Student voted out of classroom!!!

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

Honestly, when you have kids, don't send them to public schools then. They will be expected to work together (whether it is with a special needs child or a student they don't particularly like). I am teaching these children that people are different, that it is a fact of life and that they have to work together. There is a big difference between having the kids rotate who works with the special needs student and having one person always work with that child.

I can say that the only time I have had to seperate a sped child away from another student it had nothing to do with his disability or his abilities, it was because their personalities didn't mesh and the sped child was violent (due to his dislike) to the other child (when I say violent I mean he would deliberately hit this child). I obviously couldn't have that happening in the room, so they were completely seperated in the room and in line. Once they were seperated from each other, my class ran fine and was smooth.

I know for myself and in my classroom, the students rotated on who they worked with. I was constantly changing groups. I didn't want them to become complacent in one group and think they didn't have to do anything. Plus, I would mix up the ability levels (like I wouldn't put all the sped kiddos in one group and all my gifted in another). Yes, some children would work with my sped kiddos a bit more, but I would ask them "hey do you mind working with this child" and they would say yes. Mainly because these two little girls really liked to be the "center of attention", which working with one of the sped kiddos and having to explain the assignment in child like terms and kind of being the "boss" something that gave them an ego boost. (They probably didn't think I knew this but I did).

Here's to you then, super teacher.

Seriously though, that's awesome that you have a SPED cert, spent 2 years as a resource teacher and then are going to fly in here and be judgemental on a guy like me. As a first year teacher, I get handed the kids mods and had our SPED coordinator essentially tell me, "Good Luck".

To be honest, I've tried the group thing, I put him into a lot of different groups, rotated them throughout the fall semester. The common theme? He was a drain on each group of kids I put him with (He didn't bounce from group to group, I reassigned them each time). His group members had to go above and beyond the amount of work the rest of the students did, to make up for his part. That's not fair to them.

And do I expect all my kids to be normal? No I don't. I understand some kids will be slower than others, or have trouble with certain assignments. Hell, I teach at a school that's 60% Hispanic and has numerous LEP/ESL kids, and I seem to do fine by them.

Kitso
KS 361

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by wreckingcrew

Here's to you then, super teacher.

His group members had to go above and beyond the amount of work the rest of the students did, to make up for his part. That's not fair to them.

1) lol

2) That's really what I was trying to get at.

[MysticCat]

Interesting reading the last few posts. As I've said, my kid is the Asperger's/ADHD kid, and I'm amazed (and pleased) at how often his teacher picks asks him to work with and help other students. He's becaome the acknowledged computer expert in the class, and he seems more than willing to help other kids with computer issues. Helps the other kids learn about computers and helps him learn to work with others and interact with others in a setting that's comfortable to him.

As his parent, though, I can readily say that I wouldn't be real happy about it if I thought other kids were having to go above and beyond to make up for him. That's not fair to anyone involved.

Granted, my son presents a relatively "mild case." I think most people interacting with him wouldn't immediately peg him as special needs -- at most they might note that he's a little "odd" and hard to figure out. So for him, mainstreaming works well, while being seperated from the "normal" kids would be a disaster. Like I said, I think the question of what classroom setting is best for a kid on the spectrum has to be decided on a case-by-case basis -- there is no one right answer.

And I know what some of you mean about public schools. Rashid, I wouldn't send kids to DC public schools either if I could help it. But I have to say, our experience with public schools and an Asperger's kid has been fantastic.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Granted, my son presents a relatively "mild case." I think most people interacting with him wouldn't immediately peg him as special needs -- at most they might note that he's a little "odd" and hard to figure out. So for him, mainstreaming works well, while being seperated from the "normal" kids would be a disaster. Like I said, I think the question of what classroom setting is best for a kid on the spectrum has to be decided on a case-by-case basis -- there is no one right answer.

You're also way more active and accepting of your son's needs than a LOT of parents are. Aren't most kids on the spectrum diagnosed before the kid even starts grade school, when something doesn't seem right?

We know a kid who's obviously on the spectrum--but to his family, "there's nothing wrong" with him at all. As a result, he's not getting the help he deserves, he doesn't speak, he just grunts monosyllabically. I feel like many urban public school systems are filled with kids like this...which could be the case with this kid. Doesn't make what the teacher did right, though.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

You're also way more active and accepting of your son's needs than a LOT of parents are. Aren't most kids on the spectrum diagnosed before the kid even starts grade school, when something doesn't seem right?

We know a kid who's obviously on the spectrum--but to his family, "there's nothing wrong" with him at all. As a result, he's not getting the help he deserves, he doesn't speak, he just grunts monosyllabically. I feel like many urban public school systems are filled with kids like this...which could be the case with this kid. Doesn't make what the teacher did right, though.

Someone asked the same thing a number of pages ago, so I'll just cut and paste what I said there:

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Usually signs start to present themselves by about 3; in fact, I think the diagnosis requires that symptoms be present by then.

That said, it's not unusual in my experience for the diagnosis to come in elementary school. This is so for a couple of reasons -- sometimes the symptoms can be written off as something else before the pressures of school come, sometimes (often) parents really don't want to face the prospect of an autism spectrum diagnosis and resist until they really can't anymore. We knew something was "off" around 3, but he was 9 when he was diagnosed. We weren't ignoring things during those years; it just took that long for us to see what really seemed to be going on.

So you have basically 3 groups -- the parents who have their kids evaluated and diagnosed early on, the parents who refuse to see that something is wrong, and the parents who know something is wrong and who are dealing with it, but who don't get to an ASD diagnosis at first. We're the third group, and I've known parents in the first two groups. It's hard when you can see what's going on with a child but the parents can't/won't.

[SWTXBelle]

Going back to the original concept - I don't care if it is a child of 5 or a high school senior of 18, an adult going through recruitment or a worker at his/her workplace - NO ONE would want to be put at the front of their class/group, discussed then voted on. Except maybe "Survivor" - but let's leave reality tv out of this.

Heck, can you imagine if we put pnms in the front of the group and then had everyone discuss them and vote then and there for membership selection? What if they did it in your workplace?

It is a stupid, cruel idea.