Questions Raised by the “Survivor” Scandal
December 11, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
An editorial in today’s Palm Beach Post reports that Alex Barton’s mother is hopeful that a request for private schooling will be settled soon. A “bigger problem” is also noted:
The bigger problem, as public schools have to deal with more problems with less money, will be seeing that all children get the testing and help that they need – without wasting a lot of time. If Alex had received help more quickly, the Survivor scandal might never have happened.
If training about autism and special needs kids in the classroom had been provided……… if there’d been more and real understanding of what it’s really like to have Asperger’s Syndrome……. if……………
I still wonder what on earth the teacher in this case was thinking! I can certainly understand the students’ frustration and even hers in dealing with Alex – I get frustrated with my kids, after all.
All I can think of is that she was trying teach the kids that they need to communicate openly with someone when they’re feeling frustrated and that she was trying to “teach” Alex that there are consequences for his actions and to motivate him to do better, i.e. See how your behaviors make other people feel? They don’t want to play with you or be around you. Wouldn’t you rather make good choices so the kids want you in the class?
But come on! Engage brain! Do you really think that a Kindergarten/1st grader is going to get that type of abstract thinking? What those kids learned is that if someone is different and you don’t like them you can make them leave.
Yup. That’s the message we definitely want to send. I can’t remember, but I hope the teacher is on suspension and will be held accountable for her choices by having to face a panel of her peers/supervisors who will decide if she should stay or go. Some empathy lessons might be good for her.
Yeah, I’m all for early/good testing and the like, but the issue here is that this teacher behaved in a deplorable, unprofessional, and cruel manner. She still deserves the blame for her decision to do what she did to Alex Barton. I’m a bit tired of the “ignorance” defense when it comes to lousy teachers or parents hurting their children.
As a teacher myself, one thing I try to do is to make my classroom a welcoming place for everyone—a lot of delicate maneuvering when there’s “disruptions.” A “Survivor” mentality doesn’t belong in any classroom, certainly not with the teacher.
In some ways, saying this could have been avoided if only Alex had been tested earlier and received services earlier, is like putting the blame on Alex (or Alex’s ASD) for what happened. And that is ridiculous.
What happened here was a teacher acted in an immature, unprofessional and uncaring manner. No diagnosis should have been what stopped her from making these choices. Good sense and compassion and understanding for children and people in general should have stopped her from publicly humiliating and excluding someone, anyone, typically developing or not, child or not. She is who is to blame. Not the autism, and certainly not Alex or any lack of earlier intervention.
This reasoning that excuses or forgives this teacher’s behavior is outrageous to me.
Obviously Alex’s difficulties had been going on for a while, I mean you don’t decide to do this on the spur of the moment (or at least I really hope you wouldn’t!). If it was that bad, why wasn’t *SHE* pushing for an IEP assessment? If the district was dragging it’s heels, why wasn’t *SHE* going to her principal and saying “I can’t cope with this kid, I need help”. If the principal was unresponsive, why wasn’t *SHE* going to the mom and saying “I’d really like to show Alex in some way the effects his behavior has on the other kids. Could you help me come up with some way to do that?”
I have a problem when parents don’t try and work with teachers to solve issues with their kids, but I have even more of a problem when teachers don’t try to work with parents. No matter how jaded you are or frustrated or whatever, that’s inexcusable, in my opinion.
Paraphrasing the Oompa-Loompa song:
Who do you blame when a kid is a brat?
Who do you blame when he breaks the window in the principal’s office?
Who do you blame when he knocks things off the teacher’s desk many times a day?
Who do you blame when he screams and bites?
When he won’t listen and gets into fights?
When the other kids feel they have no rights?
Blame the teacher!
Laura, thank you for saying exactly what I could not put into words.