5-year-old Alex Barton's teacher made him stand in front of his kindergarten class and had his fellow students say what they didn't like about him and then vote whether he should remain in the class
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/23/st-...her-5-year-old/

This makes so mad I cant even think straight.

OMG, what a stupid, stupid teacher...This poor child thinking he's not special, and the school saying it didn't cause emotional distress on this little one..As a parent/grandparent, I would have raised holy hell when I picked him up from the office. Besides belittleing him, the fact that she made his classmates vote on this is totally sickening...It's beyond being mad...

I agree goalienan.
My boy friend has 2 boys with autism (which aspbergers is a form of) I cant imagine this happening to them. They would understand enough ( as Alex does) to be hurt.
I heard this on this mornings news and looked it up on the net.
Oh I'm just seething.

I am officialy pee'd off. It takes a lot to pee me off. I am emailing this one to my fellow teachers and I guarantee that it will make it around the state. (Teachers do not quietly accept those who offend the proffession). I hope people throw rocks at this terrible excuse for garbage.

Very, very sickening!!!!

It's awful that scum like this are hired to be teachers. My sister had a terrible teacher in kindergarden. Once a girl actually just walked out of the room, out of the school and then to her grandma or aunt's (I'm not sure but I know it was someone she was related to) house. The teacher didn't even notice that she walked out. It was on the news and everything.

Once my sister's class had to color these picture of ducks. She colored her's brown with a green head but everybody else colored their's yellow. Then the teacher started yelling at her over it and made her cry. She tied a boy to a chair once too.

The fact is that you send your child to school with total trust in the teacher, and in one instant it is taken away. When my kids were in school they started main streaming Downs Symdrom, Autistic children into the school. Before they came in all the kids were taken to the auditorium to be lectured on the problems that these children have, and to accept them as they are. There were never any instances of a teacher neglecting or humiliating these kids, and the students, although sometimes getting annoyed, handled it perfectly. Like you, this will be on my mind all day......

What a sad excuse for a teacher. I mean really, did she think this was a f***ing episode of Survivor???

You can't vote a student out of the class. If he was a constant disturbance then there are other venues that are taken. What a stupid b****.

Now this kid who has the challenge of growing up with Aspbergers will have that compounded by emotional problems. Great job teach. Really, what a dipsh**.

I agree. Oh, that poor little guy! That person should not be a teacher and should be fired and prevented from teaching anywhere else. My nephew has problems that have not been diagnosed as of yet ( five months on the waiting list) he already knows he isn't normal, and it hurts him, I can't imagine the damage this teacher has done, it might not be reparable, or at the very least take a long, long time to reverse the affects. What an idiot. If you don't want special needs in your classroom, then you are in the wrong profession.

The teacher must be some sort of sadistic nut job. She should be fired and forced into a therapy program.

Ugh. I have a 5 year old granddaughter with Aspergers'. The thought of someone abusing her like that makes me sick.

Kudos to the two kids that voted that he should stay. That's a pretty brave thing to do.

I'd imagine it's pretty much the end of that Teacher's career.

The Mother said something similar about it not being a Survivor episode on TV. What, did this teacher think it was like a game? and this (quote)"But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed," You have got to be kidding me?!!! It SCREAMS emotional child abuse in my opinion.

***



Not emotional abuse, eh?
Bullcrap.

Let's put the teacher in front of her peers and let them tell her what they don't like about her, and then vote as to whether she can keep her job.

I have Asperger's myself. I understand what it's like. I feel sorry for the poor kid. That teacher should be fired without a doubt. You can't just vote someone out of the room. I have a feeling when he said I'm not special he was insisting he is not r******ed. That was what he meant. He is not of course how ever he is confused and hurt after that. He must be thinking something might be wrong with him.

This is horrible.

"Here, let me humiliate one of my students for the fun of it and see where this goes!"

Law Suit - Clean her out for life.
Jail would be good too, but I do not expect it.

I agree, I hope his Mom is looking for a lawyer. I know I would be.

I hope this piece of s**t teacher gets ostracized by her own peers of teachers and parents and to the point she can't teach anymore, even if its a little justice to what this kid is going through.

