Teaching in the Autistic Classroom

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I substitute teach. Every day I am in a different place.

Today I was at an elementary school in a specialized class strictly for Autistic children.
This was all I knew going in. No further details. I've never been in a class like this before.
So I kept an open mind, and sought to be observant and understand correlations between the behavior I saw in these kids, and my own AS. Immediately, however, I had to challenge preconceived notions that I didn't fully realize I had.

Firstly, my mental picture of an autistic classroom was highly stereotypical: crazy kids throwing desks and smacking themselves in the head. I knew this wasn't a valid assumption, but the image was still there. Also, I hadn't the slightest idea how one would teach these kids. I sort of assumed that the teachers were essentially babysitting the kids. I had not directly experienced working with autistic children before. So, again, I attempted to keep an open mind.

Rather than plod chronologically through the entire day, like my inner obsessive writer wants to... Here are the things that stood out the most to me:

There were 5 kids, 1 teacher and 3 para-professionals in this room. I was warned upfront by one of the para's that it was "pretty extreme". As I quickly found out, this was a low-functioning group. Only one of the kids was anything close to being verbal. The others communicated through gestures and grunts. Yet......

They showed such classic traits, many of which I see drastically milder forms of in myself. One boy, although he did not talk and had obvious motor difficulties, spent most of the day patting out a complex rhythm on his chest that would occasionally produce the perfect imitation of a horse-gallop. Another boy repeatedly organized an entire box of colored blocks by size and color. Over and over and over. Every time seemed novel and interesting to him.

I identified with them. During the day, the outside bell would sound for various purposes. I found the bell to be quite irritating; shrill and cold. When the kids heard it, two or three of them would yelp and cram their fingers in their ears. All these children also demonstrated forms of echolalia, and mimicked environmental sounds, each other's vocalizations, and musical patterns from the various media we used. When one of the kids appeared vacant while staring at the wall, I really wanted to know what was going on in his head. I've been told that I do the same thing, and people wonder what I'm thinking.

There were some disturbing points as well. Adjacent to the classroom was a "quiet room", which was primarily used to isolate the kids when they started to freak out or get violent. It looked like a solitary confinement cell. A plain empty room sized about 6'x6', with a single light in the ceiling. The door was solid except for a little square window near the top. Two of the kids seemed to be in there a lot because of behaviors like spitting, throwing, hitting, biting, scratching and so on. There was a fair amount of this going on. I got scratched a little bit
One child arrived at school wearing a harness of some kind... like seat belts around the torso, tied at the back, so an adult could easily control the child during outbursts. It reminded me quite strongly of a straight jacket.

We actually did learn some things, I think. In between shared story time and individual activity time, I think most of the kids did vaguely academic things... sorting, matching, naming. They were generally cooperative about this. They had the most fun at the listening centers and playing with an assortment of interesting tactile objects.

No desks thrown. The day turned out just fine. Although I have no immediate judgement or opinions on the things I saw, it all helped me understand the entire autism spectrum a little bit better. Thanks to you for reading this far. I just needed to share my experience today.

So let me open this up to you all:::
Have you/your kids/anyone you know ever been in a special class like this?
What was it like?
Also, what do you feel like is the best educational setting for children with autism? (intentionally broad question. please specify details as you see fit.)

Memories, anecdotes, stories, rants, etc are all welcome.
Thanks!

Sadly, when I was that age, there was no separate classes like that. Most of them were kept at home, possibly institutionalized. I do envy them the extra attention they got, kinda wished they'd had that back in the 60s and 70s...