Autism, It’s Everyone’s Frustration
As today marks the end of Autism Awareness month, I find myself feeling like I didn’t accomplish as much as I originally set out to do.
I wanted to inform as many people I could about not just my own son’s issues with his Autism, but also to inform what people need to know about the public school system (and other school systems) and its lack of support for children with special needs in general.
For the most part, teachers, principals and its supports want our children to succeed. This will not be argued. Unfortunately lack of funding is in translation, commencing a “race” for all parents that require special attention for their child or children in school.
In short, you have to make your child need the support more than other children. We have to take away support from another human, in order to receive the help and assistance for our own child. It tears parents apart.
It’s a constant battle, and the worst part is, we don’t know whom to trust. Parents hand over their children to strangers whom all say they want to help. Every parent does this, yet a child with little ability to communicate may go hungry at lunch time due a gluten/casein free diet and due to lack of simple communication (a phone call).
Some children with Autism in particular are physical in their communication. This means they can react to a command by simply throwing anything, like a chair, or punching anything or anyone in their path. I ask, what are they “reacting” to?
Is it possible by removing them from an integrated class, into a small enclosed room with one or two EA’s, we are compounding the pressure for these children to flourish? How would YOU react to being forced into a small room, and spoken to like you are a baby (in some cases), and asked question after question after question. How would YOU react to someone asking you to perform a task over, and over and over again?
One thing will remain true. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have one thing in common. They are SUPER intelligent human beings. Our educational system considers them to be a nuisance in my opinion. What the government fails to acknowledge is that every one of these children grow to be adults. As adults, they will require care – and make no mistake these parents who care for them will die. Their current care is now on the hands of not just the parent of the child with Autism, but on the hands of every person with or without money in their pocket.
Do we wait for the child to grow into an adult, then say “OH, he/she needs assistance!”, OR, we can provide the necessary therapies TO ALL diagnosed children while they are children. When they grow into beautiful intelligent loving adults, we, as parents can set them free to LIVE. Our every day that passes depends on EVERYONE knowing what is happening, and what we can do about it now.
As a parent of a neuro typical child, do you want your child in a classroom with an unassisted ASD child? If the ASD child reacts, this becomes YOUR issue too.
I urge you and everyone you know to ask your children’s teacher if there is a child with ASD in their class. Now ask them if that ASD child is receiving sufficient support.
In conclusion, I will be asking my son’s school AGAIN if they will prepare a document which recognizes that he has a diagnosis. I will then ask they prepare another document which outlines his triggers to outbursts, and successful means to achieve his goals (an IEP). This will be the third time I have to ask for it, and most likely the third time they will try to talk me out of it.
The race is on.
