reasonably near future.
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 6:37PM
LAB said...SKL: If every child who caused a distraction in the classroom was removed, we'd have a lot of empty general ed classrooms in this country. It's really not as if the average classroom is full of a bunch of perfect angels and then tainted horribly by the "rotten" kid with ADHD or ASD. The "regular" kids can cause just as much trouble, and frequently do.
Before placing a child in a self-contained classroom, the law says (from wrightslaw.com), "...school districts must ensure that consideration has been given to the full range of supplementary aids and services that could be provided to the student in the regular educational environment to accommodate the unique needs of the disabled student." If this child's school has not done the FBA, has not tried using a parapro in the classroom, or has not otherwise provided the child with appropriate "supplementary aids and services," then it is jumping the gun to move the child to a self-contained classroom.
Not sure what you mean by "intensive behavioral management work" that the mother is supposed to be doing at home. I'm sure the mother is already working with her son at home regarding his behavior, and it's very possible this child's issues are worst at school. Kids with Asperger's have difficulty in social groups, and school is one big social group.
Mainstreaming is not right for every child, and a self-contained classroom is not a permanent placement. Still, the school needs to follow the law and do what they're supposed to do in order to come to a decision regarding LRE.
Reply
2-05-2010 @ 8:13PM
Annee said...Sorry, but I think you are wrong. When a "normal" child causes a disturbance, the correction is generally quick and painless. With an autistic child, you must very well know, that the disturbance is most likely going to get worse before it gets better. The problem with taking a hard line on mainstreaming is that learning and or emotionally disabled children should NOT be mainstreamed if they cannot control themselves 90% of the time, unless they have an aide. To suggest that it is all right for an entire class to be disrupted repeatedly by one child is truly selfish and counterproductive in getting support from the other children and their parents.
12-14-2009 @ 8:40PM
lhl said...Legally, the school is required to provide the appropriate supports and services to your child to provide "free and appropriate public education." While there may be more information available pertaining to this situation, there are many interventions that can be tried before a child is removed from a classroom. The excellent suggestion previously mentioned was for this parent to request an FBA to determine the antecedents/triggers and what measures/practices/strategies should be tried. From the brief blurb above, there is no information about whether any data has been taken to determine the antecedents, whether any interventions have been successful (or not) and whether a trained aide has been made available as part of this child's supports. A paraprofessional or trained aide seems to be one of the solutions to this situation. But for this to work, the aide needs to have specialized training. It is not up to the parent under the IDEIA to get the specialized training. The issue is the child's behavior at school, not at home. The educational setting can be a huge trigger and therefore needs to be addressed squarely on. While a parent should always research and implement behavior supports when it can help a child, ultimately the school supports are the responsibility of the school.
Furthermore, the IDEIA is based upon over 60 years of research that demonstrates that children with disabilities should be included where possible with typical peers. Too often people complain about children with disabilities being in their class when it is not the child's fault but the lack of appropriate support. If the child is throwing tantrums, very specific interventions such as sensory breaks or appropriate ways to vent frustration should be tracked and used to determine their efficacy.
For those wishing more support I would recommend wrightslaw.com for more thorough answers, discussions of what steps to take and the legal rights and laws involved. The IDEIA is not the only civil educational rights law at play. There is also the ADA, and others (e.g. the Rehab Act) that may provide some rights as well.
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 8:44PM
Elizabeth said...Coming from a teacher's perspective, I understand not wanting to put him in the Asperger's class. As a parent, you're worried that your child is intellectually stimulated and continually learning. As a teacher you multiply that by twenty (or more) students. We're responsible for making sure that those children are learning and on task, and it is very difficult to do this with a disruptive child, especially one whose triggers can be simple everyday things. It's true that your child does deserve the best education he can get, but not at the expense of the other children in the classroom. If your son is going to distract from the other children in the classroom, it's not right to insist that he is there.
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 9:21PM
bill said...He can. Move to Pennsylvania. Routine here with good results
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 9:37PM
SKL said...With the economy going the way it's been, I don't know how much longer the school system is going to be able to afford paraprofessionals to help individual children cope in the classroom. That's a perk of a wealthy country's education system. I hope someone is getting busy figuring out what to do when the paraprofessionals aren't there any more.
Reply
5-11-2010 @ 6:46AM
ann said...I have a son who is heading to regular K this fall, just finished pre K in a classroom of 15, at least a 3rd of his time, was spent isolating him, it was only toward the end of the year, the figured out what helps him, etc, keeping him isolated from groups, etc, in certain situations, but as we know, the triggers arent always the same, it can be one thing one time, and yet another thing another time. Then, I hear from his teachers, they are budget cutting out the social workers and psychologists this fall for the schools? so much for michigan's lottery that helps the educational system in this state! since we have had the lottery in place here, its been one cut after another! frustrating! although, I do have other services in place for my son, but the schools losing the support is very detrimental to their success I believe!
12-14-2009 @ 9:44PM
LAB said...Sorry Elizabeth. You may be a teacher, but you are not familiar with IDEA or the basic rights of those with disabilities. The child with Asperger Syndrome deserves the same things the "typical" children deserve, even if he is "disruptive." He is no less a person, and no less important. You suggest the child with Asperger's should go if he is bothering the teacher and the "normal" kids. That's the kind of attitude parents of kids with disabilities hope and pray their child's teacher doesn't have.
If a teacher cannot handle her classroom, it is not the disabled child's fault. The school should support the teacher by following the law and providing an aide in the classroom (and other necessary supports) for this child. Like I said, you can't "remove" every child who causes a problem. You have to fix the problem, or at least try. That's according the law, and to basic human decency.
