are special needs children idiots?

Question

I am sick to death of my son who has Autism being called an idiot and a classroom disruptive person by parents who are very lucky to have so called normal children.He is in mainstream school much to my disgust he should have been in a special school who could meet his needs,i would like to hear from other parents who have had similar problems like myself where you fight the education system and get nowhere then you have parents of normal children at your throat everytime they play up in class.My autistic son is now 15yrs so i have had a long time with this problem.Love to hear from you

Answer 1

I think the idiots are those calling him one - he's lucky to have you to fight for him.

Answer 2

special needs kids are definitely not idiots. Lots of children show difficulties on the autistic spectrum. Almost every child in a class can show some autistic tendencies. In this day and age where everyone has an excuse for what is bad behaviour, then some parents are trying to excuse this with "oh .... is autistic". This goes for ADD and ADHD as well. Most children show some traits. This means that children who really do have severe autism, ADD and ADHD are not given the true help they need. In fact I've worked with children who have autism and are very well behaved. The trouble is inclusion is not in everyones best interest. Fight for what is right for your son. Autism does not mean bad behaviour and bad behaviour does not mean autism.

Answer 3

Why do you say parents who have "normal" kids are very lucky or are you being sarcastic? They are missing out on so much of the human experience. I have the honor of being a parent to someone who is genuine in every sense of the word. He does not care about other's perceptions of him and doesn't have the pack mentality that so many youth have. He values people by their substance-not on how well they fake it and how popular they are. I and so many around him have learned so much about life from him. It makes me sad that many of the "typical" people go through life with their blinders up and miss everything. They will never know people like my child and yours and their lives won't be as enriched. Personally I think that is a tragedy.

I'm not trying to paint a perfect rosy picture here. Autism can push people to their limits and is not always easy but it does have its rewards, too. Life is full of good and bad. Focus on the good...your son doesn't have much school left. Apparently what you learn in school doesn't really matter as evidenced by Fox's new show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader". These people have reached adulthood and have found successes while being dumber than your run of the mill 5th grader. Your son may not have the social skills but there are many avenues to explore for those lacking those skills.
It sounds like your school system sucks bad. You can play hardball with them. If they are not meeting your son's needs, you can take him elsewhere at their expense. Or you can grin and bear it for a couple more years and be done with them. Get your son to focus on what he's good at and the hell with those people. When all is said and done, you and your son have lived a rich and flavorful life while the sheeple know only a taste of what it is like to be fully human. Hang in there!

Answer 4

NO your son is not an idiot, the idiots are the ones that can't see he's special.
Hunny you are so not alone, my 13 year old son was in a mainstream school up to year 5 UK school i ended up removing him from school and home-schooled him for a year whilst the education people kept telling me they'll take me to court, my son is dyspraxic, ADhD and high function aspergers syndrome, best part of year4 he was left without the one2one help the school had got for him and as much as i complained it never did any good so i took him out of there and started looking for a special school that could help him, i found one it was a lovely school full of kids just like my son no more then 8 to a class with 4 adults in every class.
as for normal what is normal, i'm not normal we are all different, different is good/individual.
I still have a child in that mainstream school where my son was and all the teachers i did get on with now only a few of them give me the time of day coz to remove a SEN child from a mainstream school that school loses all that extra money that is given for the needs of that SEN child, not that i am bothered they don't talk to me now their loss not mine.

Answer 5

Definately not! I think the education department do need to review the policy of total integration because it is not working. In my youngest childs class 10 out of 30 applied for statements, only one was granted and this child gets 3 hours a day one to one. however if a teacher is of sick, this person is taken out of the class to cover. Consequently, the rest of the class suffers. The ten have a variety of problems - autism, dyslexia, behavioural problems etc. One teacher (who is brilliant by the way) cannot teach for large parts of the day because she is disrupted, abused, assaulted etc. In days when exam results are so important it is worrying when you see how little work gets done in the class. But the children are not at fault - the system is. One size fits no one!!

Answer 6

i don't believe that children with autism are idiots, i have great admiration with you coping with your son still in a mainstream school, my mother used to look after autistic children at a mainstream nursery and she was run ragged, but she sat all the children down and explained to them why some of the children got special treatment and soon enough all the children started playing together, making allowances and even explaining to their parents what was going on. I believe that not enough information is given in mainstream schools to stop this behaviour, calling a child an idiot is bullying, whether it comes from an adult or a child!

Answer 7

I used to get called lazy at school because my spelling, grammer, handwriting and general memory skills were not up to much. They kept me behind to practise my handwriting, punished me for not learning spelling which my mum and I had spent ages trying to sort out and the same with times-tables. They also could not understand why I sometimes wrote numbers and letters back to front and switched letters the wrong way round. Can you see a pattern emerging? My teachers didn't!! I was finally diagnosed as dyslexic at university at the age of 25!!! So what is happening to your poor son does not surprise me in the least, the poor little guy!! You have my sympathy, the school system is a disaster that doesn't have time for pupils that don't meet the perfect student criteria

Answer 8

Autistic children are really gifted people as you well know. I am part of the Indiana school system of which there are people that you can go to that will help you fight the school system. Like a child Advocate. If you can locate one of them they can help you contact a person that works with school systems. You can also go to your local high school and talk with a specil needs teacher and they should be able to give you more information. You can also google your search and you will get a lot of information.

Answer 9

My sister is slightly mentally disabled and yet she is highly intelligent. She can follow a conversation much better than people with degrees and can ask really interesting questions. She's not an idiot. She lives in a village for adults like her and one of the men who used to stay there had a Master's in English Literature plus he was a musician. One night he had a motorcycle accident and was brain damaged. It altered his personality and he couldn't work. But his intelligence functioned perfectly. So sad.

I left school myself because I couldn't stand the system. There was nothing wrong with me, actually school bored me. I homeschooled with success. Maybe if it's possible you can take him out completely, and then see if you can teach him yourself. It's not impossible and there are programs out there suitable for him. If you have good relationship with him, you should really try it out or at least do some research on it.

Answer 10

i work in the school system and definitely DO NOT think they are idiots...there are a couple kids in the elementary school with autism and they are amazing! true they may not be able to do some of the same things as the other kids and true they may act out but that doesnt mean they are idiots! just think how frustrated they have to feel when they are not able to express themselves and do things the way they want to or the way we as so called normal make them and others think is the only acceptable way! i have to agree though that those who call them idiots are the idiots in this situation!!!

Answer 11

Definitely not idiots, like has been said the only idiots are those small minded parents that are bullying both you and your son.
Some of the nicest kids my missus works with as a TA are the autistic spectrum kids. she's worked with autistic kids in both mainstream and 'special' schools. From what she tells me your son would definitely benefit from a 'special' school... keep up the fight.

You may find some useful links here:

http://www.lambs-group.co.uk/lambsgrange/GRANGELINKS.htm