I Don't Have A Problem With Special Needs Children But ...

[Guest]

As a school we have had quite a range of special needs children over the years. Each time a child starts with one of the more severe needs we have the staff room conversations about whether we are the right place for that child. We have had one child transfer to the 'special' school once he finished in year 2 and one severely autistic boy leave after a few weeks in year R. On the whole though I enjoy teaching these children with diverse needs. I've only had about 2 years out of my 8 years of teaching where I haven't had a statemented child in my class! Anyway having taught several autistic children, children with varying degrees of Cerebral Palsy and a gorgeous girl with downs syndrome and loved every single one of them I know that I am not against having special needs children in mainstream education. Well this week has made me realise that there needs to be a line somewhere. We have an autistic girl in our school who is year 2 age but has been decelerated into year 1. Anyway as the year resources and curriculum is far more suitable she spends a lot of time in our room. Now usually this isn't a major problem. This week however her obsession with a girl in my class has reached fever pitch. She grabbed her hair and pulled really hard on Tuesday, taking three of us to release her. The girl who this happened to isn't usually one that needs any attention - very independent - she stayed with me for a cuddle for a good 5 minutes. Then on Thursday morning while I was teaching year 2 swimming, she painted this same child's face, then later on while playing a game outside she she grabbed and pulled her bunches again really really hard. The girl in my class again need a lot of comfort - I took her to her sister's class in year 2 for a bit of time out and a cuddle with big sis! The autistic child then attacked her assistant for taking her away from the situation, pinching her then scratching her face and drawing in blood. On Friday we decided to keep her away from the girl in my class but just before lunch they ended up in the toilets together and she went for her hair again. We are so lucky that the girl in my class is being so brave and grown up about it. My head phoned her mum, after my insistence, and the mum said she is talking about it in a very matter of fact way and it doesn't seem to be effecting her majorly. My question is why should a little 5 year old have to put up with that, if it was a 'normal' child doing it, it would be called bullying. Where does the line change? It's bad enough that her assistant has been hurt and shaken up rather badly but for other children to be harmed as well it just doesn't seem right. We feel that she is reacting like this because she isn't in an environment that is right for her. If she went to one of the special schools there would be the sensory rooms that she needs as well as a curriculum set up to meet her needs. Rant over!!!

[Cait]

I know exactly what you mean, having had children leave Preschool with ASD and move on to school. Luckily the children the most recent one goes to school with have grown up with her and understand her and some are very helpful to her in controlling her outbursts by knowing her triggers. But for parents it's hard, seeing this child have leniency in behavioural matters and not 'one rule for everyone' is very hard.

It's especially hard as professionals wanting to embrace the diversity and richness in society, and it's my belief that total inclusion can't happen unless there's some serious money poured in to education to support these children. It won't happen though, and it can't, from a practical point of view - what would be the sense in providing things at every school for 'all ills' when for a huge percentage of the time they wouldn't be used. For parents in a rural community like ours, it would be nice to have some local facilities though where their children can be educated, close to home. Our nearest 'special school' is a 50 minute drive away, and that's simply not practical, twice a day.

[Susan]

I couldnt agree more. I'm all for inclusion but in some instances inclusion in mainstream just isnt the place to meet the diverse needs that some children have. I firmly believe that behaviour is a means a communication and this little girl is clearly telling you that her needs are not being met for her to behave in this way.

 

Inclusion should not be at the detriment of the child's needs and unfortunately in many cases it is.

 

We are extremely lucky if we can get any of our children statemented before they leave us in yr2 and in many cases, we can not even get the needs acknowledge let alone a statement.

 

We have a parent who has just been successful in getting her twins a statement for language needs because she pushed for it, while we have children with far greater language need in school who we can get nothing for.

 

And thats my rant!

[blondie]

i agree - i work in a pre-school and a few years ago we had an autistic girl and she would target a particular little girl with blonde hair - no matter where she was in the room she seemed to almost have auto pilot -she would pull her hair and try to pull out - it didnt seem to matter how much we watched her she seemed to know when our attention wasnt on her for a split second and then she would go for this little girl.

in the end we had to speak to mum as the other little girl was absolutely petrified about coming to pre-school.she then admitted she was having lots of problems at home and to cut a long story short the little girl ended up going to a special school .

