Quote:
From the 2nd article posted
...Portillo told police that Alex had twice been removed from her class that day for misbehaving. She said he threw his crayons and was lying on the classroom floor, kicking the tables while other students worked on their assignments. A school resource officer, who responded to the classroom, said he saw Alex under a table....
...A school resource officer at Morningside wrote in the police report that he often works with Alex at a desk in the school office. He noted that Alex does well one-on-one, but will tear up his homework, kick the wall and lie on the floor when no one is paying attention to him.
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Ok, I'm not making excuses for the teacher, but this is what it sounds like to me.
- This kid was having a really bad day
- His documented behavior was a disruption to his classmates learning environment and he was sent out.
- It sounds like it's a consistent thing that this kid needs constant one-on-one attention to get work done
- After sending the kid out, he was returned to class, at that point the teacher did this whole "vote" thing which to me, reads as follows:
- The teacher wanted the student to know how his behavior affected his classmates, hence the whole, "tell him what you don't like about him"
- The vote was not "Should he be allowed in our class", it was "should he be allowed in RIGHT NOW. Which indicates to me she was hinting that maybe he needed more time to cool off, reflect on his actions, etc.
Now, I don't have a Spec. Ed degree or certification, so I can't speak to how this situation would affect the kid's psyche. I also don't think that kids at that age have a good idea of the consequences of their actions, let alone how it would affect someone else, so the idea of trying to "shame" him into better behavior using critiques of his peers is most likely not appropriate. Do I agree with the steps the teacher used? I'd agree with it for my classes of HS freshman and sophomores but not for kids that young.
All that being said, does this teacher have a SPED cert? If not, in my opinion, its not entirely fair to paint her with a broad brush, just because she's not up to date with the Autism Spectrum. I took one class in the Ed School addressing SPED kids. To be honest, if I wanted to work in a classroom with SPED kids, I'd have pursued that endorsement. I have a student in one of my classes that is autistic, and it is a daily drain on me. He exhibits some of the same behavior as this student, if I'm standing over him, working with him exclusively, I can get work done. The second I move away, he's off task. Fortunately, he's in my smallest class so I can spend more one-on-one time with him, but if he was in some of my larger, more boisterous classes, heaven knows how it would go.
Which is why I'm not a huge fan of Inclusion. I wasn't when I was a PE major and I'm still not as a classroom teacher. I understand that children with disabilities have the right to receive the highest quality education that their disability allows, but when it comes at the detriment of their classmates, who is that fair to? If a kid goes to a resource room for English and Math instruction, why should they be placed in a Science or Social Studies classroom, where those skills are essential parts of the instruction? Just my feelings.
Kitso
KS 361