Posted on 05/25/2008 1:36:54 AM PDT by LibWhacker
PORT ST. LUCIE — Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.
After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.
By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex — who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism — out of the class.
Melissa Barton filed a complaint with Morningside's school resource officer, who investigated the matter, Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said.
Port St. Lucie Police no longer are investigating, but police officials are documenting the complaint, she said.
Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident took place.
Portillo could not be reached for comment Friday.
Steele said the boy had been sent to the principal's office because of disciplinary issues. When he returned, Portillo made him go to the front of the room as a form of punishment, she said.
Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February at the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marcia Cully.
Children diagnosed with Asperger's often exhibit social isolation and eccentric behavior..
Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disability, Barton said. After the family moved into the area and Alex and his sibling arrived at the school in January, Alex spent much of the time in the principal's office, she said.
He also had problems at his last school, but he did not have issues during his two years of preschool, Barton said.
School and district officials have met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan to address his difficulties, she said. Portillo attended these meetings, Barton said.
Barton said after the vote, Portillo asked Alex how he felt.
"He said, 'I feel sad,' " Barton said.
Alex left the classroom and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office, she said.
Barton said when she came to pick up her son at the school Wednesday, he was leaving the nurse's office.
"He was shaken up," she said.
Barton said the nurse told her to talk with Portillo, who told her what happened.
Alex hasn't been back to school since then, and Barton said he won't be returning. He starts screaming when she brings him with her to drop off his sibling at school.
Thursday night, his mother heard him saying "I'm not special" over and over.
Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.
The other students said he was "disgusting" and "annoying," Barton said.
"He was incredibly upset," Barton said. "The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this."
St. Lucie School's spokeswoman Janice Karst said the district is investigating the incident, but could not make any further comment.
Vern Melvin, Department of Children and Families circuit administrator, confirmed the agency is investigating an allegation of abuse at Morningside but said he could not elaborate.
ALL of the kids, FRiend. If we warehouse them, as you'd like, we basically toss them in the ashcan. I was one of those kids, myself, once upon a time. I've also spent a 24-year career in the Air Force, earned over 300 semester-hours of college credits, including two associates, a bachelors, and about 2/3rd of a masters, so far. So was Temple Grandin, who has severe autism, and look at what she's accomplished. EVERYONE has potential to do good, given the chance and some decent education.
It's also good for kids to learn that not everyone is really smart, or really dumb, and that all people can have value. It's also good for them to learn that when you fail at something, you pick yourself up, and try again, rather than just quiting.
Your points are well made and understood. I think I didn't make myself clear and that's my fault - - "warehouse" was a bad choice of words. I should have left it at "segregate". But the purpose for segregating the headbangers would not be for throwing them in the ashcan, but rather for determining how best to normalize and educate them so that they could be reintroduced to a normal classroom environment, while at the same time leaving the rest of the kids in an atmosphere more conducive to normal instruction without unnecessary distractions.
FRegards,
LH
Let me put it this way: Too many people have used phrases like that for me to NOT challenge it. Hitler's Final Solution for the Jewish Problem started with a test run on Germany's disabled population. My point, however, is that kids who have disabilities need to learn how to act from kids who don't.
Put a dozen kids with Asperger’s and Autism in the same room, and let them learn each other's bad behaviors? I've seen it. It AIN'T pretty. My son was there. He wasn't particularly verbal, but he was no head-banger. However, some of his gen-ed teachers thought he was horrifying, because he didn't answer them when they talked to him, or if he did, it wasn't a direct answer. He used, at the time, verbalizations from his videos and movies. Getting an immunization, he chattered about a little girl going to the doctor, for example. He couldn't express his concerns any other way. This was at 2 years and older, until he was about seven or eight, and after using five-word original sentences at 18 months. Now, most people who talked to him wouldn't recognize that he had a disability until they noticed that he was seriously into things most people don't care about. His thing is Animation. It's sort of like talking to my brother, the gun nut. For years, all he talked about was handloading with his Dillon progressive reloading press. Bullet shapes, and diameters, and weights, and powders, etc. I like guns, and I've reloaded on and off for over 40 years, but...
Anyway, my major point is that segregating them has been tried. It did not work then, and I doubt it will work now. Learning how to deal with their issues the most effective and economical way is what we need to do. And, unfortunately, one-size-does-not-fit-all with disabled kids. Heck, it really doesn't fit all with non-disabled kids, for that matter. My son never hurt anyone intentionally in his life. His kindergarten teacher was initially terrified of him, because she had a nephew with Autism who was violent and unpredictable. (To people who didn't know him, anyway.)
No offense, but that sounds very similar to the liberals' conclusion that black kids need to sit next to white kids in order to learn.
I think I understand where you are coming from, though, and where you are coming from is based on your personal experience. I respect that, I truly do. Your opinion, however, does provide a clue about why so many caring parents have abandoned the government schools. It is because they want their kids to soar to the highest level possible rather than merely acclimate to the lowest common denominator. That is, they don't want to sacrifice their children's education just so their children may be used to serve as examples, or models, for other kids.
