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Thu 29 May, 2008 06:30 pm
Quote:the vote was taken after classmates were allowed to tell Alex what they didn't like about him.
The class voted Alex out of the room, by a 14 to 2 margin.
Portillo was reassigned out of the classroom at the district offices on Friday, as soon as Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon heard about the incident, Karst said. She said it could be up to two weeks before the district's investigation on the matter is concluded.
Portillo has been a St. Lucie County teacher for 12 years, and at Morningside Elementary for nine, Karst said.
Barton said Tuesday morning that Alex had officially been diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. He is not in school, but misses the one friend he made in the classroom, she said.
"He's a little better today," she said. "He's just being Alex."
Barton said she thinks Portillo should be fired.
"She has no business being near children at all," she said.
As to the news of Portillo being reassigned, Barton responded, "That's just a slap in the face."
Dang.
Another source I read somewhere today said the teacher was trying to teach this child about how his behavior affected the rest of the classroom.
But even then.....
Dang.
Yeah, I read that this morning (?) and went gack but it really reminds me of other gack news stories that turn out to not be so gack once there are further details. I'm not sure what the mitigating details could be in this case though. Might just plain stay gack.
That's horrible! That woman should be tossed out of the school. Any school. Now that kid will be scarred for years.
I think teachers, psychologists, sped teachers, behaviorists etc do try to teach these kids about how their behavior affects people around them. Usually it is done either quietly and off to the side, or in a whole class-setting but in a way which doesn't point at the autistic child. A dialog is necessary to help these kids navigate social situations and learn social cueing. An exchange might be:
"Jimmy, look at Karen's face. Does she look happy/amused/interested....?"
"I don't know."
"Well, is she smiling?"
"No."
"Is she facing you, showing interest?"
"I guess not."
"Do you think she thought what you said was funny?"
"I guess not."
We also might coach autistic kids on how the classroom behavior affects him. When the classroom gets loud, he might get anxious. When the kids are rowdy, he might start to run up and tickle people at random.
A whole room dialog might be about how to behave in a given situation - how should we react if someone is laughing wildly because he farted? Try to ignore the laughter and the fart and keep on working. What should you do if someone does something to you that you don't like? Ask him or her to stop and if it continues, talk to a teacher. We would also talk about personal space and dangerous activities, etc.
I think the thing that REALLY bugs me about this story, no matter her intention, is that she involved all of the other kids in her frustration.
I mean, c'mon - a kindergarten kid's teacher says "stand up here and tell the class what you don't like about this boy", the kids (except for two, it appears) don't know any better.
She didn't just harm this one kid, she harmed them all.
I don't know if I hope the story ends up with some logical explaination or not. Its easier to believe that she's an isolated idiot than that there was some purpose to her actions. For all of the kid's sake, I hope there was some kind of thing that made sense.
it's the survivor/american idolisation of america
if you can't cut it, you're voted out of the tribe
This teacher should be terminated, and the parents of these poor boy
should see to it, that the school lives up to its responsibilities. What an
outrageous and callous thing to do.
The parents will probably be happy- now their precious children will be able to learn in peace. Who do you think the kids learned their attitudes from?
In fact they probably heard their parents talking about this kid and his issues around their dinner tables.
The teacher might be an idiot - but I'm sadder about what the vote tells me about the kids in the class.
I wouldn't let my child go back there if they paid me - whether the teacher still worked there or not.
dddj is right -it's a particularly and prevalent American parental attitude.
You know ddj - I don't even know you but I find myself agreeing with you an awful lot lately.
It seems that the current process of childrearing in America has somehow forgotten to teach kids empathy, personal responsibility, and consequences to one's actions. We live in an incredibly short-sighted society.
I'd like more info on the quote Boomer if you can find it. Looked for it but couldnt get it.
I would be interested in hearing the facts if you or anyone else can help out there would be so kind.
Gone 3am here - depserately need to sleep - but if you hae anything I would be most grateful...thanku
This, makes me. sick. ABSOLUTELY . sick.
littlek wrote:It seems that the current process of childrearing in America has somehow forgotten to teach kids empathy, personal responsibility, and consequences to one's actions. We live in an incredibly short-sighted society.
Oh LilK - you summed it up... all the things a child with HFA does not have the ability to understand. You get it. Thanku x
You're welcome. And thank you for telling me that, sometimes I wonder if I am getting it at all! I would hope I get it by now as I've been working with a ADHD/HFA 8 year old for 6 months.
You know, the whole inclusion theory is not only supposed to be good for the special needs child. It is supposed to help teach general population kids empathy - how to behave around special needs kids, how to function with occasional distractions from disruptive classmates, even how to be friends with atypical kids. Without the help of teachers and other qualified staff, it will fail as it did in this case. Unfortunately, school districts are always strapped for cash. We've been mandated to include these students (a good thing, in my opinion) without being given training or specialized staff (not a good thing).
Oh! littlek! You SO totally get it. Totally. How dare you doubt yourself.
Quote:I'd like more info on the quote Boomer if you can find it. Looked for it but couldnt get it.
I would be interested in hearing the facts if you or anyone else can help out there would be so kind.
If you google "St. Lucie Florida teacher autism" you'll get 125,000 hits. This all just happend about two days ago so I'm sure the story will continue to develop.
boomerang wrote:Oh! littlek! You SO totally get it. Totally. How dare you doubt yourself.
