Teaching Older Students with Milder Forms of Autism
December 10, 2009 by Abby
Filed under Adolescents, Least Restrictive Environment
The transition to middle school and high school can be difficult for any kid, but for kids with autism this may be compounded by their social difficulties. Although students with disabilities are entitled a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) the services they receive in middle and high school may be not be the most appropriate services for them. A report by Emma Brown with the Washington Post (see link below) describes a new private school in Washington, D.C., and other similar programs, which have been created to support the needs of students with milder forms of autism. These programs have been created to support students who would typically be in general education classes, but due to the social strains of middle and high school have trouble staying successful. The majority of schools Ms. Brown reported on that provide a more supportive environment and smaller class sizes are private schools. Programs like these are few and far between in the public school system. Many kids in the public schools attend mainstream classes with some special education support such as a classroom aide or special education classes for organizational/life skills. Many of these students are not receiving the social skills support they need to be maximally successful in that environment.
This article brought up some serious concerns for me. As most of you know, I’m a huge proponent of inclusive education. I believe that with the correct supports and services, all kids with autism can find success within the general education environment. The problem is, what I see as “correct supports and services” are very rarely in place within our current educational system and so students with special educational, social and behavioral needs are not always able to succeed within that environment. The options are very limited in the public school system, and so families have to either deal with the programs available or send their child to a private school which better supports their needs. This begs the question: are our schools actually providing services which are adequately “least restrictive” and serve the needs of all the kids? If they were, there wouldn’t be much need for private programs I’m assuming.
What I want to hear from all you is: What do you think about this issue? If the public education system is unable to adequately support the needs of their students with disabilities, are we to continue creating private programs to serve their needs? Or, rather, should we be focusing on reforming our school system to adequately serve their needs?
Thank you all for your participation in the Autism Community!
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As a parent of a High-functioning autistic son who is mainstreamed; I can tell you that we need to reform our public schools. We are fortunate in my district to have an ASRD homeroom once my son gets to middle school. Many of my friends however, have to fight for private services to be paid for and considered part of their appropriate education. Parents have to go through legal battles to get services that are best for their child. Doesn’t it make sense to reform the schools when they are legally bound to provide the help our kids need? Some districts are better at this than others. I always feel bad when I tell my success story and then hear other sad tales about: fighting for services while their child isn’t even placed in a learning facility, going broke paying legal fees, kids wasting time in whatever classes the district has available.
It’s an outrage! I guess it has to be on our own door steps to care.
This subject defines my life right now.
I have a son about to enter middle school in the fall, and they have *some* supports in place, but it just isn’t enough for his level of social processing and executive function/organizational skills. It is our opinion (his dad and me) that he needs to remain in a small classroom until these skills can be increased. This can only be offered in private school settings. The other option may be home-schooling, but of course this is not ideal either due to the need to generalize social pragmatic skills.
It’s the unstructured, unsupervised times that are the most difficult for these kids- and where my child seems to struggle the most already. Add to that the confusion of a larger school, changing classes, maintaining a locker and agenda, social pressures and bullying… it’s a recipe for disaster.
I think ideally the regular education placements need to be reformed, BUT kids need to be there to endure the growing pains of these programs – to subject their families to the real-life consequences they will face through those growing pains.
Even typically developing young people are becoming depressed and worse due to the pressures that exist in the middle schools – add to that a developmental disability – higher anxiety and lower frustration levels – I give credit to parents who will keep there kids in the public school placements and endure, advocate, mediate etc. to make lasting changes in their districts. Special Education is truly the next Civil Rights Movement.
Based on the article it appears that providing appropriate services that are “least restrictive” is a challenge, at best, for schools. Unfortunately stories like Julie’s (above) seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Krysten – Thank you for your comment. I truly hope that we can push for major reforms in the public school system as well. The problems are overwhelming and many within the system seem to have a difficult time seeing that there is a problem. If the problems aren’t seen, it is near impossible to create change for the better. The best way for us as parents and educators to ensure that change comes is to become involved. Involvement can include activities from attending school board meetings or parent-teacher-student association meetings to tracking data about your own child’s education and progress to support your claims/arguments regarding the need for better services. The best solutions are created by gathering information first. While many schools use funding as a reason for not changing, data makes these arguments more difficult to justify. The question from the side of the advocate becomes: how can you justify NOT making changes, when you can clearly see the data supports the need for change and outweighs any financial argument? While change will never come easily, it is not an option for us to be complacent and just accept the status quo. Maybe Special Education is the next Civil Rights Movement… but for change to start we need to start moving.