Autism at School: Smaller Classrooms for Autistic Children

Neuroscientists at a meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum held held at The City College of New York (CCNY) have argued that children with autism require smaller class sizes because of sensory integration dysfunction. I agree with the learned neuroscientists although I would add that some autistic children also have Intellectual Disabilities and serious lack of understanding and communication skills. Some require ABA based instruction to learn. For all these reasons the larger mainstream classroom is not appropriate for some autistic children. I have stated that position many times on this blog site, in the Wayne MacKay review of inclusive education here in New Brunswick and in other public meetings with education officials.

My son, at our request, receives his academic instruction in a small room with a teacher assistant. He visits common areas of the school such as the gym, kitchen, library, pool etc where he is around other children. Several children say hi to Conor when they see him. One of these students who lives nearby even visits him at our home now and plays with water balloons on the step with Conor. Prior to being removed from the mainstream classroom Conor was coming home with bite marks on his hands the result of over stimulation in the classroom.

Science Daily quotes Dr. John J. Foxe, Professor of Neuroscience at CCNY :

“Sensory integration dysfunction has long been speculated to be a core component of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but there has been precious little hard empirical evidence to support this notion. Viewing a speaker’s articulatory movements can greatly improve a listener’s ability to understand spoken words, and this is especially the case under noisy environmental conditions.”

“These results are the first of their kind to verify that children with autism have substantial difficulties in these situations, and this has major implications for how we go about teaching these children in the classroom,” he continued. “Children with autism may become distressed in large classroom settings simply because they are unable to understand basic speech if the environment is sufficiently noisy.

“We should start to pay attention to the need for smaller numbers in the classroom and we need to carefully control the levels of background noise that these kids are exposed to. Imagine how frustrating it must be to sit in a classroom without being able to properly understand what the teacher or your classmates are saying to you.

“Being able to detect speech in noise plays a vital role in how we communicate with each other because our listening environments are almost never quiet. Even the hum of air conditioners or fans that we can easily ignore may adversely impact these children’s ability to understand speech in the classroom.

“Our data show that the multisensory speech system develops relatively slowly across the childhood years and that considerable tuning of this system continues to occur even into early adolescence. Our data suggest that children with Autism lag almost 5 years behind typically developing children in this crucial multisensory ability.”

Actually this research simply confirms what many parents, including me, have observed directly for many years.

When your child comes home every day with bite marks on his hands it is evidence that can not be ignored by a parent.

When your child is moved to a quieter, less stressful environment and the biting ceases the conclusion to be drawn is obvious and all the feel good rhetoric of the mainstream classroom for all crowds such as we have here in New Brunswick will not cause you to change your mind.

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Some Autistic Students Do Well In The Mainstream Classroom and Some Do Not

KESQ.com in Palm Springs, California reports that an increasing amount of autistic students are leaving special education classes and integrating into mainstream classrooms. Educators in the area provide the support necessary and they recognize that the mainstream classroom does not work for ALL students with autism. They look at what works best for each student:

"In the past we had children undiagnosed in general education, coping or diagnosed incorrectly without the support needed," says Palm Springs Unified Schools District's Autism Specialist Sally Talala.

Entering into a traditional classroom isn't for every child with autism. Specialists say it takes a team approach to find out what is best for each individual.

The assistance team is growing. Parents, schools and specialists work together to place each child in the right class for their specific needs. They take a look at social skills, communication and behavior, integrating those with more mild cases.

Here in New Brunswick, in recent years, much has been done to further the education and well being of autistic students. Teacher assistants and resource teachers have been receiving autism specific training through the University of New Brunswick College of Extended Learning Autism Intervention Training Program. The autism specific training has helped provide many autistic students receive a real education. Some autistic students can receive their education in the classroom for all or part of the day.

Some of our schools have also begun to accommodate the needs of those autistic children, like my son Conor, for whom education in the general classroom for most of the day is an overwhelming, counterproductive and even harmful experience. They are taught in smaller, quieter, less busy areas where they can receive one on one instruction, by autism appropriate learning methods and with a curriculum suitable to their development level. They are also brought into the mainstream classroom for brief periods for activities within their individual ability ranges.

Despite this progress there are those in New Brunswick who insist that the mainstream classroom is the right place for all students. Their intentions are noble but their understanding of autistic children is lacking. Their beliefs are part of a philosophy of total classroom inclusion for all students that has dominated the New Brunswick education system for the past thirty years. The recent efforts to accommodate the needs of autistic students has been met with determined resistance by the total inclusion advocates who include the current Chair of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission who was instrumental in promoting New Brunswick's total inclusion philosophy, the Executive Director and other representatives of the New Brunswick Association for Community Living, and some senior Education Department officials.

Despite the efforts of these very influential, well connected advocates of total mainstream inclusion progress has been made. There are people in government, in the Department of Education, school districts and schools who have made decisions in the best interests of autistic children notwithstanding pressure from the total inclusion advocates.