What a mind job she put on this kid and what long term damage it will have caused.

Asperger's is such a load of garbage. Like you could even accurately diagnose a 5 year old with something like that. It's a shame how easily kids and people can be labeled these days.

That story just ruined my day. That "teacher" should be fired and should never be allowed in any classroom ever again. She involved the whole class to crush him as bad as she could, and then asked him how he felt. Oh, but that is in no way indicative of emotional abuse. BS. I'm amazed that 2 didn't vote against him. I wonder if they were ridiculed for their votes.




Also... Did anyone notice how poorly done that article was? It was sickening. The writer has a college education and around 15 years of experience as a journalist. She should be ashamed of herself.

this seems more like a personal attack on the kid

Ah, democracy. The system works.

That's disgusting. I can't believe something like that would happen in the education system.

chemical licker kicks teachers butt it was democracy and we all decided this should be done

Agreed.



According to the article, she already tried. I hate how teachers think they have a right to decide what a child can and cannot do, where they can and cannot go.. it's sickening.

This is wrong on more levels than I can mention....a TEACHER.....are you kidding me? What kind of educator would do that to a child?

Well in a school, the teachers are the authority there, so during school time...they can decide what the child can/not do and where they can/not go.

One not trained ... nor worthy.

The first year I ever taught, I taught children with emotional behavior disorders. I was kicked, hit, bit and yes even stabbed with a plastic knife. I had little training but I sought answers for the behavior ... not anwers to the behavior.

Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Aspberger's, a type of high-functioning autism.

How can you be in the process of being diagnosed? If it hasn't been diagnosed she doesn't know yet.

Laws with labeling of children are screwed. Many lawful and medical step through many, many people have to be completed before a "consensus" of the childs needs can be identified. So until then even a child with down sydrome (signs are obvious) has to go through steps to get the label to be documented.

Exactly.
So, there's no way the teacher could've known either.
Also what was the kid doing to make the teacher react?

Obviously they are just starting to test this child, but diagnosed or not NO teacher handles a situation like this. Did she honestly think that ridiculing this child was going to solve the problem. You take it to the parents and to the administration, you don't put a little one in front of a class to vote on whether he should stay or not...Sounds to me like this teacher has sick issues to deal with...

True, but my school did a similar thing. If a child was being overly disruptive, a vote was called by the teacher, between all the children in the class. If a large part of them felt the disruptive child was making their learning experience hard, said child would be sent out. It did wonders for behaviour in our classes.

I'm actually teaching an Autistic child this term, and it distresses me to see that a person can be excluded on the basis of a vote. Not just any vote, but a public vote, preceded by lengthy comments by students each outlining to the person what they don't like about them. That's worse than sick

I don't know how it is in America, but Australia -

1.5 Who must comply with the Standards

These Standards apply to education providers, subject to section
12 of the Act, and have effect as if they were limited application
provisions under that section.

4.2 Enrolment standards

(1) The education provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that
the prospective student is able to seek admission to, or apply for
enrolment in, the institution on the same basis as a prospective
student without a disability, and without experiencing discrimination.

(2) The provider must ensure that, in making the decision whether or
not to offer the prospective student a place in the institution, or in a
particular course or program applied for by the prospective student,
the prospective student is treated on the same basis as a prospective
student without a disability, and without experiencing discrimination.

Disability standards for Education 2005

Unless "voting" people out of classrooms has become standard practice in America, they are clearly not being treated on the same basis of a student without the disability, and certainly being discriminated against. - I suggest further reading of Sections 4, 5, 8 and 9 for further clarification. Quite simply, this teacher, if it was an Australian has not only been ethically questionable but totally subverted the LAW which protects such discrimination from happening (had to quote this extensively to pass my degree this year).

Now see, I've never heard of that...I just wonder how the kid felt...that's why I mentioned parents and administration first. I don't know, it's JMO, but I don't think a bunch of kids should take a vote on someone in this situation..If the child has problems, this to me would only add to it...

Excellent rules Paranoid...I'm hoping bogcreeper comes back as he is a teacher and would know more about the school systems here..

I do agree it's a little unorthadox, and probably doesn't always work, but it did in our case. But as has already been said, it hasn't been given out what the kid actually did to warrant it.

