If I can stop crying long enough, I can write a few thoughts on Alex’s graduation from elementary school.
Alex’s school, a NYC public special ed school, has a bunch of locations. They’re schools-within-schools: a few classrooms in a general ed school. In this case, an elementary school in Washington Heights whose only drawback is how far it is from our apartment.
Unlike many other schools, the principal of the general ed school — Tracy Walsh — is unusually welcoming to the special ed students. Near the end of kindergarten, Alex came home with a graduation day t-shirt from PS 48. What’s …read more

Among our books is a copy of the Betty Crocker book of children’s parties published in the early ’60s, which I’ve kept because it has a very touching section on children with handicaps. “Children who have physical or mental disabilities are, first and foremost, children,” the author points out, “with the need for color and excitement and surprise in their lives. They have friends, and should be able to entertain their friends. The child who is giving the party may invite friends who have similar disabilities and also friends, brothers, sisters, and cousins who do not have these disabilities.” I am …read more

A judge has upheld the restraining order barring 13-year-old Adam Race from attending church in St. Joseph’s parish in Bertha, Minnesota. From KSAX:
Todd County District Judge Sally Ireland Robertson says 13-year-old Adam Race engaged in “repeated harassment” while attending services at the Church of St. Joseph.
Robertson says Adam’s family has been unable to prevent him from disrupting church services.
The ruling on Monday follows a hearing last week that Adam’s mother had requested to protest the restraining order. Carol Race says many of the claims in the restraining order are not true.
I’m not sure that “repeated harassment” is quite the right …read more

Yesterday, Carol Race took the stand at a hearing in Long Prairie, Minnesota, over the restraining order filed against her 13-year-old son, Adam Race, by the Church of St. Joseph in Bertha. From WDAY.com:
[Carol Race] represented herself at Tuesday’s hearing, and questioned the Reverend Daniel Walz for about 30 minutes.
Walz acknowledged that he did not witness all of the alleged disruptions, but said he believes they happened.
Judge Sally Ireland Robertson took the matter under advisement and said she would rule later.
Afterward, Race said she was disappointed that she wasn’t allowed to question the priest about his credibility. She said …read more

On reading about how photos of a class of special ed students was left out of the yearbook of a school in Placer County, California, I felt that pang of exclusion. From KCRA.com:
“It was not intentional,” said Mark Geyer, the superintendent of the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District.
Darla Granger said her sons Holden and Hunter, who are autistic, were left out of the Quail Glen Elementary yearbook along with the rest of the school’s special needs children on purpose.
“It is my understanding that a school parent volunteer coordinated the yearbook, and omitted the class photo page,” Placer County Superintendent …read more

See this comment for news about Nate Tseglin going home.
Autism rights have been much under discussion of late:

A restraining order was filed against the parents of Adam Race by a priest in Bertha, Minnesota, regarding Adam attending church.
The “voting out” of Alex Barton, from his kindergarten class; the teacher, Wendy Portillo, has been removed from the classroom.
An article about the “autism rights movement” and neurodiversity in the latest New York magazine.

And there is also the case of 17-year-old Nate Tseglin, who was removed from his parents’ home and institutionalized; some more details here and at the website, Get Nate Home.
Recently, …read more

Up until last week, posts about “mercury” and “Jenny McCarthy” had the most comments—-after last week, the topic of religion and the restraining order filed against the parents of Adam Race generated a torrent of discussion that’s still going on).

Priest Files Restraining Order Against Parents of Autistic 13-year-old
Some 250-plus comments about Adam Race and the parish of St. Joseph’s in Bertha, Minnesota.
A Mother and a Housewife
Mothers and housewives can be pretty accomplished—-one whom I know (via the internet) is Kathleen Seidel, who writes the Neurodiversity weblog.
Read with Care: New Study on Thimerosal and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
A new …read more

This story about a Catholic priest filing a restraining order against the parents of an autistic 13-year-old to keep them from attending church on Sundays in Bertha, Minnesota, is why resources like this are more than needed—-and a spirit of inclusion and mutuality.

It’s the perennial problem: Is it better for autistic students to be educated at public or private schools, in the district or out? From Union City (CA) to Noblesville (IN) to Atlantic City (NJ), school districts are confronting issues like these: Should they hire their own in-house autism consultants? Or seek the services of highly regarded professional from outside agencies? Should a district create its own in-district program, where autistic students are educated in the same schools as their same-aged students, and where there are ready opportunities for inclusion, and where autistic students attend school in the community they …read more