The Difference a School Makes

Days of screams and headbangs are over is the title of an article in the October 31st Scotsman about now-15-year-old James Paton. Paton was 11 when he was diagnosed with autism and began to attend the Daldorch School, which was created by the National Autistic Society Scotland. James’s parents, Daniel and Bernadette Paton, credit the school with helping their son undergo a “remarkable transformation”:

The walls are painted in neutral shades without posters and the windows have opaque glass to prevent children becoming over-stimulated or distracted, while doors and cupboards are made from reinforced materials to prevent damage from violent behaviour.

Mrs Paton, 46, from Newmilns in East Ayrshire, said she and husband, Daniel, 48, would not be able to cope with James without Daldorch. She said: “We found it hard to get a diagnosis for James because he was very loving, which is unusual for somebody with autism.

“But we always knew he had severe learning disabilities and behavioural problems. He was aggressive and destructive.” But James has come on leaps and bounds at Daldorch. Mrs Paton said: “We couldn’t take him out for a meal before, but the school worked on that by taking him out to places and now he can sit through a three-course dinner with us. Whatever issues we have at home, they try to deal with it at school.”

James suffers from a severe form of autism, which causes him extreme distress when surrounded by people and noise. He has benefited from the strict regime at Daldorch. Mrs Paton said: “We have been getting support through the holidays, which is crucial for us.”

We have been through days—weeks, months, more—of “screams and headbangs,” from the time my son was around 6 1/2 and into the next two years. For Charlie as for James, an educational placement carefully geared to his needs and his neurological make-up, has made all the difference. There are still tough moments and not every school day is all ups (the past two have had their share of the downs, so to speak). A major difference from previous years is that, even when Charlie does get upset, he gets over it quite quickly and is back to being his schoolboy self. What helps greatly is that his teachers (all of whom have extensive ABA training) understand his sensory needs and, too, his telegraphic communication: Charlie’ speech is usually in one to three words segments, usually with no pronouns, verb tenses, articles prepositions, and the like, and his articulation is not consistently clear.

Charlie does best when there is a lot of structure to his learning and activities intermixed with some randomness and (for lack of a better term) “looseness”; I’ve found it of interest to consider the AAP’s other report on the Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in noting what teaching techniques and strategies seem best to help him. The report gives summaries of a number of teaching methodologies—ABA, TEACCH, developmental models (such as RDI)—and notes that “although programs may differ in philosophy and relative emphasis on particular strategies, they share many common goals.” Among the goals suggested are a low student-to-teacher ratio; a family component; interaction with non-disabled peers; lots of structure; generalization of skills to new environments; measurement, documention, and assessment of skills; reduction of difficult (”maladaptive”) behaviors using such strategies as functional assessment.

It’s not that our days are full of wine and roses (well, there are whines and the occasional row (see definition #3) ). But things are certainly manageable: Charlie used to not be able to leave a grocery store without buying six specific things, and on Tuesday evening he left content with three. I had to buy soda for a student event at my job tomorrow: In the past, Charlie would have been adamant that the soda be opened and as much of it drunk by him as he might. Last night, I noted that it was for my students and we left it in my car, and Charlie did not ask nor seem to wish to.

A little learning can yield little great, great things.