Discussion was dominated by two stories, that of 13-year-old Adam Race, against whose parents a priest filed a restraining order, and of 5-year-old Alex Barton, who was voted out of his kindergarden class by his classmates, at the suggestion of his teacher, Wendy Portillo. These two incidents sparked some very heated and often acrimonious exchanges and remind me of why there’s a need to think about autistic persons and the community, in faith communities and all others.

Also: It was reported that there had been 72 cases of measles so far in the US, the highest number since 2001—-and the number would only go up, while misinformation about vaccines continued.

Sometimes it seems that everything, if not anything, could be said to cause autism (and that everything, and anything, has been offered as a “potential treatment for autism”). New tests to detect signs of autism in younger and younger children and, indeed, in babies were reported.

A New Yorker article on neurodiversity provided a simple answer to the question of where are the autistic adults?

And in May of the year when I started learning more and more about employment and housing for autistic adults, Charlie celebrated his 11th birthday–and am I always glad to be Charlie’s mother.

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……………

Back in May, 5-year-old Alex Barton was voted out of his kindergarten class by his classmates. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, had asked the students to vote on whether they wanted Alex to remain. Alex’s mother, Melissa Barton, removed Alex from the school following this incident, which received a great deal of attention in the national media. Portillo has been suspended for a year without pay and is asking that her her case be reviewed by the state Division of Administrative Hearings. Alex is now being taught at home and Melissa Barton is requesting that the St. Lucie County School District pay for private school, psychological testing and counseling for him, as reported in today’s Palm Beach Post:

Barton filed a complaint with the district in late August seeking an administrative hearing. In the complaint, which she released to the media this week, Barton outlined the incident that occurred last May in Wendy Portillo’s kindergarten class.

The complaint also says that school officials failed to evaluate Alex for autism within the time frame specified by law - he was privately diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, after the incident - and didn’t establish an individual educational program as required by federal law.

Barton is also seeking for the school district to pay legal fees and compensatory and punitive damages for emotional suffering.

Reviewing all this, one can’t help thinking how none of this had to happen if there’d been a little more understanding that day in May.

Florida teacher Wendy Portillo—who allowed her kindergarten class to vote on whether or not their classmate Alex Barton could remain in class—-has been suspended without pay for a year, according to the Naples News.

More commentary at Aspie Web.

Abuse, neglect and humiliation: Not exactly words that are generally associated with education, school, students, you’d think. But that’s not been the experience of some 100 parents of autistic children in Florida, according to today’s Scripps News. They’ve been calling the state attorney general and two Port St. Lucie families—including Melissa Barton, whose son Alex Barton was voted out of his kindergarten class—have filed notice that they intend to sue the school district. Parents are raising concerns about autistic children being restrained or secluded and about a lack of sufficient training and of teachers of autistic children in general.

“They’re just not prepared for some of these kids,” said Musumeci, who says her then-12-year-old autistic son was restrained 89 times in 14 months and, on one occasion, put in a closet during music class. “I think people lose their patience, they lose their temper.”

Earlier this year, the New York Times asked if physical restraints are being used more and more in public schools. One reason my husband and I became so insistent on only certain school programs for Charlie was that our former school district said that its teachers could “handle” Charlie’s self-injurious behaviors themselves. But the way they were trained to handle these turned out to be the basket hold and other physical restraints which have had lasting, and frankly bad, effects on Charlie. The school district wanted Charlie to stay in-district primarily for economic reasons; the consultant who was brought in to address Charlie’s “challenging behaviors” was a friend of a top administrator, and our suggestions for other consultants who knew Charlie were brushed aside.

Besides training, there’s a need for constant supervision and oversight, and support for staff. When someone’s told to restrain a child, does that person pause to think about how the child feels?

5-year-old Alex Barton testified today in an internal school investigation, the CBS 12 news reports. It’s noted that Alex’s mother, Melissa Barton, “is not primarily seeking monetary damages. She wants autism awareness and training for district employees.”

Melissa Barton, the mother of Alex Barton, who was “voted out” of his kindergarten classroom, is planning to file a lawsuit against the Port St. Lucie school district on the grounds that “‘physical and mental abuse’” were inflicted on her son.

An editorial in today’s Palm Beach Post about 5-year-old Alex Barton being voted out of his kindergarten class quotes Michael Lannon, Superintendent of Port St. Lucie, along with more details from the police report:

After he was voted out of the class, according to the police report, Alex went to the school nurse’s office. The nurse and school secretary said that Alex “mentioned to them about being voted out of class 14 to 2.” However, Ms. Barton says, she found out only when her son told her. She then filed a complaint that triggered several investigations. Alex told the school police officer: “Mrs. Portillo said, ‘I hate you right now. I don’t like you today.””