My son has high functioning Autism.

So to answer a few questions for you.

It took almost 3 years of test from several departments - peadiatrics, psychologist, ordiology, speach and language etc... before a diagnosis could be given. Society doesn't want to 'label' kids now days because of the stigma attached to being 'special needs' so they are very, very careful.

If he was in the process of diagnosis - his teacher would have known what was happening as the schools are always envolved with the diagnostic process.

My son does a lot of odd things that disrupt his class constantly. He has a poor concentration level if he isn't intrested in the subject and as he has no awareness of others thoughts or feelings he doesn't see it as a problem if he decides to start singing in the middle of a lesson. Luckily he has just been awarded extra help in the class which will no doubt benefit him and the rest of the class.

If I ever found out that my son had been treated this way I would not be impressed.

Afterall our teachers are there to set an example to our children. This teacher has shown her class that it's ok to be discriminating towards those not as advantaged as others.

It's disgraceful!

Straight to the point *MoG*

We have a very long process that takes place to get a child "labeled" as a special needs student. We start with whats called a referall made by teachers or here in kentucky it can be made by parents. Observations over a period of time are then made by teachers, teachers assistants etc... to get various documentation of the student. This ensures that the problem is consistant through all classes etc.. An example is when testing for a behavior disorder. We check to see if the problems occur across the board and make sure that it is not an enviromental issue. For example a child is having a problem in his classroom but almost never in P.E or Art. This would tell us that maybe their is something in the classroom (in this case not working with hands, or moving) ... this would point towards signs of ADHD or ADD. If the problem is occuring across the board we then send the observations etc.. to a medical doctor for his diagnosis. After all of that a ARC (council and meeting) is set up where teachers, principals, parents all come together to see what has been diagnosed and then we plan out the best stratagy to deal with the situation.

The one point *MoG* is that at least here in the U.S if we are still in the diagnosing stage, we cannot make any referances to the diagnosis, predictions on the matter or anything until the diagnosis is identified and thus legal. We are under a strict code of confidentiality which prohibits the slightest assumption from being made.

In the end the fact still remains. This teacher does not need to be in the classroom. If the child was causing that many a problem then their are laws set in place to protect teachers and students. What she did was immoral and maybe even sick ... you never know.

Hi Bogcreeper

We have the same rule here - no one will say 'your child is ADD/ADHD/Autistic/Asperger's' etc until that final meeting. Saying that - my child was always treated as though it was a foregone conclusion that he had Autism. All of the teachers knew he was in the process of diagnosis as they themselves were part of that diagnosic process having to send in reports and dealing with the Autism advisory services.

No one ever said he was Autistic I guess it was more than their jobs worth to give him a lable before the final meeting - and somehow the not knowing is just as hard as actually hearing the diagnosis out loud. As a parent - we live in a limbo world of knowing that there is something not quite right with our child - but not knowing exactly what it is.

I hope just hope the child doesn't remember this incident for long - my son has a shockingly good memory - it would be too sad for the boy if he has too.

Mog

My granddaughter just got diagnosed (at 5). She seems normal to me but of course I am way too emotionally involved to think about the subject objectively.
If she does have Asperger's it's good that her education should accommodate that. But what if she doesn't and they're shunting her into a special education class because she's simply unusual? According to the tests she's been given she's very smart IQ-wise (160). It's all very confusing and agonizing and, to be honest, it feels like the entire issue is buried under a large pile of social worker bs.


One question that might emerge from the sad incident we're discussing might be how did a woman who was so massively unqualified to teach end up in front of a roomful of young children? It might partly be because primary school teachers have so little prestige and poor salaries.

Hi Siara,

Most Autistic/Asperger's children have high IQ's.

Autism & Asperger's are classed really as communication disorders. It doesn't meen a child is mentally deficiant, just that they tend to find the world a little confusing. Social situations tend to cause anxiety and stress which can lead to lapses in concentration and a deteriation in behaviour.

Your not alone with finding it hard to accept my Dad and husband still can't accept my son's diagnosis. They say there's nothing wrong other than he can be a little boystrus (sp) at times.