[Guest]

Thankfully we do tend get most severe cases statemented as soon as we can. It's just a speech and language case that it's taken to this point in year 2 to get. Anyway in reference to the girl mentioned above it is unfortunate that mum seems very resistent to the special school possibilities. She was 'educating' her at home prior to her coming to us. Anyway I think the head has decided to take the hard line and any severely aggressive forms of behaviour the mum will be phoned to come and collect her as you would not accept this from a normal child so why from anyone.

Edited June 28, 2009 by SP61HJ

[Guest]

I agree that every child has a right to an education which suits his/her needs and that there are many, many children whose needs are not met within our current education system.

My foster son, due to many various reasons, didn't get his statement until he came to live with us at aged 9 yrs. He starts 'special school' in September. So during his formative years he has just existed, been managed, within the system 'available' to him, he has been 'managed' by many a professional who all recognised that the system that they work in was not the best for him, they tried their best, but basically he has only just existed within education, just another number, another statistic, 4/5 lost years with some progress but very little (which was also influenced from his living environment).

The most damage of this failure has been to his self esteem and his self identity. I sincerely empathise with what you are going through but as teachers we 'deal' with children with these needs for what is just a short time in our lives, with the adulthood to cope as best we can. But for the children the failure of our system is for a much longer time, or even possibly never are their educational needs met.

 

I have had a few visits to his new school and the thought most uppermind to me is that I wish ALL maintained and otherwise schools could be funded sufficiently to offer every child in the country the eduation I now know my foster son will receive;

 

1-10 adult to child ratio.

Very well resourced classrooms.

Child friendly environment.

The child before the 'condition' / 'need'

Lots of extra curricular experiences such as trips to town, swimming, sailing, horse riding and spontaneous outings to places of fun and interest. (these experiences occur at the least once a week, and usually more often)

All teachers are referred to by first name, a sense of family and less hiearchy than mainstream.

Main focus on PSE yet academic attainment is promoted successfully through self motivation of the students, embraced in a full sense of self worth.

Time and space to 'deal' with negative and positive emotions, for example I saw a child 'upset' by something, he was left in the place he chose to go (a settee in the hallway), not encouraged back to class, to 'fit in' with what would have been a difficult place for him to be at that time due to his frame of mind. The staff 'acknowledged his feelings wholeheartedly, he was supervised at a distance, and when he was ready he returned fully capable of returning to his learning. This type of positive behaviour management I have witnessed on each occasion I have visited the school.

Inclusion, in that no child feels different yet the needs of each individual within the school are very different.

There is also emphasis on 'life skills', creativity, music and sport, from these focuses the children still achieve on an academic level to their best potential.

 

Well, if the above could happen I'd feel the world has been put to rights, but that doesn't help your current situation.

First I'd like to say don't feel bad about how this childs' behaviour exasperates you, the posistves at the present time is that the child 'victim' IS coping so far, she is learning that not everything or everyone in life is easy to live with. I think se will continue to 'be brave' as long as the adults around her acknowledge her need for some 'peace' as you have done and praise her 'understanding / tolerance of this other child who behaves in ways she is not used to or, in the ideal world would not have to deal with. Keep in her mind that it is the behaviour and not the child.

As for practical advice, can you speak to an expert in Autism, try to find out any other strategies that could be deployed to ease this childs possible anxiety / fear shown through this compulsive behaviour.

 

I did get one valid piece of advice once from my Area SENCO, although I didn't like to hear it, and it was against all my principles of not giving up on a young person, and that was that sometimes a child needs to be excluded for that child to get what he/she needs in terms of support and educational needs.

Does your school have access to 'outreach' support from any local 'Special Needs' Schools? They may be able offer some practical support and/or ideas to help.

 

I hope that whichever route you need to go down that you get all the support you need and that this childs needs are met at the earliest opportunity and that she doesn't have to wait to 'fit in the system' rather than the system fitting into her requirements.

 

best of luck.

 

Peggy