It was a troubling weekend for me. When I started this blog last week I'd hoped to keep it balanced and not completely go toward writing only about autism. But with the information I have learned over this past weekend, I feel compelled to write about troubling things that are taking place in my local public schools. The state of the public education system in the US is in dire need of a complete overhaul. In general it seems that most schools are trying to continue with the teaching strategies and classroom structure of the 1960's and 70's. This antiquated approach is not effective in teaching this generation of children. There are still many wonderful teachers working in broken systems who are trying to make a positive difference in people's lives and there are a few schools I hear of (one that our older children attend) that are doing a great job of providing a good education in a safe and caring environment; but there is a great need for a complete reworking of the way we teach our children.
I am hearing stories in my own community about very troubling things going on in the school systems, especially with special needs students. I have several friends who are special ed teachers and aides who are completely outraged with the way in which special education is being run in our community. Teachers and aides are not receiving adequate training to provide for the very specific, very challenging needs of the children in their care. I realize that the system is overrun in general with the rising population of children with special needs, but we must adjust and do our very best to meet the needs of these most vulnerable members of our society. Instead I hear stories of students being left in "safety rooms" (basically a closet) for hours on end because teachers are not equipped and are not being supported by school psychologists to develop behavior plans to circumvent the trouble behaviors children are engaging in. I hear other stories of students being harmed by their aides because the aide does not have adequate training and a good understanding of the unique challenges of this student. I hear stories of special needs students being in the care of an aide for the first 6 months of school without a supervising, certified special ed teacher in their room at all. These situations should not be taking place.
In the area of autism education, our local school district is stuck in the dark ages and is completely discounting new therapies that are being used across our nation to effectively treat autism. A school psychologist in our district recently told a parent of a newly diagnosed child that ABA therapy is Nazi therapy. ABA therapy, the widely accepted therapy, known to be very effective in helping children with autism learn and overcome many of their challenges. The therapy which has been widely researched and which is commonly utilized by school districts all over our country. The following website will take you to a 29-page list of studies proving that ABA is effective. http://rsaffran.tripod.com/IBIrefs.html ABA has generally become accepted as the most common best practice treatment for autism. Our son was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic and their primary recommendation for treatment was to pursue ABA and yet our local educators who are instructing parents in the best treatments for autism completely discount this therapy. This is educational malpractice!
And don't even get me started on our school districts views on biomedical treatments. The autism resource specialist in our district strongly discouraged me from trying the gfcf (gluten-free, casein-free) diet with our son, claiming that it was expensive, non-nutritious and ineffective. I'm so glad I didn't listen to her. My son would still not be sleeping through the night and his gut would be absolutely destroyed. Occasional infractions on the diet send him into a crazed mania, often make him throw up, and greatly disrupt his sleep. On the diet he is calmer, sleeps through the night consistently and is generally a happy boy (before the diet he had 3 states-sleeping, eating or screaming). I'm sure she continues to give the same advice to new parents in our district, who trust that she is the expert and discount biomedical treatments in general; treatments that could significantly help their children with autism.
I praise the Lord that there are other options available to us. We currently homeschool our son with autism and receive ABA therapy from a state agency that serves individuals with autism. Our son has 4 wonderful, caring, intelligent therapists who work with him in our home, effectively teaching him new skills on a daily basis through the use of ABA. They are so far from gestapo therapists. I work on academic skills of reading and math with Seth, which he excels in. And he receives speech and occupation therapy from caring, committed private therapists. I shiver to think what kind of shape he would be in if he were in our local public school system, devoid of the effective teaching strategies of ABA; bombarded by sensory input in classrooms with predominantly florescent lighting; and most likely eating food off his diet as the staff would discount the effective of his diet because of training from their autism resource specialist.
My husband and feel compelled to speak out on these issues and provide parents in our community updated information about autism treatments. We are excited to be starting an autism support group and hope that group will be a change agent for the inadequate special ed programs available in our public school system. But change is difficult, people like to do what they have always done, even if what they have always done does little to help children with autism. I question whether I have the resolve to be a crusader in this area, yet it would feel wrong to sit back and do nothing. Please pray with us about what our involvement should be and pray for change that will benefit the many children in our school system with special needs.
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