I work with some kids with autism at school, and even though everyone knows they're in Special Ed, most of the regular staff has no idea what they are really like or how they receive stimuli around them. I hear a lot of "Why can't they just..." "Why do you let them..." "What difference does it make if they have this one or that one?" I'm not a softie--I don't let kids play me just because they have a disability (and I have a few who try), but these kids with autism NEED certain things in order to function, and it makes me mad when other staff don't even try to understand. I wish I could put all those other people in a room with heavy metal blasting, strobe lights flashing, the temperature up to 90 or down to 40, scratchy material scraping their skin, and people up in their faces, and then tell them to use good manners and learn their school lessons. Our kids do learn manners and academics, and they are awesome, caring young men, but like you said, people just don't understand what they deal with. I doubt most of us could do half as well.
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I work with some kids with autism at school, and even though everyone knows they're in Special Ed, most of the regular staff has no idea what they are really like or how they receive stimuli around them. I hear a lot of "Why can't they just..." "Why do you let them..." "What difference does it make if they have this one or that one?" I'm not a softie--I don't let kids play me just because they have a disability (and I have a few who try), but these kids with autism NEED certain things in order to function, and it makes me mad when other staff don't even try to understand. I wish I could put all those other people in a room with heavy metal blasting, strobe lights flashing, the temperature up to 90 or down to 40, scratchy material scraping their skin, and people up in their faces, and then tell them to use good manners and learn their school lessons. Our kids do learn manners and academics, and they are awesome, caring young men, but like you said, people just don't understand what they deal with. I doubt most of us could do half as well.
November 20, 2012 - 8:19pmThis Comment
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