Ms. Portillo told the officer that while Alex was out of the room earlier that day because of behavioral problems she had explained to her students that “sometimes people do things for attention from adults and other students” and that “some of the children in the class began to open up about some of the things that (Alex) does either to them or in general.” The teacher told the officer that “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.” She admitted that she “polled the class” to see whether Alex should remain that day.

Mr. Lannon immediately removed the teacher from the classroom. Although he has received e-mails “from around the world” critical of Ms. Portillo, Mr. Lannon wants her to have a fairer hearing than she gave Alex. The district is investigating, which should take about two weeks, and will review the police report as well as information from any other investigation.

“We don’t have our head in the sand; we don’t work at the speed of a tortoise,” Mr. Lannon said, but “individuals have rights to hearings.” To him, any disruptive behavior by Alex is not the point. “The issue here for me is did our teacher behave as alleged? And if so, this is about adult behavior.” If Mr. Lannon concludes that discipline is appropriate, he will make a recommendation to the school board that could range from reprimanding Ms. Portillo to firing her.

And who else would be witnesses to what happened in a kindergarten class in Morningside Elementary School but…..the other students?

Just up on CBS are two interviews with Melissa Barton, Alex Barton’s mother, on the Early Show; the video from this morning’s show also features Dr. Jed Baker, a clinical psychologist and an expert on autism spectrum disorder behavior and education. Alex is in both videos (waving to the audience at one point, it seems). Odd One Out has been keeping a list of bloggers (94 so far) and I’ll be adding blog posts about Alex on this post throughout the day.

Just up on the Palm Beach Post are more details about what happened last Wednesday at Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Florida:

Wendy Portillo, a kindergarten teacher who has drawn national attention for asking her students to vote on whether an autistic boy should stay in class after he misbehaved, told police she asked students to tell the child what they disliked about his behavior, but only because she wanted him to hear how he affected other students, according to a police report.

Portillo, who was removed from contact with students this week, admitted that she “polled” her students on whether Alex Barton should be removed from class for the day. The class voted 14-2 for him to leave.

The report, released today by the Port St. Lucie Police Department, sheds more light on what happened last Wednesday at Morningside Elementary. School officials have declined comment, citing their own investigation, and Portillo, a teacher at the school for nine years, hasn’t publicly explained her actions.

Police and the state attorney’s office decided the case didn’t warrant child abuse charges. An investigation by the school district is expected to take about two weeks.

Parents, community members and advocates for the disabled have harshly criticized Portillo’s actions. The school district has received more than 1,000 emails about the incident, and national news organizations, such as CNN and CBS News, have picked up the story.

And here’s some thoughtful and thought-provoking posts about what the case of Alex Barton might teach us by some bloggers:

First to read is Ballastexistenz on exclusion and the “Survivor” mentality.

Mom-NOS writes about how the tribe has spoken.

Marla Baltes has some great insights about what the story of Alex Barton reminds us to do.

Emily at A life less ordinary? looks at two categories that commenters seem to be falling into.

Shawn writes perceptively about mob advocacy in the wake of the decision by one blogger to close the comments on two posts about Wendy Portillo. That blogger, Bev at AspergerSquare 8, posted recently about Bad Mark.

Club 166 discusses education, survivor, and hamburgers. Manual Not Included notes that Alex and his classmates have gotten “a lesson in exclusion that is in no way benign.”

Kassiane writes about what’s special about Alex. Barbara at MommyLife says the same and has a suggestion for a card campaign. Also check out her interview with Melissa Barton, Alex’s mother, and also a statement.

Many have noted the “Survivor” reality TV show “voting out” of Alex—-Discussing Autism asks if reality TV created the St. Lucie madness, and Left Brain/Right Brain suggests that “Pupil Idol” is nothing less than the spawn of American Idol.

And Autism Insights doesn’t think that children can be so “mean-spirited”—goes without saying that adults need to be models and certainly teachers of children (more on this also at Christschool looks closely at the police report.

This Little Light comments on Alex saying “‘I’m not special’” repeatedly after his removal from the classroom, and Squid writes about why inclusion is critical.

Advocates are called to protect, Ed emphasizes. Two posts on bullying are at Last Crazy Horn and also at Asperger Square 8 (which suggests some positive strategies).

Where’s the Sun? asks what were the supports for the teacher? (As Alex did not have a formal diagnosis yet, did he have any supports; did he have an IEP?)