Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

JeanneSager — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:35:05 GMT

The reason this has been posted is because the last time it was discussed here on Babble the teacher had not been disciplined. This is an update, with new action and new information

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

Manjari — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:19:41 GMT

This is like a rerun.

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

EG — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:21:53 GMT

Didn't this happen a long time ago? And didn't Babble already report this one?

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

patricia — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:21:49 GMT

This is an old story- if you'll notice, the incident itself happened in May- and it was pretty hotly debated at the time here on Strollerderby:

www.babble.com/.../autistic-boy-voted-out-of-kindergarten-by-classmates.aspx

Not that I think it's not worthy of more debate; just wanted to point out to anyone for whom the story seemed familiar (as it did to me).

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

Shaiathome — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:21:41 GMT

Well, voting him out of class should not be within the children's authority. BUT, letting them clearly state how his disruptive behavior is a problem is probably a great idea. Asperger's can be anywhere from VERY mild (hardly noticeable) to extreme (crippling). If this child was mainstreamed, he needed to be acting appropriately in a classroom setting. If the teacher was having ongoing problems with this child's behavior, then some sort of support should have been provided. In my own experience, living in a university town, many of the young teachers are sent into the classroom without proper support from administrative staff (principals, deans, law enforcement) and the class as a whole suffers.

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

Lucy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:28:10 GMT

Nowadays, kids come to the classroom with so many issues yet teachers are not given the training or support to deal with these issues. I have sympathy for the teacher if she was new because I am giving her the benefit of the doubt and thinking that the child might have been being disruptive and she had tried a lot of other strategies and they didn't work. She even sent the child to the principal for support and it still didn't help. To me, it sounds like she tried to have the students express to him how his actions affected them yet it got out of hand. I think calling for her resignation might be premature because maybe she is a great teacher but made a bad judgement call that day.

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

Amber — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:28:18 GMT

I think this kid clearly needs better classroom support. This is probably another example of how poor funding and lack of resources for students with special needs is harmful. There aren't always appropriate classes available, or properly trained staff. The teacher and student shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.

Having said that, what the teacher did was out of line. You can't vote a kindergartner out of class. And it's not teaching the other students how to handle conflict or treat others. She ought to have been disciplined, and she was.

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

mommashay — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:21:22 GMT

That is horrible and humiliating! Even for a kid without disabilities that would be a nightmare! Humiliation as a form of punishment is just plain cruel, not to mention counterproductive. How many people do you know look back on humiliating experiences as a child and say that it helped them? NONE! It is those experiences that shape our insecurities as adults. Even if she argued that she routinely used this tactic on ALL of her students, it's immature and shows a complete lack of judgment. I would be outraged if a teacher did this to one of my children. She should be fired for good!

re: Kindergartners Vote An Autistic Classmate Out of the Class

Meg — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:27:31 GMT

Perhaps I'm wrong but there's a big difference between "encouraged her students to pick on a kid with disabilities" and "asked the students to tell him how his behavior had been affecting them".

Allowing the children to vote out another child is obviously wrong, but having his fellow classmates explain to him (in 5 year old language) how his acting out affects them seems just fine to me. "When you act up, I can't hear the teacher" or "When you're acting up it takes time away from play time" kind of thing. Action/reaction.

If this child with autism is going to be in main stream classes he needs to be able to act accordingly. Otherwise he should be in classes for children with disabilities.