Children on the specturm being berated in the classroom

It's a story that's getting attention around the nation. A teacher is accused of voting a child out of her classroom. Tuesday, the outraged mother spoke to CBS 12 and to CBS The Early Show.

Alex Barton: the 5 year-old autistic boy's day in kindergarten put to a vote. His mother, Melissa Barton, says, "He came to me and said, "Mommy, 14 kids voted me out of my class."

Read the full story here.

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WAVE) - A kindergarten teacher from New Albany has been suspended after she was apparently caught on tape berating a 5-year-old student for several minutes in front of the class. The boy's parents sent him to school one day in April with the tape recorder in his pocket after the boy complained for months that his teacher was mean to him.

Read the full story here.

The first article I read caught my attention, but then the second one has me worried. Hunter doesn't have the behavior problems these younger kids reportedly have, but in his silence there is plenty of ammunition for his peers to use.

One is how he talks. He doesn't stutter, but his sentecnes are so choppy and he pauses in the middle of them as he gathers his thoughts, opening himself to taunts.

Another is his stimming and comfort behavior. He still walks on his tip toes and flaps his fingers when interested or excited. He carries around small items, picking string from his socks and is always scanning the floor for rubber bands or other odd things. He often looks to be dancing in place, back and forth on his tip toes with strange things in his fingers. He's older now and it looks weird from a distance.

The most important one is his not using the toilet properly. I've picked him up from the school for messing his underwear three times and twice he was sent home with his underwear wrapped in two plastic bags with a note from the nurse. One time the accident even dirtied the back of his pants and down the leg. He didn't go to the nurse. It was another student who pointed it out to the substitute teacher....

Yes, kids will be mean. Don't be sending me messages saying that it's all part of life and going to school. Teachers already have so much training and certifications to do and Iunderstand that being in a room full of other peoples' kids is work often unappreciated. More and more childen these days are entering school with some sort of label and the teacher who has that child should be required to take a class in how best to work with the child and how to deal with any behavioral issues. Talking down to them and reprimanding them in front of their peers, asking OTHER CHILDREN what should be done with the child in question, is absolutely unacceptable. Kids on the spectrum don't care about other people's opinions, so trying to embarass them into cooperation isn't going to solve the problem.

It's a lot of extra work for teachers to do, but think about the parents. The parents will be with this child for the rest of their lives. Teacher's have them, what, 180 days, give or take some, a year? Help the parents out by knowing who's going to be in your class the coming year. If they have IEP's, please READ the IEP before you meet the child and learn what you can about any diagnosis and maybe - shocker - meet with the parents before the year begins. I haven't seen my son's file in a few years, but I know it's chuck full of evaluations and reports going back to age 18 months when he was found to be Speech and Language Impaired. Tucked among those stapled stacks is a letter I wrote before every new school year to the teacher that talks about how Hunter is doing in certain area's, his ups and downs, what he likes and doesn't like. Can you imagine how upsetting it is to learn that, after taking the time and emotion to write about your child on paper in ways a stranger can understand, a person who will see him more hours in a day than you will, just to find out she hasn't read the letter? Hasn't even read the current IEP??

I'm upset to read about these two cases, but I can't honestly say I'm surprised. I'm a member of a few boards that talk about ASD kids and classrooms and I just have to hang my head and be thankful that Hunter is on the higher end of that multi-level rainbow.