My thoughts go to you and your child. I have taught many children with a spectrum of disorders. I have seen an autistic throw a very, very complicated 1000 piece puzzle down and rain man'd it in around thirty minutes ... maybe less. I have seen a child with Asperger's taken out of classes during test reviews due to his memory (no one else could answer)
I am with you on one thing. Educators, doctors, they all respect (fear) the law so much that parents are often left hopeless and sometimes clueless to their childs situation. I believe that more help is needed for the parents in this transition. This child is with them 2/3rds of the day. If we want to help the child ... we need to educate the parents or guardians of that child. Education is key ... keeping in the dark does the opposite.

Edited to say that to never be offended by the term special education. I have also taught the TAG students (Talented and Gifted) It too is classified under special education. It's also funny that people look down "sometimes" on people with autism and other mental deficiancies ... a good many of these individuals are smarter than those people. You can't explain to the ignorant that they just have a wire loose.

We have an organization here which is called 21 plus...Any special needs adult can go there. It is well run by doctors, nurses, with a full administration. When Mo and bog were mentioning IQ's, it bought one person to my mind. My brother-in-law, is a special needs young man and when he came to live with us I was lucky enough to get him into 21..Over the course of time, I met very many special, (not in the medical sense) people...One I distinctly remember as everyday I would see him in the office pouring over books. This young feller had Downs Syndrom, and was 21 Plus' bookkeeper...Remarkable, the director told me he had been doing it for years, and never was off the mark...Plus he had a beautiful smile for me every morning

I'd agree with that. I can't say I've seen my Autism student outside of music, but when I first spoke to her (I'm still a prac-teacher), I didn't even know she was autistic. She told me I might have to explain my point a couple of times because of her condition. I gave her the details once (never having dealt with autism, I wasn't sure what to do with the info), and when I was explaining the second time, there was this big "Ohhhh" from her as she then proceeded to give me a university-level answer to a Year 7 question. It took me a few seconds to think about the answer before realising that she had not only worked out the answer to this question (what musical note was she looking at), but the underlying mathematical formula she could use to work out any note on any part of the musical score. Quite frankly, that floored me.

That has so far been my first and only experience with a child with "Learning Difficulties". The issues with this girl are by far more to do with relationship-building.

In Australia, it's a matter of necessity. There aren't enough teachers. I don't know specifcally about Primary Education, but High School teacher's have a virtual guaranteed job for life, even as a casual (if you aren't automatically placed as a permanent in your subject area). With less teachers, those with lesser and lesser qualifications are slowly budging their way in. The result is unfortunate in many ways, but the hope is that experience will teach them to become better teachers. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There are a lot of teachers in the system taht shouldn't be there (though hopefully I'm not one of them, lol).

I was just over at FOXnews, and they had an update on this story. The mom said her son Alex, suffers from a high-functioning form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome. She goes on to claim that Alex was punished for symptoms of his disability, such as humming and eating his homework. The mom has filed a complaint with the Morningside's school resource officer who investigated the matter. It goes on to say that the teacher has been desciplined and reassigned outside of the classroom at the district office, until further action can be determined. Didn't the original post say the little guy was "being diagnosed", and now the mom is saying that he has Asperger's Syndrome...The story, other than this, is basically what was in the OP...

Well eating his homework is kind of bad...I agree that people with disabilities shouldn't be treated differently, but they have to. It's an equality issue, effectively. If that kid doesn't get punished for eating his homework, why should I be punished for not doing it? That's probably how most kids would think.

This is almost to incredible to believe. I hope some strong reprimand ends up on that teachers shoulders. They are not fit to teach! If a child is unfit for a class, regardless of the reasons, then it should be handled in a completely different manner.

Maybe I'm asking too much but it seems like eating his homework might have clued the teacher in to the fact that the kid wasn't simply misbehaving.

I have no sympathy for this teacher at all. If she didn't understand that the kid had Asperger's she could have sent him to the principal or consulted a guidance counselor or made an appointment with the kid's parents. Dragging the boy's peers into the problem was totally inappropriate. She inflicted a wound that the boy might carry for the rest of his life. Furthermore, she also taught the rest of the class that social ostracism and public humiliation of people who act different is acceptable, fun, and effective.