Teacher Beats Student

[SuperFemme]

I have a hard time agreeing with the use of restraints or seclusion in our educational system.

Schools should not be using tactics employed by juvenile halls and/or law enforcement.

What does this mean in this economy where there is no room in the budget to implement training or hire properly trained teachers? I don't have an answer to that.

If I had a child that was not able to be in school without being a constant disruption I might crusade to find a school where they did have a place for my child or I might be forced to do home schooling.

We don't have enough resources and with more and more autistic children or children with asbergers the educational system needs to catch up. Fast. I am also VERY concerned that asbergers is being removed from the DSM and what that might mean for young ones...

[Diva]

Entire schools have been built to school students who cannot behave in a regular classroom setting. Those schools [usually] have specialized counselors who deal with anger management and students who act out to get to the root of the issue.

If there is a student who is habitually disrupting a classroom environment, he/she is taking teacher attention from the other students who are there to learn. Or at least know how to behave and don't feel the need to be disruptive.

I have personally witnessed ~ after the removal of a disruptive student ~ a classroom almost immediately become a calm learning environment for the other students. It is palpable.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

I am also VERY concerned that asbergers is being removed from the DSM and what that might mean for young ones...

My understanding is that this is going to benefit most families. If they qualified for Aspbergers, they will still get an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. More may qualify for additional services because of that since some states and agencies serve people with the latter diagnosis -- autism spectrum -- but not aspbergers. What little i know, though, is that some agencies rule out people based on functionality regardless of the diagnosis. For example, Regional Centers here in CA. But people are more likely to get services than not as a result of the change.

In general, i am told the objection to the change is more of a cultural one. Many people with Aspbergers like the term and want to retain it, but i have read that it's not that scientifically meaningful. It is not different enough from other spectrum disorders to merit a separate category. Other disorders within the spectrum are as different from one another as Aspbergers is from people with less severe forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The change will also affect people with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, but there really isn't a backlash there. i think a lot of people with Aspbergers understand themselves in terms of the diagnosis. It's like an ID. It's part of how they have found themselves and found ways of coping. There are support groups and chat rooms etc. They don't want to lose that, which is understandable. That's my sense of the debate based on NYTimes article i read this year .

[SuperFemme]

Originally Posted by Martina

My understanding is that this is going to benefit most families. If they qualified for Aspbergers, they will still get an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. More may qualify for additional services because of that since some states and agencies serve people with the latter diagnosis -- autism spectrum -- but not aspbergers. What little i know, though, is that some agencies rule out people based on functionality regardless of the diagnosis. For example, Regional Centers here in CA. But people are more likely to get services than not as a result of the change.

In general, i am told the objection to the change is more of a cultural one. Many people with Aspbergers like the term and want to retain it, but i have read that it's not that scientifically meaningful. It is not different enough from other spectrum disorders to merit a separate category. Other disorders within the spectrum are as different from one another as Aspbergers is from people with less severe forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The change will also affect people with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, but there really isn't a backlash there. i think a lot of people with Aspbergers understand themselves in terms of the diagnosis. It's like an ID. It's part of how they have found themselves and found ways of coping. There are support groups and chat rooms etc. They don't want to lose that, which is understandable. That's my sense of the debate based on NYTimes article i read this year .

See, I learn something new every day. As long as services are not going to be withheld, then great! That is my biggest concern with that issue. Thanks Martina!