Hopefully those autistic children who can learn in the mainstream classroom will continue to be educated there while those autistic children for whom the mainstream classroom is not appropriate will continue to be accommodated in learning environments suitable for them in light of their autistic conditions.

Hopefully the best interests of autistic children will continue to prevail over the rigid philosophical beliefs of the total mainstream classroom inclusion advocates.

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Flat Out Good Autism News

The word autism has almost become a synonym for controversy.

Parents are routinely mocked and demonized for seeking to cure or treat their own children. ABA, well documented as an effective intervention for autism by decades of study and numerous credible professional reviews is labeled as "unproven" by anti-ABA advocates. Terms such as low functioning/high functioning used in the professional literature are disparaged. Mentioning possible environmental contributors to autism rates is dismissed by some even though studies show that autism can sometimes occur in one but not both identical twins. Even referencing autistic disorders as .... disorders... generates controversy.

But surely there is one point on which we can all agree; that everyone wishes for the safety and well being of all autistic persons. And surely we can all be thankful when news reports tell us that that two autistic persons are now safe and sound after wandering away from their homes in Utah and Boston.

The Deseret News reports that a 22-year-old severely autistic woman, described as having the mental capacity of a 5 year old, who wandered away from home in Provo Utah Sunday night was found safe Tuesday morning in Salt Lake City. In Boston, earlier this week, the Herald reported that a 3-year-old autistic child was rescued from danger by police after drivers saw him riding his tricycle amid speeding traffic on a busy thoroughfare.

As a parent who has experienced the fear and guilt of realizing that my autistic son had wandered away from the safety of home while I was distracted those feelings are revived every time I learn of another autistic person who has wandered away or is missing. The feeling of relief I experienced when, after calling 911, I learned my son was safe at a nearby convenience store where I quickly retrieved him, also resurfaces when the stories have good endings as they did this week in Utah and Boston.

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The Two Autism Faces of Randy Kamp

The following blog comment was initially written to describe The Two Autism Faces of Conservative MP Greg Thompson, Southwest, New Brunswick but since it also applied equally well to Conservative MP Randy Kamp (Pitt Meadows - Maple Ridge - Mission BC). I am republishing the comment today with slight changes to describe the Two Autism Faces of Randy Kamp.

When it comes to federal financing of autism treatment for Canadians with autism Conservative MP Randy Kamp (Pitt Meadows - Maple Ridge - Mission BC) has presented two decidedly different faces.

FACE # 1 - Opposition MP Randy Kamp

As reported in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times, November 23, 2005

"Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition from the citizens of British Columbia, who rightly believe that IBI-ABA therapy can dramatically help children with autism. They are calling upon Parliament to amend the Canada Health Act and corresponding regulations to include therapy for children with autism as medically necessary treatment and require that all provinces provide and fund this essential treatment for autism," said Kamp.

...

"The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. The question is not whether we have a legal obligation, but whether we have a moral obligation to help these children. We need to do everything we can to ensure that children with autism have the opportunity to become healthy and reach their full potential as participating members of their communities," said Kamp to the crowd, according to a news release.

...

"Minister Dosanjh has been unsupportive of autism groups since his days as Premier of B.C. I understand their frustration with him. As the federal Health Minister, he now has an opportunity to do the right thing and I call upon him to have compassion for autistic children and move forward with a National Autism Strategy," said Kamp.

FACE # 2 - Government MP & Parliamentary Secretary Randy Kamp

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA 39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION No. 115 (Unrevised) Wednesday, February 21, 2007 1:00 p.m.

Private Members' Business

Pursuant to Standing Order 93(1), the House proceeded to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of Mr. Murphy (Charlottetown), seconded by Mr. Szabo (Mississauga South), — That Bill C-304, An Act to provide for the development of a national strategy for the treatment of autism and to amend the Canada Health Act, be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Health.

YEAS: 113, NAYS: 155


NAYS -- CONTRE

Kamp (Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission)

There it is.

In November 2005 Randy Kamp, wearing Autism Face # 1, while sitting as an opposition MP, spoke to parents of autistic children and then rose in the House of Commons, not at a local backyard Bar-B-Q or in a beer drenched tavern, but in the House of Commons, to urge the federal government to address the important issue of financing treatment for autistic children in Canada.

Then 15 months later, on February 21, 2007, wearing Autism Face # 2, now sitting as an MP and Parliamentary Secretary in the governing Conservative Party Mr. Kamp voted NAY , he voted against, the Private Members' bill of MP Shawn Murphy which, if passed, would have required the federal government to do exactly what Mr. Kamp had previously urged a different federal government to do.

How to explain the Two Autism Faces of Conservative MP Randy Kamp (Pitt Meadows - Maple Ridge - Mission BC)? Was he being shallow and insincere when he wore Autism Face # 1, using the plight of autistic children and their families for political purposes? Or did he simply lack the courage of his convictions; was he afraid to stand up to Conservative Prime Minister Harper when he donned Autism Face #2 and voted against Bill C-304 which would have provided for federal government funding of autism treatment?

Only Randy Kamp knows for sure. And maybe Stephen Harper.

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