Well, looks like Port St. Lucie kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo won't be named Teacher of the Year. According to the Treasure Coast Palm, she handled a difficult child, five-year-old Alex Barton (pictured at right), in what she probably thought was a creative manner: She encouraged the other children in the class to tell him why they didn't like him (e.g.: he's "disgusting" and "annoying") and then to vote on whether or not he should stay in class (they voted to kick him out, 14-2). And so he was forced to leave!
Why in the world would a teacher hand over control to a classroom of five-year-olds? If she thought he needed to leave the room, why didn't she just take the authority upon herself to send him to the principal rather than handing the decision over to an army of PlayDoh-eaters?
Alex, who has Asperger's, a form of autism, spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office. At home he repeated to himself, "I'm not special" over and over, and he now screams when he gets near the school, so he's dropped out.
An abuse investigation is underway and Alex's mother is considering legal action. Even if he was a problem kid, there definitely had to be a better way for the teacher to handle this.
Reader Comments ( Page 15 of 16)
211. This teacher should not be allowed to be around children!She is supposed to be the person he or she looks up to.She is there to teach.
To make an obstacle of this child is beyond my disbelieve!My grandson has add was set in front of the class room for the better part of this year!After telling my daughter repeatedly his behaviours will not change because he is embarrassed in front of his peers.(She pulled him out of that school he has done fine since then)By allowing him to be part of the class has made a tremendous change in his attention span.Nothing more humiliating than having the whole entire class make fun of you.What is this woman thinking?Maybe she needs to put out in front of her peers and be insulted ,made fun of ,called ugly or stupid! because she is very cruel and ugly person to do this to such a young child.
Valerie L Hawkins at 5:48AM on Jun 4th 2008
212. To those jumping on Strados, unless you have been effected by mainstreamed children effecting your child, you dont understand the problems this has caused in our education system. Mainstreaming should ONLY occur when the child can conduct himself in a manner that does not interfere with the education of ALL students in the classroom. Violently acting mainstreamed children seemingly have more "rights" than non-mainstreamed children, and kudos to the teacher for removing a child that more than likely down the road could turn violent and hurt other children, and in the least was producing a non-learning experience for the other children.
STRADOS DEFENDER at 1:56PM on Jun 2nd 2008
213. Shannon...I'm not sure if you're being hostile towards me because it seems we agree. I'm actually very against mainstreaming in most cases. And just to scare you (and others) more, I'm a teacher, so I do in fact know what all the acronyms mean.
Thanks "Strados Defender" but I'm used to being attacked. I really don't mind. Somebody has to voice the other side of the arguement and I figure it might as well be me. Nice to see somebody else who agrees. Sometimes special ed kids don't benefit from mainstreaming, and all it does is deplete the quality of education for the other kids in the class.
Case in point. I had a very low performing student in one of my classes. 30% of my instructional time was taken to spell out every single word he was writing. Like "mine". I've had to fight to GET IEPS for these students, and the ones I got are extremely outdated. The other 50% of the time was managing the behavior problems of the other special education students. That left 20% of time that the whole class could benefit from the lesson. How exactly is that fair to all students involved?
Tell me these students wouldn't benefit tremendously from being seperated.
Strados at 2:09PM on Jun 2nd 2008
214. It seems to me we're a little off track here with the mainstream issue. I want to point out again that this little boy did not behave any differently than the "normal" average 5 year old - mainstreaming should not even be an issue, unless you are suggesting that any child who is not perfectly behaved in school should be in a special class. Why is it that a child has to be labeled autistic or something else before someone decides they're worth a little extra attention?
thinkin at 2:10PM on Jun 2nd 2008
215. I'm sorry I feel the need to keep going here... How exactly is it that putting all of these children in a special class going to help? The teacher doesn't want to be bothered with putting in a little more time and effort for one child, while teaching the rest of the class some tolerance and other importnat life lessons so we put all of these children into one class where each and every one needs extra attention - how is that a better scenario when those children cannot conceivably be taught anything in such an environment?
thinkin at 2:19PM on Jun 2nd 2008
216. Strados Defender, under the right circumstances, you could turn violent and hurt other people in the future. Maybe the police should come lock you in jail for the future safety of society. Your lack of compassion in this situation is producing a non-learning environment in this comment thread. Should we set you apart, name call you, and ridicule you? According to your faulty reasoning, yes. That is exactly what we should do.
