Comments on: On-line! http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/ A view of autism from along the spectrum Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:19:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Valerie Harlow http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-10 Valerie Harlow Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:10:43 +0000 http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-10 Last sentence correction!! OOPS...I meant to write ...we just feel compelled to get the word out to help others in hopes that nobody ever has to endure the abuse/gross violation issues we have had to deal with. Last sentence correction!! OOPS…I meant to write …we just feel compelled to get the word out to help others in hopes that nobody ever has to endure the abuse/gross violation issues we have had to deal with.

]]> By: Valerie Harlow http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-9 Valerie Harlow Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:04:26 +0000 http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-9 Glad to see that others are writing on the subject. There is a VAST amount of information out there, and your Blog is a great way to get people together. I had no idea about the puzzle symbolism either, but the reply that it is not about the one with autism but our understanding of it is an excellent way I can explain to my parents when trying to explain to them about our son. They say they see nothing at all wrong with him. We tell them there is nothing wrong with him, but he does act differently such as not hanging out with kids his own age and would prefer to converse with adults, which he does very well. He gets very nervous and may turn lights on/off, hide under a table, giggle for no apparent reason, or tap incessantly with his hands on a table. I have some words to share, and I will try to be very brief. My son has Asberger's/Pervasive Developmental Disorder with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. He is 17 now and doing extremely well (in a private school paid for at San Diego City Schools expense) due to severe abuse he received at the age of 11 at the hands of a so-called special education teacher at his public middle school in 6th grade. Due to our extreme grief, and confusion as to why such could occur in any school in this country, and then to tell us parents of such a young victim that there was to be no justice, that our pleas to police to get criminal report filed and they telling us that it would not be their jurisdiction, that nothing we didor said would make a difference to preventing this from occurring again to another unsuspecting innocent child with needs, well we felt it prudent of us to create a website as well, but this one aimed at gathering people together who have been abused, or their children to tell their stories. With the many letters/stories we receive we will be sending them to every politician from local to the White House and even to the Supreme Court and then to the Court of International Justice (The World Court) as what is happening to these children is not merely a simple violation of IEP's or not providing an aide: we are talking serious violations of their basic human rights so this is a very serious matter. We want to either get class-action suit against the school districts and those that fail to follow the laws to protect our children, or at least get laws created/enforced to prosecute teachers for such atrocities as we have witnessed against these children and those teachers that fail to protect our children from not only school bullies but bad teachers. The teacher that abused our son remains in her position, at the same school. Our word of caution to any parent of a child with any type of needs, beware the middle school and high school as they will not protect your children from bullies nor will they treat the children well, simply either shuffle them along through the grades or abuse them such as tying them to chairs, locking them in dark closets, or even physically restraining them by laying their full weight on them as what they did to our son (even though the school teacher/faculty KNEW he was being assessed by private doctor for possible seizure disorder.) Or as many parents have heard we are sure, about the recent calling of police to "deal with these children's neurological issues." This is because of all the "mainstreaming" they like to push on parents as it is not really to benefit the child this is merely their way of saving money from having to provide for what is truly the best for the child especially since they refuse to protect from the bullies, as well as not having to provide aides, or even the proper classroom, maybe some children do fine with mainstreaming but many do not yet they want to do this for all of the children with needs, again to save money, again they will not protect children from bullies and another, they hold all children under their "Zero-tolerance policy" which means if you have a child with special needs and they may have anxiety and act out by hiding under tables, turning lights on/off, not following teachers orders to remain in seat or to go back to seat, tapping incessantly on table, touching objects or tapping people, giggling not from "having fun" but the nervous anxiety and their way of dealing with severe stresses, etc...any parent with a child with some forms of autism can relate to these as well as other "symptoms" of nervous anxieties but the teachers told to "hold all children accountable and under their zero-tolerance policy these children are now being mistreated due to this, mistreated because they are being punished for behaviors that they may not have any control over. Several children aged 10 and much younger even as young as five and six years old have had the police called on them, again for behaviors they may have had no control over because these "behaviors" may merely be a symptom of what is going on physiologically/psychologically with these children. A case in Florida had the police using their tazer on a special needs child! It will only continue to be the mistreatment of our children until we parents can get together to create a national forum to put a stop to the abuses, the mistreatment, the mismanagement of special educational funds (As to this fund issue, the school districts get money from the Federal Government for special education, it is supposed to be used specifically for special education, but guess what they do with it in many cases, most cases? They put this money into their general fund. Our son's story is on the site endschoolabuse.org and sorry for posting this here but we feel as parents our patriotic duty to help others with children, especially the most vulnerable children with needs, to caution people about the abuses that can and has occurred especially in public schools. I apologize for long reply here and hope not to have offended anyone, and I am sure not all schools are bad and maybe we just got very unlucky, but again we feel necessary to help others from the abuse that can and has occurred. Bless you for your Blog online and again, I hope you do not mind me for posting this. We as parents of such a wonderful child who has come so far in spite of all he has experienced, we just feel compelled to get the word out to help others in hopes of anyone ever having to endure what we have. Glad to see that others are writing on the subject. There is a VAST amount of information out there, and your Blog is a great way to get people together. I had no idea about the puzzle symbolism either, but the reply that it is not about the one with autism but our understanding of it is an excellent way I can explain to my parents when trying to explain to them about our son. They say they see nothing at all wrong with him. We tell them there is nothing wrong with him, but he does act differently such as not hanging out with kids his own age and would prefer to converse with adults, which he does very well. He gets very nervous and may turn lights on/off, hide under a table, giggle for no apparent reason, or tap incessantly with his hands on a table. I have some words to share, and I will try to be very brief. My son has Asberger’s/Pervasive Developmental Disorder with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. He is 17 now and doing extremely well (in a private school paid for at San Diego City Schools expense) due to severe abuse he received at the age of 11 at the hands of a so-called special education teacher at his public middle school in 6th grade. Due to our extreme grief, and confusion as to why such could occur in any school in this country, and then to tell us parents of such a young victim that there was to be no justice, that our pleas to police to get criminal report filed and they telling us that it would not be their jurisdiction, that nothing we didor said would make a difference to preventing this from occurring again to another unsuspecting innocent child with needs, well we felt it prudent of us to create a website as well, but this one aimed at gathering people together who have been abused, or their children to tell their stories. With the many letters/stories we receive we will be sending them to every politician from local to the White House and even to the Supreme Court and then to the Court of International Justice (The World Court) as what is happening to these children is not merely a simple violation of IEP’s or not providing an aide: we are talking serious violations of their basic human rights so this is a very serious matter. We want to either get class-action suit against the school districts and those that fail to follow the laws to protect our children, or at least get laws created/enforced to prosecute teachers for such atrocities as we have witnessed against these children and those teachers that fail to protect our children from not only school bullies but bad teachers. The teacher that abused our son remains in her position, at the same school. Our word of caution to any parent of a child with any type of needs, beware the middle school and high school as they will not protect your children from bullies nor will they treat the children well, simply either shuffle them along through the grades or abuse them such as tying them to chairs, locking them in dark closets, or even physically restraining them by laying their full weight on them as what they did to our son (even though the school teacher/faculty KNEW he was being assessed by private doctor for possible seizure disorder.) Or as many parents have heard we are sure, about the recent calling of police to “deal with these children’s neurological issues.” This is because of all the “mainstreaming” they like to push on parents as it is not really to benefit the child this is merely their way of saving money from having to provide for what is truly the best for the child especially since they refuse to protect from the bullies, as well as not having to provide aides, or even the proper classroom, maybe some children do fine with mainstreaming but many do not yet they want to do this for all of the children with needs, again to save money, again they will not protect children from bullies and another, they hold all children under their “Zero-tolerance policy” which means if you have a child with special needs and they may have anxiety and act out by hiding under tables, turning lights on/off, not following teachers orders to remain in seat or to go back to seat, tapping incessantly on table, touching objects or tapping people, giggling not from “having fun” but the nervous anxiety and their way of dealing with severe stresses, etc…any parent with a child with some forms of autism can relate to these as well as other “symptoms” of nervous anxieties but the teachers told to “hold all children accountable and under their zero-tolerance policy these children are now being mistreated due to this, mistreated because they are being punished for behaviors that they may not have any control over. Several children aged 10 and much younger even as young as five and six years old have had the police called on them, again for behaviors they may have had no control over because these “behaviors” may merely be a symptom of what is going on physiologically/psychologically with these children. A case in Florida had the police using their tazer on a special needs child! It will only continue to be the mistreatment of our children until we parents can get together to create a national forum to put a stop to the abuses, the mistreatment, the mismanagement of special educational funds (As to this fund issue, the school districts get money from the Federal Government for special education, it is supposed to be used specifically for special education, but guess what they do with it in many cases, most cases? They put this money into their general fund.

