I was reading about the 8 year old Asperger's syndrome girl who was arrested in Idaho and all I can say is What the hell!!?? Where do teachers get off restraining her to the point of leaving bruises? Why was not wearing her cow costume so important that she was not allowed to attend the party?
Austism is more common than ever and there are constantly news stories about children being excluded, restrained whatever because people fear the different, the unique. People don't even try to understand how to best handle some of these children and it make me so angry. Where is the training that teachers need to handle situations like this?
A playground aid grabbed my son by his arm pulled him off a swing and yelled at him for swinging on his belly. The school was less than helpful until I suggested that his dad and I go have a chat with the chief of police about what we should do. Pretty much, it's like a restraining order, she can't even look at him funny without getting in trouble now that the vice principal has to act as Jarrett's personal monitor. Fortunately, Jarrett is very high functioning and can communicate very well , so I can ask and he tells me. But things like this should not be as common as they are becoming and it scares me how frequently incidents are happening.
I have always strived to be unique and allow my sons their oddities and quirks that define Max as Max and Jarrett as Jarrett. As Vicki Iovine said in one of her books pick your battles. I don't think the cow costume was a big enough problem to escalate to the point that it did? Fitting in is highly overrated.
P.S. See susansenator.com(which is where I read about this first) to read more thoughts on this.
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