The fact is that it is just as conducive to learning for kids to be around people who are different from them as it is for them to focus on their studies. If children aren't exposed to and taught tolerance at an early age, they never learn it. Your post and many others to the same effect show this to be all too true. If you ever have a special needs child come into your life, I hope he or she has another adult around to provide the understanding and compassion you clearly lack.
Lily at 2:51PM on Jun 2nd 2008
217. I just can't belived this teacher she is just so crule that she don't even realize how much she is hurting this little boy and what morals is she teaching the other students in the class that beening crule and bullies is ok this teacher should never be aloud to teach ever again. And for the Parents of the little boy sue the school and get your little boy some cousleing I will keep you in my prayer and wish you all the luck but get a good lawyer and sue that teacher and the school for letting and alouding for this teacher to do this to your presious little boy.
Sandy Pena at 10:51AM on Jun 3rd 2008
218. Strados,
You bring up some very good points, but it appears as if your frustration is not directed to where the problem is.
That you were spending so much time with one students proves that he was not receiving proper services and would have benefitted from having an aide. It's the district's job to provide that ... not the student's. Nor is it the student's fault for needing that service. And it certainly wasn't yours.
Oneof my twins was in a mainsteamed English class. The teacher could see that she was learning, but wasn't able to output her knowledge in tests. I asked to enact an alternative testing method I developed. We met during this teacher's (not so) free period and I explained the methodology, answered all his questions and promised to be in charge of it myself.
It didn't interfere one bit with any other student and my daughter instantly went to a B+. The district took offense and unilaterally withdrew my daughter claiming she had too much stress, stopped the alternative testing, she immediately went back to a measured failure and the district said 'told you so'.
Duh! Metaphorically, you stop treatment for cancer just to say 'I told you so' when the cancer grows. Doctors can be held liable; school districts can't. Teachers and students get caught in the middle and take it out on each other. It's not fair to anyone except district level personnel who call all the shots.
Districts take so long to do anything they can't take credit for that the student's needs have changed by the time anything is put into place. The student fails. The other students are negatively affected. The teacher gets frustrated and district administration pats themselves on the back for a job well done! You can't say anything because your contract won't be renewed if you do.
And parents have to become knowledgeable in advocating for their children. Parents don't get to just drop their child off at school and pretend they get a break from parental obligations. It takes teamwork.
Rochelle at 5:44PM on Jun 2nd 2008
219. 204. "My wife is a grade school counselor and I asked her about this. Lawsuit and fired teacher in her school district was her answer. In Ohio, we have inclusion, which means all children, regardless of disabilities, are in classes with the rest of the children..."
Wow! What an incredibly cruel joke to play on the Autistic kids. Sounds like your school district is the epitome of 'living in denial.' Why not suit-up the Autistic kids for varsity tackle football too? Then find one who is flailing about uncontrollably while drooling on himself, and drop an Astrophysics exam on his desk. Patronizing is far more cruel than segregation and appropriate learning environments.
lizard at 8:13PM on Jun 2nd 2008
220. 216. "I just can't belived this teacher she is just so crule that she don't even realize how much she is hurting this little boy and what morals is she teaching the other students in the class that beening crule and bullies is ok this teacher should never be aloud to teach ever again. And for the Parents of the little boy sue the school and get your little boy some cousleing I will keep you in my prayer and wish you all the luck but get a good lawyer and sue that teacher and the school for letting and alouding for this teacher to do this to your presious little boy."
Sandy Pena at 5:33PM on Jun 2nd 2008
Good googly moogly! Let me guess....you hated all of your English/Grammar teachers?
lizard at 8:28PM on Jun 2nd 2008
221. Hey, I've got an idea. Why not send all of the Advanced Placement students to Special Education class. That way, they can be 'dumbed down' and we can have a warm, fuzzy level playing field, and the gifted students won't overshadow the special needs students. Then, all of the "inclusion" supporters on this board, can live happily ever after.
lizard at 9:03PM on Jun 2nd 2008
222. Hmmm, so people with AS have morality but not "traditional" morality. Well, for morality to
work, it has to fit in with the people around you. After all, Charles Manson and Hitler had their own moralities, too, and look how well that worked out.
