Hi there. I was hoping to get some opinions on this matter. I have a 3 (almost 4) year old who has High functioning(ish) Autism, ADHD, Motor dyspraxia and dysgraphia. I posted a very general inquiry on a local autism forum about an autism class in our area. I didn't really get the answers that I was looking for, so I still don't know very much about it, but I walked away with the vague idea that it is not inclusive or "main streamed". I think there might be some opportunities for supported inclusion throughout the day though.
Anyway, one of the responses that came up was someone asking (suggesting?) if I would rather see how my son would do in a "less restrictive" (inclusive, in a regular classroom, with typical children) environment before I looked into this program. I guess the class is for kids that fail at inclusion.
Well, I myself have Aspergers, and I was in "inclusive" classes throughout my entire school career because I was not diagnosed until after I graduated from college. I was basically thrown to the wolves with no support what so ever.
This little conversation about inclusion caused me to have a brief but powerful dream about my past experiences in this kind of environment. In the dream, I was in college. It was the last day and I guess it was time to either move out of our dorm rooms, or stay where we were, if we weren't changing rooms. Well, there was this group of students that I knew from real life, that had sort of a photography clique that I so wanted to be a part of, but I wasn't "cool" enough, not even to fit into the artsy group. In the dream, they were all participating in some cool, fun, celebratory activity, and it was just understood that even though I was there, wanting to participate, I wasn't included. Then, they very graciously allowed me to participate in some small way by video taping their fun for them. In the dream, I remember feeling like that wasn't exactly what I wanted (I wanted to participate in the activity), but just so happy that they allowed me to do that much. So happy that they allowed me to be near them, and to be up close to the action, *almost* as if I was participating in it myself. Then when it was over, none of them talked to me, but one of the girls approached my friend and roomate and asked her to become her room mate for the next year, and she accepted. Of course, I was completely crushed and alone, but I went back to our room and quietly begun the process of packing up my things, with intentions of not making her feel bad about it. I understood because I wanted to be a part of the "cool" group too, and I wasn't about to stand in the way of her opportunity to do just that. Then the dream ended with me wandering around aimlessly and awkwardly by myself, knowing that everyone else was off socializing.
Anyway, I think it's pretty obvious that this dream stemmed straight from my repressed experiences with inclusion and was triggered by that comment about it on our local forum. I'm so glad that I had it, because it gave me some pretty clear direction in the matter. Naturally, the local autism forum is mostly parents who just want what's best for their kids, but are generally not taking the opinions of autistic adults seriously enough to actually understand what is truly best for them.
Now, I'm not advocating that autism classes are whats best. In all honesty, I know nothing about them (hence I was trying to find out more information). So, I guess that's why I'm here. I was hoping that you all could share some of your experience in various classroom settings.
Ideally I will be able to home school my son, but in reality, that might not be a possibility at first. He has a lot of behaviors that I cannot manage without help or respite care relief (trying to get both). So, I need to come up with the best plan B. I have heard that the local elementary school currently has a lawsuit against them because they placed a kindergartner with special needs in some kind of "time out" room or something, and forgot about them for 5 hours. This is most likely the class that my son would end up in if he were to go into this inclusive environment that everyone is always pushing for. Considering his behaviors, we'll be the next family with the lawsuit against the school. Maybe I'd be able to advocate for a different elementary school, but I can't imagine it would be much better (this is one of the better districts in NY state, by the way).
Please share your thoughts. Thank you!
03 Jun 2015, 8:26 am
