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 6 of 16)
76. Kathleen and others with kids with asperger's or autism: my heart goes out to you.
but
Studies have consistently shown that vaccinations do not show a causative factor with autism.
People have been associating the onset of the condition with vaccinations because the typical age for diagnosis is from 1 to 3 years of age, when most vaccinations are given.
In fact, a recent published study indicated that a majority of the stricken children studied demonstrated an increase in brain size at those ages, and that factor could definitely cause an alteration in behaviour and brain chemistry.
Here is one of the articles about this:
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Health/2006/12/21/ped_med_brain_size_may_point_to_autism/5733/
And, as far as autism being an epidemic, the truth is that autistic people were once lumped into the group with "retarded" people, whereas now they have their own separate group.
Consequently the numbers for "learning disabled" or "mentally challenged" persons has gone down, and the numbers for "autism" have gone up.
The condition we call autism has been around for millenia.
Linda at 11:37AM on May 30th 2008
77. Lisa, again, suing the school system will solve what, exactly? How are they supposed to be responsible for not foretelling this behavior on the part of a teacher who has passed all state required credentials? Should schools hold independant personality tests as well? Who should pay for those? Where exactly would you like to find these perfect people that we're demanding teachers to be? I gotta tell you something, the people who fit that criteria don't want to teach because of the general abuse teachers get on a daily basis; from parents, administration, students, and now people who aren't even living in the same community. Who's on their side? Why do you need to ruin her entire life because she made a mistake? I don't see politicians lives getting ruined by even bigger mistakes, and they're responsible for ALL OF US.
That said, I still don't see the other side of the story. She may be one of those people who went into teaching and didn't even want to really teach in the first place, in which case, by all means fire her. If you don't like kids, you shouldn't be teaching. BUT, we can't make that judgement on her now, can we, since we have absolutely no information to go on?
Strados at 11:45AM on May 30th 2008
78. I am the grandmother of 5 year old twin boys severly affected by autism. I am heartbroken that an adult would behave so badly. Mainstreaming is the young boy's RIGHT under federal law. It is not a
priviledge, but HIS RIGHT! These children struggle so hard each & every day of their lifes. Until you have walked in their shoes awhile you will never know much less understand the heartbreak they all face daily!! Where's the compassion in our teachers?
I trust that society will not turn it's back on this
"special little boy".
Sandra Marcus at 12:20PM on May 30th 2008
79. Shame on this cold hearted teacher!! I am the grandmother of 5 year old twin boys affected by autism. Their struggles are great each & every day.
Let's all remember that a disabled child has a RIGHT
to be educated with their peers. School should be a place that a child is free from judgement especially from one's teacher. Where is the compassion & caring one would expect from a teacher?
Autism affects 1 in 150 children. Fair treatment in the classroom is something that needs to addressed
due to this ever growing disability.
sandi at 12:21PM on May 30th 2008
80. Hi...I am sorry BUT letting the children say those things to him was WRONG....my step son has Autism and I love him BUT he SHOULD NOT BE IN A MAINSTREAM CLASS he has been kicked out of so many schools almost arrested (by juv authority) IN KINDERGARTEN many children with autism get VERY VERY violent...they are not always the cute liitle kids you see in the commercials and public info documentaries...they get violent they do pretty gross things (yes I know all kids do) they want 110% of a teachers attention which makes the rest of the class non functioning because he/she is so busy calming the child down or attending to their needs that the rest of the class is not learning. They need to have funding in place to have schools for children with ONLY autism so that they can focus on ALL the needs and not just to say "we have this many autistic kids in class" My step son was actually passed into another grade he STILL CANNOT READ they told us that they HAD TO PASS him because of his learning problems they couldn't not hold him back...and if they had the next year he may hurt the smaller children. Stop sending the autistic children to regular classrooms...PERIOD
Zara at 12:34PM on May 30th 2008
81. So, who's in charge there, anyway? A teacher should listen to what children have to say, but the final decision is not up to them. If this kid was such a pain in the butt, then he should have had a teacher's aide to assist him and to keep him within the bounds. He obviously was antagonistic toward the other children. This could have been an excellent opportunity for this teacher to teach tolerance and compassion. Then again, why do these kids have to be placed in a regular classroom; sometimes inclusion is not the best alternative for anyone invloved.
whispererk at 12:37PM on May 30th 2008
82. Gigi...are you serious??? THis coming from a person that lives in an area with an Easter Seals School for children with Autism two of them infact that we moved to to get our son in the school BUT he was considered too high functioning to go there...B.S.
Stop with your political agenda the teacher should be sued and put on leave NOT fired we don't have enough teachers...she should go through a training course since the school OBVIOUSLY has none...but again I say they should NOT be in mainstream school classrooms...they need more attention and they do NOT NEED to feel like garbage for something they have no control over.