You don't know much about Asperger’s or Autism, then, I'd guess. Both are characterized by children who do not learn social skills unless specifically taught them, among many other things. I don't just have a child with disabilities, I've spent much of the past five years becoming a special ed teacher (after the previous five, becoming a social studies teacher), and meeting a lot of special ed kids. And teaching them. Kids do learn from watching other kids, and they do learn from their interactions with those other kids. Some of them just need to have things explained to them more carefully, as they dont’ automatically understand social conventions like most of us do.
“I think I understand where you are coming from, though, and where you are coming from is based on your personal experience. I respect that, I truly do. Your opinion, however, does provide a clue about why so many caring parents have abandoned the government schools. It is because they want their kids to soar to the highest level possible rather than merely acclimate to the lowest common denominator. That is, they don't want to sacrifice their children's education just so their children may be used to serve as examples, or models, for other kids.”
There may be some of that; my own kids are home-schooled, in fact. I'm also teaching in the district we live in. On the other hand, I live in a gang-infested city, and neighborhood, and I don't want my son coming home wearing his pants around his knees, or my daughters getting pregnant earlier than their grandmother did. I had them in a nice private school for a time, until I couldn't afford it anymore. $700 a month got too steep. BUT! My son got most of his special ed services in his early years in this same district. They have some wonderful and dedicated people here, trying their best to help these kids do better in school. There is, btw, no doubt in my mind that kids can learn from their peers. You and I did, for example. Not everything we learned was to the good, but not everything was to the bad, either. For many kids with disabilities, and especially those with Autistic-spectrum disorders, they need the modeling form normal kids, specific instruction and practice, and time.
The school I work at now is a small gem among all the others in the area, in many respects, even though the neighborhood it's in is even worse in many ways than my own. Good, polite, kind, kids, mostly. Very few ruffians. If mine weren’t too old to go there, I'd ask to transfer them in, and drop the homeschooling thing. It's pretty resources intensive, too. The worst-behaved kid in our school is now in an in-residence hospital & counseling setting,finally getting the help he really needs, and the next worst has improved markedly in the past few months, and may not be a problem much longer. If those were the only two I'd worked with, I guess a 50% fail rate isn't all that good, but there are more than a dozen others as well, and all of them are doing better, as well. We did have to take the one kid out of our setting, and get him in a more restrictive setting, but that isn't necessary for most kids.
One other thing I like about special education is that they are finally starting to pay more serious attention to research; good, quality research, in particular. Everything I've seen on kids with disabilites shows that the social thing is very important to helping them get along in the world. I've been building a collection of research articles, and if you're interested, I be happy to share them with you.
I’m also too tired to be posting anymore tonight. Despite non-computer spell and grammar checking, my last post was riddled with errors. Maybe we can continue tomorrow? In any case, good night, FRiend.
This is what I have been trying to suggest is the "fair" thing to do for all concerned. Headbangers, biters, and other maniacs who run around screaming and breaking things need to be extracted. Kids with more benign disabilities like those you described should not be a problem nor a significant distraction to "regular" kids. In fact, the "regular" kids can probably learn important social skills from helping such kids. I think we have been on the same page all along.
Thank you for your many kind responses.
FRegards,
LH
Well, you have more self-control than I do. Like I said on the other thread, if she pulled this on my grandson (also autistic, although not a behavior problem), I would personally kick her ***.
What do you mean, "whatever it is?" You've never heard of it??
If the child was a behavior problem, he should have been removed from the classroom through the proper channels. Sadists like this woman have no place in a school. What she did was just plain cruel.
I vote HER out!
Nope, never have.
My kids are normal, no assburger syndrome.
You got that right. Our 11 yr old probably has Aspergers (we homeschool and haven't yet had her "officially" tested - not sure we will) and her reaction would have been profound humiliation, complete lack of understanding, copious amounts of tears, and utter terror at the notion she might ever have to return to class.
Oh, and my reaction would have been ugly. My husband and I are absolutely appalled by this story.
Our daughter is highly intelligent and quite proficient in school - with facts and figures she is a wiz, loves history, reading, loves to write, and while she is very good at math, she hates it for one reason - story problems, because she lacks the ability to deductively reason.
Socially she has a very hard time with peers (as Aspergers kids do - probably this five year old is having a terrible time adjusting to the socialization of kindergarten and practicing proper exchanges), although she loves small children and can hold her own in an adult conversation. As a result she comes across as awkward and trying too hard and no doubt some of her peers think she is strange or annoying. She wouldn't have done very well at all in public school, and I thank God every week that He put such a strong desire in my heart to homeschool her, even though it was unexpected at the time.
Aspergers kids also lack coordination, can be obsessive about some subjects of interest, can be socially naive - lacking understanding about social norms, and may have physical tics, like rocking or hand motions. My daughter has some intense phobias too. But they're usually very smart, generally function just fine, and as grown ups may be considered eccentric.
Alex may be a pain in the butt, but he sure is a cutie.
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