Our son’s story is on the site endschoolabuse.org and sorry for posting this here but we feel as parents our patriotic duty to help others with children, especially the most vulnerable children with needs, to caution people about the abuses that can and has occurred especially in public schools. I apologize for long reply here and hope not to have offended anyone, and I am sure not all schools are bad and maybe we just got very unlucky, but again we feel necessary to help others from the abuse that can and has occurred. Bless you for your Blog online and again, I hope you do not mind me for posting this. We as parents of such a wonderful child who has come so far in spite of all he has experienced, we just feel compelled to get the word out to help others in hopes of anyone ever having to endure what we have.

]]> By: Shawn http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-6 Shawn Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:13:18 +0000 http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-6 <p>Thanks for the comment and link to the explanation, Bonnie. I had not heard of the controversy about the puzzle symbol. I had never thought of it representing "someone that was not whole". For me it's a representation of our <em>understanding of autism</em> which is not whole and continues to take shape as we learn.</p> <p>I'll have to give this some explanation in my 'colophon'. This is a good example of why I just love the term "neurodiversity". We just don't all think alike! And that's a good thing!</p> Thanks for the comment and link to the explanation, Bonnie. I had not heard of the controversy about the puzzle symbol. I had never thought of it representing “someone that was not whole”. For me it’s a representation of our understanding of autism which is not whole and continues to take shape as we learn.

I’ll have to give this some explanation in my ‘colophon’. This is a good example of why I just love the term “neurodiversity”. We just don’t all think alike! And that’s a good thing!

]]> By: Bonnie Ventura http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-5 Bonnie Ventura Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:49:37 +0000 http://www.alongthespectrum.com/2005/07/on-line/#comment-5 This is indeed a very nicely designed blog with attractive graphics. I'm wondering, though, are you aware of the controversy regarding the use of puzzle piece symbolism? An article called "Think Autism, Think Dogs" in Autiemom's blog explains very eloquently why many people find the jigsaw puzzle comparison offensive: http://autiemom.blogspot.com/ I can see that you are a caring parent and that you are interested in improving society's attitudes toward autistic people. Careful choice of symbols can be very important in getting the message across. This is indeed a very nicely designed blog with attractive graphics. I’m wondering, though, are you aware of the controversy regarding the use of puzzle piece symbolism?

An article called “Think Autism, Think Dogs” in Autiemom’s blog explains very eloquently why many people find the jigsaw puzzle comparison offensive:

http://autiemom.blogspot.com/

I can see that you are a caring parent and that you are interested in improving society’s attitudes toward autistic people. Careful choice of symbols can be very important in getting the message across.

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