Zara at 12:41PM on May 30th 2008
83. TO:Zara at 12:34PM on May 30th 2008..You DO NOT LOVE your step son with autism as you claim. Obviously if you did you would have educated yourself and helped him. NOT ALL children with autism as "violent" as you describe. I feel sorry for your step son. How soon will you be able to convince his dad to put him in n institution!
Lauren at 12:57PM on May 30th 2008
84. It looks like the school admin. are listening.At least begining to.
www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/27/st-lucie-...
PORT ST. LUCIE — Morningside Elementary kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo has been reassigned until further action may be determined, according to St. Lucie County School District spokeswoman Janice Karst.
E. Gemm at 1:02PM on May 30th 2008
85. The teacher's side of the story:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/29/police-report-reveals-teachers-side-incident-which/
Jennifer at 1:10PM on May 30th 2008
86.
Kodiak, thank you so much for sharing your story with such honesty.
I have read many posts on other blogs from you, and you are always real and intelligent and thoughtful in your posts.
I would consider myself lucky to have you as a friend. A true friend accepts you, warts and all, and appreciates your good qualities and accepts your less good ones.
Linda at 1:08PM on May 30th 2008
87. For those who have said that Aspbergers is not 'true' autism, here's an analogy I use that helps people understand ... Autism is a spectral condition that people are afraid of so they over think it. Pregnacy is another spectral condition that people understand. A woman is no more or less pregnant on the day after she conceives than on the day before she delivers. Within that spectrum are certain milestones. Metaphorically, autism is no different. Aspberger's is like being in the first trimester. There's nothing obvious, but get the person around the wrong sensory stimulation and there is no question as to what reality is.
Also, saying that Aspberger's isn't autism is like saying that both leukemia and malignant tumors can't both be cancer.
What's wrong with being autistic? Haven't we made those same judgement mistakes throughout history with disastrous results?
Incidences such as happened to this boy are NOT isolated. Parents either don't know, aren't willing to hold the district accountable when they do know, or are embarrassed to expose the corrution.
Here's another thing that was done to my daughters; they didn't think to let me know the first time it happened because they'd been taught to respect authority figures.
My daughters were in an alternative location that had been written into the IEPs. The school unilaterally took the location away, which is not supposed to be able to happen under IDEA. The AUTISM TEACHER had the other students go into the area where the girls had taken refuge, asked who wanted ice cream, told the girls they couldn't have any, the boys would tell the girls how rude they were being, staff went and bought the ice cream and everyone ate it in front of the girls.
This happened four times. I found out because they did this intentional humiliation to the girls on their birthday. The school even admitted in writing that they did it, but claim it only happened once while the teacher said it happened multiple times.
Rochelle at 1:33PM on May 30th 2008
88. Thanks for the link, Jennifer.
Her side of the story does not change my opinion of her draconian methods in the slightest, her behaviour was horrible and damaged not just the little boy, but his classmates too.
As a supposed learned adult teacher, it was her place to try to teach the others about the little boy's problems to show that it was not his fault; not for her to let them bad mouth him in his absence, and then publicly humiliate him in front of the entire class. I'm sure most adults would have been traumatized by that experience. Imagine a mentally ill 5 year old.
Did she ever study psychology in school, or did she go to Inquisition University for her degree?
Her judgement was very poor, and to me, unforgiveable.
Linda at 1:33PM on May 30th 2008
89. Linda,
Autism IS NOT a mental illness ... it is a brain disorder. There's a big difference. I'm not criticizing you. You obviously are compassionate. I just want you to have correct information.
Rochelle
Rochelle at 1:38PM on May 30th 2008
90. KUDOS TO "IRR" & "ANDRE", IN PARTICULAR... YOU'RE BOTH SPOT ON. I AGREE 100%. IN ADDITION; I WONDER HOW THE VOTING WOULD HAVE GONE SHOULD THE 'SUBJECT' OF THE VOTE HAVE BEEN "WHETHER OR NOT TO RETAIN THE TEACHER IN HER CURRENT POSITION, OR, ISSUE HER AN OUSTER", IN FAVOR OF ONE, SAY, DECIDEDLY MORE GENEROUS IN DOLING OUT GRAHAM CRACKERS, AFTER NAP PERIOD".
WHAT I FIND EQUALLY "OFFENSIVE"... IS THIS CALHOUN PERSON'S DECISION TOPUBLISH THE NAME AND PICTURE OF THE CHILD-VICTIM... POSSIBLY, CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROTRACTION OF HIS SUFFERING, RIDICULE, AND EMBARRASSMENT. NEITHER, THE TEACHER NOR CALHOUN, HAVE EXHIBITED OR DISPLAYED WORTHY JUDGEMENT IN THEIR 'HANDLING' OF THIS UNFORTUNATE SITUATION.
BOTH SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. THE TEACHER SHOULD BE DE-CERTIFIED... OR, BARRED FROM COMING IN CONTACT WITH CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS; AND, CALHOUN COULD USE A 'LESSON IN COMPASSION'.
PARKER at 1:57PM on May 30th 2008