<p>The child was in the process of being diagnosed with autism/Asperger’s and an IEP was being prepared by the school. Having a (now college-age) S with Asperger’s, who was kicked out of his pre-school for even less disruptive behavior issues than this, I found this story rather heartbreaking but aside from the autism issues, WHAT was that teacher thinking of??!!</p>
<p>Voting a child out seems strange, but excluding a child who is disrupting the entire class should be a teacher’s obligation. The article does not say to what extent the child is prohibiting the other children from learning, but if the child is limiting the learning of others that child should be removed regardless of that child’s disability. And extactly what is “in the process” of being diagnosed? If it was in the process, it probably means the teacher did not know that the child may have a disability or it may mean the child does not actually have any disability.</p>
<p>I’m appalled at that teacher’s behavior!!! Singling a child out like that causes scapegoating and bullying. I teach very challenging kindergartners, many who have all sorts of severe behavior/hygiene/social issues. When a child misbehaves, I do encourage the kids to talk to each other and explain what they are feeling or what ACTIONS they don’t like (“I don’t like when you grab my pencil…”), but that is very different from attacking the child (“I don’t like you”) and miles away from setting the child up for all to attack. As a teacher, it is always important to “add status” to the child who is socially inept or has behaviors others don’t like, or they end up being isolated and scapegoated. The asperger’s kid needs more support and understanding, not less! That teacher should be relieved of duties, and fired ASAP.
If the child really can’t function in that educational setting, they should be placed in a better situation. But the process for removing that child should NEVER be by shaming and ostracizing that child. (and in reality, there is no place for many of those kids to go! Public schools educate all learners, and you can’t “kick them out”. Move them to other classrooms? We have SO many challenging children that every teacher has to have several in the class.)</p>
<p>Regardless of the possible disruption this child caused to the rest of the class, it is absolutely inappropriate to allow 5-years old to vote on something so important. There’s a reason why the voting age is 18. It is the teacher’s and principal’s duty to make decisions as important as this, in consultation with the child’s family. In my district, the district would also have the financial responsibility to make sure that the child is properly educated. It is not something that can be decided by a bunch of 5-year olds.</p>
<p>I once let a bunch of 4-year olds vote on whether to eat ice-cream or to skip dessert so they could play at an amusement park. The minority accepted the decision to skip ice-cream with good grace, as they, too, were eager to resume play.</p>
<p>This is a horrible story. My kids’ kindergarten teacher did the exact opposite for every child in her class. She made each child a special kid of the week (or day), and every member of the class had to write what they liked about that one special child. The quotes were all printed on huge poster like paper, and sent home. A child was able to pin that to his/her wall at home. Only nice comments were allowed.</p>
<p>I hope they get a good attorney. If this is a public school, there have been abuses. In a private school, they can do nearly anything, and there are occasions when the other kids are interviewed individually about how they feel about kids in the class and the issues a kid is causing. But a public vote? That is so crass. My sympathies.</p>
<p>The story is ambiguous and possibly misleading. It suggests that the child was “voted out” of the class permanently, but it seems that it might have been more of a “go to the principle’s office” sort of thing in response to some disruptive acting out. (I don’t like the student’s “vote” idea, but that’s another matter. What actually intrigues me most is the 2 kids who voted to let the kid stay.)</p>
<p>I’ve seen a significant amount of cases similar to this one, all concerning Asperger’s or autism. It really shows how cruel and misunderstanding people can be. I know that it’s incredibly difficult to understand the workings of autism/AS and people with autism/AS, but in any case, such behavior is obviously inappropriate.</p>
<p>However, I think I understand the thoughts of the teacher who did this. I remember seeing a video of an interview between the national spelling bee winner (who has autism) and a reporter on Good Morning America. The autistic kid came off as terribly rude and arrogant, and I heard many comments such as “no one has the right to be so rude or arrogant, no matter what disease they have”. People inherently can’t understand that this behavior is far from intentional, and it’s actually part of the disease. So instead of a disease, people see such attitudes as mere misbehavior, even when a diagnosis is known. It’s a rather sad state, but there’s really nothing that can be done, other than increasing awareness and tolerance of autism/AS.</p>
<p>Emotional disabilities are really a big problem for inclusion. When my kids were in public school, their school was the one designated in the district for those kids with behavioral and emotional problems. THey did not do well by those kids nor for the rest of the kids.</p>
<p>There is a LOT more we can do, I would start by firing this teacher (That might bring about a little more “awareness” ;)). </p>
<p>Remember the saying: “Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten” ? I guess this includes learning how NOT to tolerate others rather than how to tolerate…if they do not meet our expectations, it’s ok to exclude them…</p>
<p>When you are 5, I am not sure there’s much difference whether the vote was to send you to to the principal or to kick you out of school… (or, as was the case for my S when he was 5, miss out on going on a fieldtrip…and not ever understanding WHY!!!)</p>
<p>[and my apologies, since I am very intentionally choosing an emotional/ personal response to this incident, rather than an objective/ rational look at it from everyone else’s viewpoint response]</p>
<p>Wasn’t being sent to the principal punishment enough??</p>
<p>Apparently, the family had just moved to the district in January, and the testing for autism was started in February - at the request of the school (how sad to think it takes 3-4 months to do that testing, and in the meantime this FIVE-YEAR OLD boy has continued to be treated as if he is a “disciplinary problem” - and now he’s also had the opportunity to be told how “disgusting” he is, by his fellow students)</p>
<p>I think that the school had an obligation to provide the teacher with proper training and support until this child’s testing was concluded.</p>
<p>I doubt that without publicity the teacher would be fired. That might happen because if there is enough media attention. Ordinarily, I think that the teacher would be made to attend some workshops to improve some teaching skills (ie: about bullying, autism or other disablilities, or some other workshop). This way the district can put into this teacher’s file that she has been given special instruction to improve teaching technique, and the district shows that they have done something proactive. This is a type of damage control. I doubt that this would improve a teacher who might do something that looks cruel if the article is to be taken as factual.</p>
<p>It sounds horrendous. One wonders why exactly she thought that this was an appropriate thing to do? Did the boy scream personal insults at his classmates before being sent to the office, and was this her (bizarre and unacceptable) idea of allowing them to express their feelings about what he did to them? Or has she simply seen too many episodes of Survivor?</p>
<p>There’s a kid (whom I have since discovered has Asperger’s) at our HS who behaved very strangely towards my S the other day at a public event: shaking a fist, shouting, loudly gloating about “beating” him and another kid on a test. I think that everyone just let’s this stuff go because it is obvious that the kid has major issues–even if one doesn’t know exactly what they are-- and these kids are in HS. How exactly one would handle it in elementary school is another question. I don’t think that one could share a diagnosis with a class, especially a class of 5-yr-olds, but on the other hand, they are not likely to be able to simply put certain kinds of behavior aside, and their hurt needs to be addressed also.</p>