"School tells 6-year-old to 'get his autism in check'"

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How ignorant - not to mention cruel - can people be?

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/artic ... m-in-check

That is horrible, and I hope his mother contacted a lawyer or reported it to a center for disability rights.

I had read that article. It was sad to say the least. The fact that the parents cannot get the school to assess their child speaks volumes to how little that school and district is willing to work with them. Also, based upon many of the comments on that article many people are very uneducated about the fact that once the child is assessed and his needs met he will be able to be in best possible learning environment. He is entitled to FAPE. Every child no matter their ability is entitled to receive an education. How can school administrators truly expect someone to control something that is out of their ability to control? It is a sad state that we still live in an era in which while many strides have been made to help many are still completely heartless. Makes me sick to my stomach to know that we have so far to go. I hope someone can help this boy get the help he needs.

What's happening to this child is exactly what happened to my son, minus the note. He, too, was denied an assessment for being "too smart". My husband and I were told that there was no point in assessing him, because he didn't need academic help. Meanwhile, his teacher had permanently (without my knowledge) moved his desk away from all the other students - he had to sit with his back to them. This was her "solution" to his behavior issues.

Still makes me upset to think about it.

Did you ever end up getting an assessment? They did that desk thing to my nephew. My sister tried to get the teacher to put him back with the other kids, and she refused. They told her to take him to a shrink, and denied assessing him too. Well, the psychologist he went to came and observed him in class and complained to the school- so the teacher finally moved him back. They also tried to tell my sister that they could not give him any assessment or services unless she put him on medication for ADHD, which he was not diagnosed with.

I basically had this happen to me too when I was a kid. They knew I had problems, I was on the IEP but they would still punish me for things that were due to my disorder. They didn't care if kids would trick me or egg me and pressure me to do things I didn't want to do and they didn't care if kids picked on me so I let myself get provoked. They also wanted me in a behavior program and somehow my As diagnoses stopped it and then I had an aid and then my school said I didn't need one so I wouldn't have had one for middle school so we moved and I had one. So I didn't get in trouble for everything because I had good teachers but there were just some who were stubborn so they wanted to do it their way.

Basically a kid needs to have a learning disability for them to get help because then the school recognizes the kid needs it and doesn't assume they can control it. He is six, not a grown man. I thought perhaps he needs a classroom aide to help him through social situations in class and there is nothing wrong with having him leave the room if he is disruptive and then he comes back when he is calm but he doesn't get punished for it.

Looks like the parents need a lawyer. I bet what the school is doing is illegal.

What a horrible school.

Yes, we moved to a new school district a couple of months later. His new school has been very supportive.

My son was assessed when he was 5 because his teachers were asking for it. The SD said he was "bright and extremely exuberant" (yes, that was their actual conclusion). They also told me that unless he fell behind academically or became such a behavior management problem that the couldn't be kept in a regular classroom, there was nothing they could do. Unfortunately, I was very ignorant back then and did not know I had any recourse. Fast forward... we move to a different district, he is assessed, and they tell me they feel he should have been getting some kind of support all along.

My kids are both in a district now where EVERY child is assessed every year. Not an assessment of the type that we are all used to, but all kids are looked at to see if they are performing to their potential. If they are not, they are given extra help and support as part of the school's RTI program. This may involve enhancement in problem areas (for kids who are falling behind), enrichment (for kids who are bored because they are ahead, but not in the GAT program), "study hall" in a small group setting with a teacher who works with kids 1:1, extra organization help, or informal social skills support. Their goal is to give kids the support they need so they never fall behind and don't need an IEP. More schools should have a program like this. But of course, it is not State funded, so most schools probably simply can't afford to do it. Both of my kids would require an IEP someplace else. Neither of them have one. They don't need one because the school does what it is supposed to do without requiring some law or regulation to tell them what the right thing is.

IMO, if schools like my district started getting the recognition they deserve, mainly in terms of "bonus" monies or supplies or equipment for being proactive and truly supporting the student, and schools like this started getting the "recognition" they deserve, there would be a decrease in stories like this, because it would behoove the administration to make sure something like this never happened.

I saw this article and it made me very angry. Treating the child this way can only make things worse. If there isn't an obvious qualifier on the state list, fix the state list! In our state, ASD is an automatic qualifier.

I know there are multiple steps involved, each with their own qualifiers. What got us our school assessment (we did not have a doctor's diagnosis) was that everyone could agree there was a gap between what my son theoretically could do in school (based on how smart he appeared) and how he was actually performing. They were also able to identify pragmatic speech issues. His dysgraphia did not, at the time, qualify him for assessment; only for in-classroom physical accommodations.

Once in the assessment, they picked up on the ASD, and that became the qualifier, nothing else needed.

Crazy, convoluted process. I hope the family in the article can get things resolved favorably for their child.

With more and more kids being diagnosed with autism, teachers need to understand. NOW. This 6-year-old was humilated by the actions of a teacher. I hope they get in a bunch of trouble, and maybe sued.

This shows that people can be very cruel, especially to those with disabilities. I wonder why?