I've noticed that people with mental illnesses and genetic defects always claim Einstein as one of their own. Funny, the last time I looked, no one has ever claimed that Einstein went around as a kid shrieking and banging his head into walls.
As for the person who said that I must be wrong that autistics and AS people pose a risk of violence because not many of them are locked up for it, well...duh! As many people have pointed out, these conditions have really just exploded in the last twenty years or so. Just wait till these kids are old enough...
Anyhow, I don't think it could hurt things for the government to track these autistics and their families just to be on the safe side. Also, tracking them would make it easier to treat them if/when a cure is found.
Mark at 12:18AM on Jun 3rd 2008
223. Mark (221),
Autism is a brain disorder, not a mental illness. Check with any neurologist for verification. Einstein is widely accepted and documented as having had a mild level of autism. So what? Do you think that the mildest forms have the most drastic behavior manifestations? Would that be like people having believed that all negros are illiterate animals or all Japanese are spies bent on the destruction of our nation?
I should be half as 'defective' or 'mentally ill' (remind me to shower off all this negativity) as Bill Gates or Temple Grandin. You know why they don't make a big deal out of it ... because there is no big deal to be made other than that which a person needs to put others down to justify their existence.
Let's bring back McCarthyism ... it worked well before. There is no more Red Scare so we need to find new victims to prey on? I don't think so!
Lizard(219)
That's exactly what was done to my daughters based on nothing more than their diagnosis. Test after test has proven graduate school level comprehension. They were Honor Roll students doing grade appropriate work and higher ... three years worth of academics in a year and a half. They met and were able to have a peer conversation with Astronomer John Dobson. They've spearheaded and completed numerous international charity projects. Our district decided to 'help' them by dumbing down their education so far they weren't able to function.
It worked exactly as well as you believe it would. Was that fair to them or the students who had been benefitting by having them in the same class?
Rochelle at 12:48AM on Jun 3rd 2008
224. Rochelle, for you to compare Bill Gates and Temple Grandin is misleading. TG has what looks like a severe form of AS. Gates, on the other hand, has always been more of a "wheeler dealer" businessman than a great inventor. A person with AS does not have the socials skills needed to build one of the largest companies in the world. BG has much more in common with Warren Buffet (who no one has ever intimated is autistic) than with Grandin.
Wikipedia doesn't breath word one about Einstein having AS. Perhaps you'd care to document your claim and adjust their entry on him.
I'm not sure why it matters that "autism is a brain disorder, not a mental illness" given that doctors now think that most (all?) mental illnesses have their basis in the brain or genes but I'm sure that making this hair-splitting distinction made you feel better, so I'm glad I could be of service.
I definitely think it would be interesting to study the family histories of autistics going back many centuries. In general, moral people marry moral people and immoral people marry immoral people. Of course, there are occasional exceptions, and this helps lessen the strength of morality/immorality in any one family. Given that something as fundamentally human as morality almost certainly has a sizable basis in genetics, it would make sense that the difficulty that autistic people have with morality stems from many generations of immoral people marrying each other without any "break" from a moral person. Thus, the tendency to immorality becomes very strong in such families. Definitely food for thought!
Mark at 1:28AM on Jun 3rd 2008
225. My grandson is Autistic and he doesn't go around banging his head into walls or shrieking. He isn't Charles Manson either. He laughs, he plays, he hugs. He just can't talk. He is learning to sign. But people do stare at him. He is different. Sometimes he does get upset. He does cry. He is two years old. We tell people now that he is Autistic when he gets upset. Most people are understanding. Most people know someone that is Autistic. But he is getting better. He has a therapist that goes with us a lot. That helps us to learn to help him. So Mark try to be more understanding what people are going through. We have known something was different since he was 8 months old. He can't get health insurance. We have a Lawyer Advocate that is trying to help us. She is helping us for free. Some people care. I am the only person though that helps my daughter everyday. She is not a drug addict in case you were wondering. Never was. Or an alcoholic. Nor is his father. Just hard workers. You shouldn't judge everyone.
cc at 2:46AM on Jun 3rd 2008