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 10:15PM
SKL said...The mother says her kid "throws temper tantrums if things don't go exactly his way," and obviously this has proven bad enough to make the administration decide he doesn't belong in the regular classroom or even the "aspergers" classroom. Obviously your argument that every classroom has many disruptive kids is irrelevant. Obviously the level of disruption is much higher in this child's case. If he's having tantrums all day long in my kids' classroom, neither he nor my normal kids can get an education. Why should I bother to send my kids to school at all if they are going to turn the regular classrooms into ball pits for kids who can't cope? I can understand you not wanting your kid to be isolated, but you are showing little concern for the needs of the other kids in the class, who must prepare to grow up and get a paying job someday.
It isn't clear from the mom's question whether she's exhausted all the resources available to diagnose her child and develop an IEP and get additional services. At some point, even if she does all of that, maybe the child is still too much of a disruption to allow other kids to learn what they need to learn. At some point, a self-contained classroom might be the only reasonable answer. So what if it isn't the child's "fault"? What does that have to do with anything? And I also don't agree that it's solely the school's responsibility to help this child deal with his learning / behavior issues. If this mom is so gung-ho about going against the school's placement recommendation, she'd better be prepared to carry a substantial part of the burden.
I also don't like the way the mom focuses on the kid's IQ, like, it shouldn't matter what else he does as long as he is smart. So does that mean that if his IQ was 95, it wouldn't matter whether or not he was in a regular classroom? What's the use of IQ if a person doesn't learn how to deal with people and cope in a normal environment? Give him something interesting to study, but focus more on teaching him to modify his behavior.
12-14-2009 @ 10:56PM
Elizabeth said...LAB, I'm sorry, but I believe this is a case of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few. Yes, the child deserves the same education as everyone else, but should he have it at their expense? Certainly not. I'm not suggesting that the child is any less of a person--far from it! But the fact of the matter is that children with special needs need to be with professionals who have training in that area so that they can get the best education possible. If this child's behavior is so bad that it disrupts the learning process and the teacher cannot do his or her job, they have the right to ask that the student be sent to an educator who knows how to teach him. Not all teachers have training with special needs children, but those that do should be utilized for their skills. Depending on this child's needs, it may be a permanent thing, it may not. I fully support him being in a mainstream classroom if he can control his behavior and can keep up with the work of the other children, but if not, he needs to be removed so he is not disrupting the other children. It's not a punishment, though it may seem like it through your eyes.
2-08-2010 @ 12:06AM
Stacy said...Are you a classroom teacher? Spend a day in a classroom and then see if you like the laws that have been passed in regards to education. It is a difficult job to teach 25 students skills that will allow them to pass the state mastery tests so that your school doesn't fail (no child left behind), meanwhile you have several children with special needs in the classroom which need personal attention and are constantly disrupting the learning process. They may have paraprofessionals with them to help you but the behavior issues still occur. Yes, everyone deserves the right to an education and it always seems as if the law takes the side of the special needs child and what is least restrictive for him or her. But what about the regular education children who have their learning disrupted everyday. They are constantly distracted. What are their rights? Do they have any? It seems not!
12-14-2009 @ 9:49PM
LAB said...SKL: There are not that many individual kids who need paraprofessionals, and many paras can work with several kids in one class. There have been "teacher aides" in classrooms forever, way before IDEA. But say you're right and budget cuts mean no more paras. What do you think we should do with disabled kids? Kick them out of school and put them in an institution?
Reply
12-14-2009 @ 9:51PM
Jim said...Legality and procedure aside, what makes the mother think that her child won't be challenged intellectually in a self contained classroom? Seems a bit naive on her part. For all she knows, the kid might flourish under such a situation.
Sounds like her concerns are driven by fear.
Reply
2-06-2010 @ 3:42AM
Kbel said...The child would not have the benefit of the regular classroom teacher who is an expert in teaching that particular class and is up on what the child needs at that grade level.
2-06-2010 @ 10:25AM
Jim said...@Kbel: Wow, that is quite misinformed statement.
For your information, self contained classrooms are staffed by Special Education Teachers. Not only does this teacher need to special certification for Special Education, they must also be certified as a Regular Education Teacher. A Special Education Teacher has more training, more education and specific experience in teaching children the with Special Needs. In other words, a Special Ed. Teacher can, and often does, teach Regular Ed. classes. They however, have the skills required to modify lessons for each child individually.
The purpose of these classrooms and the mission of a Special Education Teacher is to help a child to the point he/she can be mainstreamed again. It is known fact that the earlier a Special Needs child is placed in the Special Ed. program the better chance that child will catch up to their peers.
As for the medical condition, Aspergers, it is one of the highest functioning on the Autism spectrum. A Special Ed. classroom would do this child a world of good and be a great help in giving this child a normal life as an adult.
FYI: My wife has been a Special Education Teacher for over a decade. Your understanding of their ability is very wrong. Might I suggest a little research before you post such nonsense next time.
12-14-2009 @ 10:14PM
LAB said...Jim: I did mention above that a self-contained classroom is not always a bad thing. It can be helpful or even necessary for some kids. But most kids with Asperger Syndrome or ADHD do not belong in self-contained classrooms because, with appropriate supports, they can function perfectly well in mainstream classrooms.
If self-contained classrooms are so great, why don't parents of "typical" kids place their kids in them? How do they know their child won't excel there?
Reply