I am sick and tired of people not understanding mental DEFICIENCIES such as Autism. Until you have a child with it, you’ll always just think that it can be “disciplined” out of them. “Behavioral Conditioning” appears to be the only way to even half way get through to Autistic children and it takes a ton of training of teachers to be able to do this. The answer is probably not to mainstream the children but to get them the help they need and then put them into the population.
I think we are in agreement. Autism cannot be ‘disciplined’ out of a child. It is a terrible burden for the child and the whole family. The behavioral conditioning has been shown to be helpful. Some of the earlier practitioners were dragged into court, weren’t they, before people really understood?
My question is: Why do they add to the child’s burden by trying to mainstream him into a class with unprepared teachers? Schools have funds available to have professionals deal with special needs kids. Why don’t they take advantage of them?