Stay involved with your kiddo's programs even when they are at school!
A good friend of mine is a teacher in the state of Oregon. He teaches 4th grade and is a person of great quality, integrity, and leadership. All of these qualities, however, do not prepare you for dealing with children with spectrum disorders.
Because of underfunding, my friend’s school district moves spectrum children into typical classrooms without support. He has 26 kids in his class; 25 being typical and 1 being on the spectrum.
My friend and I were discussing his classroom recently. He was telling me what he must do to manage the spectrum child in his classroom and how he must spend a 1/4 of his time disciplining the one while the other 25 await instruction.
As I listened to this story, it was easy for me to point out his mistakes, due to the experience I have with spectrum kiddo's, but me pointing out his mistakes does not speak to the bigger issue. How can we as parents throw our children, without support, into a typical environment and expect positive outcomes? If we know that our children learn differently, have sensory issues that make the processing of input more difficult, and have difficulty in large, unpredictable settings, how can we justify sending our children off to school and expect positive outcomes?
Our schools are filled with quality people who care about kids but we as parents must also work daily seeking out environments that foster success for our kids. We cannot expect schools to know what is best but we can expect schools to provide some services as support for a greater strategy. They just need us to be involved so they may learn how to best engage our children.
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The parents need to be involved in the childs education....
My son was the first to be mainstreamed in our school district, a pioneer!
Every year is challenging, not only for the teacher and my child, but for me, the parent! On a consistent basis change is always taking place at school. Communication is essential for my child's day to run smoothly. Without the proper communication, misunderstandings and stressful conditions are going to happen. With every passing year, the curriculum becomes more difficult and more abstract, making it hard on everyone who takes part in the educational process. Let's face it, there's a lot for a teacher to address with autism, and plenty of activity taking place within the classroom. I feel bad for the teachers, I basically have become the driving force for our team. I make the time to answer their questions and help out whenever I can. I assist the team members by helping them understand my child's personality and his needs. We come up with strategies for social issues, transitioning, focus, and sensory issues. As a team we have covered every situation you can possibly imagine, "NO teacher should EVER go through this alone." A team should be in place at the beginning of the school year, so the student can be successful. Most teams include the teacher, a teachers aide, therapists and the parents... after all who knows the child better?
Yes, absolutely stay involved with the school
You are absolutely right that it is beneficial for our children when parents stay involved with their "school life" in positive ways. Schools should not be regarded as day care centers; schools are a member of the child's team: parents/family/caregivers; educational/therapists; biomedical/therapists. The schools are woefully stretched. Even the well-intentioned, caring teachers and aides could use a helping hand. Parents can look for volunteer opportunities.
When a family member is in the hospital, it is important for the staff to realize that the patient has an advocate on top of looking out for their welfare. It is the same with a school situation.
Another important and related topic is that of abuse, seclusion, and restraint in schools. There are some teachers and aides who have not received quality training or who do not handle the challenging situations posed by some students in a gentle, compassionate, or safe manner . . . . Sadly, they may even deal with non-challenging situations in an inappropriate manner. For more information about this please visit:
http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/abuse.php
http://www.modavox.com/voiceAmerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=40653
http://www.modavox.com/voiceAmerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=39694