what is there to fear?
April 30, 2009
I have been trying to put myself in the shoes of the schools, get in their mindset on this whole autism thing. So, for the sake of this discussion, I’m talking about high functioning kids on the spectrum only.
The schools seem to have so much reservation, concern, even fear when it comes to their willingness to open up and work with our kids. Not being from an educational background, I’ve been trying to really understand where this is coming from.
Let’s put funding aside for a moment, because I’ve found these fears to exist in private schools where they aren’t being asked to provide any funding. I know that issue exists in the public schools - if they have another child with ASD, they need to fund that child at a higher level than a general education student. I get that. They have budget constraints. And that is a real issue (and a discussion for another time).
But, also remember that these high functioning kids are supposed to be placed in mainstream classrooms with some special assistance. What I have found as the basis for their fear was actually surprising to me. Which is why I’m having such a hard time understanding it.
1) The fear of the unknown. Many of these schools and teachers have had high functioning kids on the spectrum in their classrooms and didn’t even know it. They thought these kids were kids with behavioral problems, bad parents, slow learners, whatever. There wasn’t a label. When you give a child an autism label, suddenly there is fear. What is autism? I can’t have autism in my classroom. I don’t know what it is or how to handle it. I couldn’t possibly teach a child with autism. All these questions and fears arise.
2) The fear of change. Many of these schools and teachers have done things a certain way for many years. As with any organization or individual, people typically don’t like change. Suddenly when autism enters the classroom, things will need to be done differently, at the very least for one child. Change takes a shift in mindset, more time, more energy, etc.
3) The fear of having another adult in your classroom. This one really nailed me. I guess it’s a big deal for teachers to have another person in the classroom with them. They have to be “on” the whole time, they must not make mistakes, they must not have a bad day, they might be judged, etc. And, they aren’t necessarily in control of that child, someone else might be there for that child who is equally responsible.
4) The fear of failure. I think the world of teachers. I really do. I think most teachers are in it for the right reasons - they truly want to see their students succeed. Well, kids with autism (as with any neurotypical kid too) don’t always have successful years. In fact, they can even have years where they have a lot of regression not progression. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this could be true for any child. But when it happens to a child with autism, it is their autism to blame. And teachers don’t like having a student leave their class at the end of the year not having progressed - in every area. This can feel like failure to a teacher. It can also feel like failure to a school. And, I have to say it, god forbid if a child brings down their test scores or lowers the reputation of the school.
There are probably numerous other reasons. I’m just trying to understand this so that I have a better shot at approaching schools and teachers.
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