Sunday, November 07, 2010

Autism and Education: The Full Inclusion Mainstream Classroom For All Standard Discriminates Against Some Autistic Children

Extreme Full Inclusion Model of Education in Canada
 and New Brunswick has Discriminated Against
 Some Children With Autism Disorders

Imposing a standard, namely that the inclusive classroom meets all needs, is a perception not based on reality and is stereotypical. In other words, the standard takes the position that one environment meets the needs of all special needs children. By its very nature, such a standard is discriminatory, as was made clear by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Meiorin, Grismer, Law and Mercier decisions.


Presented by Yude M. Henteleff, C.M., Q.C.
to the
C.A.C.L. NATIONAL SUMMIT ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
NOVEMBER 24, 2004

The above document by Yude Hentelleff  QC should be mandatory reading for Educators and Human Rights Commission and Tribunal  members across Canada.  Unfortunately that does not appear to be the case particularly in New Brunswick where the extreme full mainstream classroom inclusion model has been pushed relentlessly by Gordon Porter, the New Brunswick Association for Community Living and senior officials in the Department of Education.  

Meanwhile some children, including some autistic children, for whom the mainstream classroom is not the right learning environment are forced into situations where they injure themselves, or others, in order to get out of an environment which is not the right option for them; an environment that overwhelms and harms therm.  My son, fortunately, has been accommodated in a separate learning environment for his primary ABA based instruction in our neighborhood schools with time spent in common areas of the school for other activities where he does get to interact with other students.  Conor was removed from the mainstream classroom, at our request, after he came home every day with bite marks on his hands and wrists.  He has been well accommodated by our schools and our school district. Other students for whom the mainstream classroom is not the right option have not always been so fortunate. 

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:40 am

    So agree with you Harold. I hope Gordon Porter, NBACL, and the like read this blog, and see the error of their ways!

    Dawn Bowie

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  2. Thank you for putting this up again. Every now and then the full inclusion radicals step up their game to the detriment of some of our children. There is a need for constant reminding...one size does NOT fit all.

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  3. Your posts defintly rings true. I was part of the first generation of mainstreamed children. I was in a self-contained class for my first two years of school and was mainstreamed in second grade. Having experienced both, I know that I wouldn't be where I am today if I was mainstreamed from the start and I would've had a much gradeschool expierence if I'd been in a self-contained class for an extra year.

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