Back to School With Autism
By Kim Rossi
Back to school for some of us is not pretty photos of smiling growing kids..... It's painful to peek at Facebook this week. I'm happy for everyone despite the "yadda yadda oh my the school supplies to add up and is this teacher going to be the very best ever and what's the coolest backpack for a 5 year old and do I really have to get up at 6:00am waaaaaaaah."
In 2010 school year Isabella was brutally abused on the school bus by young Mother Bus Monitor who thought it would be "something" to twist B's hand and thumb until she screamed and bruised. We - SHE - went through months of HELL as we tried to determine the cause of her crying jags each afternoon. Once found - we wrote NO MONITOR into her IEP ever since. YESTERDAY, like first day of Summer school in July, A MONITOR was on the bus. AGAIN. And so - Bella was not able to board the bus. I kept her home since it's a half day for heat anyway. Imagine the disruption to her thought. School? No school? What's happening Mom? DO YOUR JOB people. JUST DO YOUR JOB. Apologies are MOOT. Useless.
Imagine sending a child who can not speak to school every day. I know so many of you can - and do.
Autism is merciless.
Kim Rossi is Managing Editor for Age of Autism and author of the memoir All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa. If you'd like to hire her for your conference, fund raiser, event to entertain, speak, rant, maybe rave, about life raising three girls with autism, divorce and other charming events - contact Jamie Brickhouse at The Red Brick Agency in New York. No, really. LOL!
Very horrible to hear about this type of situation ,but how quickly could the finger of accusation want to say Could this unexplained hand bruising be happening at home perhaps ?
This type of abuse of position of authority would want to make most ordinary normal folk want to
"Chuck up" their lunch into a bucket somewhere.
Runrig Protect and survive youtube [early years]
Decide with your own standards and stay true with them .
Runrig decided "No Sunday Concerts available, and that's that, like it or lump it "
Posted by: Morag | September 02, 2018 at 05:31 AM
When my son was in the school bus stage of life, I found that dealing with transportation was most of the most frustrating parts of managing his life and education.
There was a time when the county "consolidated" the routes, and the ride was two hours each way. Some kids were picked up before dawn. Some didn't get home until after dinner.
Then there was the time where my son was bullied on the bus. He hit back - he was suspended for a week and the bully got off scot free, despite eyewitness evidence from the bus monitor, the bus driver, and another young man on the bus.
And then there was the time my son was attacked on the bus by another student, resulting in bruises and lacerations that took weeks to heal.
And then there was the time....I could go on.
We were "lucky" in some ways. We never had issues of abuse by a bus monitor (from what I could see they never did much of anything - just sort of sat in the back). But each incident called for meetings with the school, meetings with transportation, mostly with little result. It always felt to me like trying to get the system to change the way they did something was like trying to push an elephant.
Posted by: Aimee Doyle | August 31, 2018 at 06:01 PM
Doing something like traveling or attending an institution can be terrifying even for verbal autistic people like me. We girls keep our feelings to ourselves most of the time. I hate to imagine how such daily events must effect non-verbal children, especially if there is a history of abuse by the "carers" or teachers.
Posted by: Grace Green | August 31, 2018 at 04:01 PM
Kim and Courtney-parents who do not have children with autism have no idea how difficult our lives are and how much we worry about them and their welfare and safety every day. The life of a mother raising a child with autism is extremely stressful and I wonder how we all manage to handle the extreme challenge of it all.
Posted by: Gayle | August 31, 2018 at 12:07 PM
Thank you for this post which reflects the reality so many of us face. It is indeed very difficult to put a non-verbal child on a bus and yet we do it. It also takes great courage on the part of the children.
Posted by: 4Bobby | August 31, 2018 at 10:03 AM
Especially after they have been victimized. My son was grabbed and shook by his teacher in a contained ASD classroom he dissolved into complete regression-again. There seemed to be more empathy for the teacher who has to deal with “those kids”, than our family. I feel I cannot trust anyone with him, he isn’t able to tell me that he has been victimized, I will only know when I lose him again. Soul crushing.
Posted by: Courtney | August 31, 2018 at 09:14 AM