Thank you! Because I work with a kid who is so outside of reality, sometimes, I get out there too. I have to remind myself what normal is all the time and sometimes I can't.
Throughout most of Elementary school, my daughter was in a class with an autistic boy. In the earlier grades he was very disruptive, but he learned, and the other kids learned, better ways of acting in a social situation. In the later years of elementary, I think he was bored as much as anything -- he was truly brilliant at most of the schoolwork. I think of that as more of an Asperger's trait -- the two are interconnected, and while there is a wide range of intellects and behaviors, there are a lot of crossover stuff too.
Anyhow, inclusion worked for these kids. They had wise teachers with open minds.
I don't know if it is a prevalent American parental attitude - you can see by the responses of many American parents on here that they do not like at all how the teacher handled this.
I have seen/experienced two different instances where a child is different/has some sorts of special issues. The first was in my daughter's Pre-School class. There was a girl that had very severe behavioral issues. My daughter didn't like her and didn't want to go to her birthday party because of it. I encouraged and said that we should try to play, be nice to all sorts of different individuals. In this case, my daughter knew better. This particular girl ended up repeatedly grabbing my daughter's crotch and rubbing. The teacher did end up catching her and that was the final straw - she was let go from the school.
The second case is a new boy in my daughter's current 3rd grade class. I recently spoke with his mother and she said she took him out of their public school and he is doing so much better here in this private school. I was quite surprised because they live in a very nice town with excellent schools - so I asked her about it. She agreed that the schools are excellent, but only if your child is so-called "perfect." Her son had some earlier health issues with his ears and therefore fell behind. The moved him into a classroom with children with learning disabilities (which he didn't have - he was simply a bit behind because of his previous health issues). He did very poorly and now he is happy and flourishing in his new school.
As some one wrote earlier - you really need more details to know what went on - on the surface it does appear inappropriately handled as any teacher involving the other children in dealing with another child is not right. But you almost have to handle each case independently.
"Alex's mother, Melissa Barton, said the vote was taken after classmates were allowed to tell Alex what they didn't like about him."
Thank you for providing me with the info to look into this. At the moment I am pretty caught up in "stuff" so I can't comment until I have read the facts - or the facts as they are portrayed - and at the moment I am rushed.
However, I do not believe that, if the above happened, where a child with HFA - or actually ANY child at all, autistic or neurotypical, that there is any justification under any circumstance to put another child in this position. The damage to the child could be irrepairable.
Will be back later after I have read the information, to follow through why I believe this. I obviously have a very personal take on this.
Update - teacher's side of the story:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/977845,kinder052908.article
Quote:Florida kindergarten teacher defends having class vote 5-year-old out
May 29, 2008Recommend
BY COLLEEN WIXON | Scripps Howard News Service
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A kindergarten teacher told police she wanted a 5-year-old boy to hear how his behavior was affecting his classmates.
After students shared their view, Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo had them vote, but said the vote was only to keep Alex Barton out of class for the day, not for good.
"Portillo said she did this as she felt that if (Alex) heard from his classmates how his behavior affected them that it would make a bigger difference to him, rather than just hearing it from adults," according to a report released Thursday morning by the Port St. Lucie Police Department.
Alex was in the process of being tested for Asperger's Syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism, at the time of the incident. His mother, Melissa Barton, said a private psychologist officially diagnosed him Tuesday with an autism-spectrum disorder and attention deficit disorder.
Alex's mother filed a complaint with Morningside's school resource officer about the May 21 incident, saying her child told her he had been voted out of class at the encouragement of the teacher.
She told the officer that after she talked with Portillo about the voting, Portillo "blocked the door for about five minutes to prevent me from leaving the classroom with my child, who was visibly shaken by the abuse."
Portillo and children in the class said Alex was pushing a table up with his feet while he was under the table. The teacher got the school resource officer to remove Alex from the classroom. It was the second discipline referral for Alex that day, the report said.
When Alex returned to the class, Portillo said she and the class were not ready for him to return.
Portillo told the officer she asked Alex to join her at the front of the class.
"She said she then asked him to listen to what the children didn't like about the things he did, and she asked him how it made him feel," the report said. "She said at this time, 'We polled the class' to see how his peers felt about his return at that time."
Alex was voted out, 14 to 2.
Alex told the officer Portillo called his classmates' names out and they said "disgusting" things about him.
"I asked (Alex) what the students said, and he said the students said he eats paper, picks boogers and eats them on top of the table and bites his shoelaces," the report said. "He told me Mrs. Portillo said, 'I hate you right now. I don't like you today'."
The officer asked Alex how the incident made him feel.
"He said it made him feel sad," Alex said according to the report.
Alex also told the officer that Portillo scratched him, stepped on his shoelaces, grabbed his leg and pulled his shirt collar, but the report said Portillo and other children in the class refuted those allegations.
Portillo told the officer after he left with Alex that day, she talked with the other children.
"Portillo said she explained to them that the students in class were all her priority and she would protect them like a 'bear defending her cubs'," the report said.
Alex hasn't been back at Morningside since the incident.
The state attorney's office and Port St. Lucie Police Department concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed.
"Portillo said she explained to them that the students in class were all her priority and she would protect them like a 'bear defending her cubs'
Gobsmacked!
All I can say for the moment! I'm no good talking when I'm being sick!
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