[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by Taf

Being a father of an autistic lad, I can tell you that Special Schools are now rare... New Labour decided to "integerate" them into mainstream schools but forgot to give enough training to teachers... and it's even worse at Secondary level where pupils change teachers several times a day.

The physical and mental effects of autism are so varied that it is very difficult to know how to deal with each affected person without a LOT of training and experience.

Another one with no idea of history. It was the Tories who started the "integration" process, in the late eighties and early nineties.

---------- Post added at 02:28 ---------- Previous post was at 01:56 ----------

Originally Posted by nomadking

She wasn't put in the room for behaving in a calm manner.

Melanie-Rose thought she would get into trouble because she had not done her homework and began crying and waving her arms.

Wow, she must have been a huge danger then. Waving her arms? That would have been very difficult to have dealt with then.

Perhaps an attempt at reasoning, or leading her to place of safety (and no, locking her in a small windowless room is not a place of safety), or using calming, soothing words, with a consolatory approach. But it is, realistically, impossible to answer your question, because each child and each situation is different. Certainly the actions of this LSA was wholly inappropriate. Tearing up a good behaviour certificate, in front of her and the whole class, shows that this woman is a bully, nothing more and nothing less. It contributes to a pattern of attitude and behaviour on her part. That action alone should have been enough to prompt disciplinary action, if nothing else.

The school, as a whole, is at fault here. They have ignored their responsibilities as educators and have denied this child a safe place to learn.

---------- Post added at 02:37 ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 ----------

Originally Posted by piggy

its not the teachers fault, if she wasnt trained to deal with autistic children then she or the child should be removed from the classroom, and some of the comments in this thread are extremely ott, you would think the child had been murdered!

Then the LSA should have raised this issue before she found herself in this situation. This is a situation that has been caused by the school, as much as the LSA, for either not providing the resources, or for starting the statementing process, in order to get the resources. The fact that she humiliated the child in front of the whole class, says an awful lot about her.

I am going to suspect that you have no experience with any special needs children, otherwise you would be making such silly comments.

---------- Post added at 02:40 ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 ----------

Originally Posted by nomadking

The child was already distressed.

And distressing her even further really helped, didn't it?

---------- Post added at 02:43 ---------- Previous post was at 02:40 ----------

Originally Posted by nomadking

But even the experts indicate that there was no way of predicting that.

???????

What "experts?"

---------- Post added at 02:50 ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 ----------

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Well I haven't had any such training and neither have most of the average teachers I come into contact with..in fact I've never come across an autistic student in any secondary school.

What, never? How many schools have you worked in then?

There is nothing stopping you from asking for more training. In fact, you would earn more money for it.