Main > Everything Else

Anyone have an autistic child?

<< < (17/19) > >>

ChadTower:

It sucks that you had to take them to court but major kudos for doing what you had to do.  Autism programs in public schools are still a long way from being great but they're also way better than they were even 5 years ago.

Ninten-doh:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on September 03, 2008, 11:10:03 am ---Autism programs in public schools are still a long way from being great but they're also way better than they were even 5 years ago.

--- End quote ---

Agreed.  And for some kids on the spectrum, the program our school disctrict has will be great for them.  Just wasn't right for our son.

ChadTower:

I think a lot of the milder keeps really need to spend the majority of their time in the typical classrooms anyway.  They need the social development.  It may not go as smoothly as we'd like but the trend I keep seeing now is people taking mildly affected kids and trying to get them placed into the special classes without consideration that being placed with more severely affected kids is actually going to hinder their development more than it helps.  Maybe that's just a function of a lot of parents being lazy and expecting the schools to take care of everything for them, I'm not sure yet.

CheffoJeffo:
I've rewritten this post a half dozen times, but what I really want to say is "Well Done" -- it's a highly stressful situation that too often is accompanied by a lack of suitable support (as you say, nobody has the definitive answers that we all crave), but every victory builds on the last and changes the course of their lives.

 :applaud:

CheffoJeffo:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on September 03, 2008, 11:36:01 am ---I think a lot of the milder keeps really need to spend the majority of their time in the typical classrooms anyway.  They need the social development.  It may not go as smoothly as we'd like but the trend I keep seeing now is people taking mildly affected kids and trying to get them placed into the special classes without consideration that being placed with more severely affected kids is actually going to hinder their development more than it helps.
--- End quote ---

A good point and a tough call -- we've been struggling with this for a while. Initially we fought tooth and nail for inclusion in a normal classroom, because we wanted our daughter to have normal peers to model from. At the same time, however, without significant classroom support (which is unavailable due to a perverse combination of political, funding, legal and even union issues) her academic development wasn't adequate. Now she is in a special ed class and doing better academically. But, she is lacking the in socialization with normal peers.

My son is in a normal class with no academic support and I fear for his academic development (although we are targetting this with intensive ABA for half of each day). His social skills are better than his sister's, so I am less worried there.

But, all in all, it's still making your best guess and taking a chance.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version