It's the weekend
It's been a hard, long, very peculiar week this week. One of the regular issues in my classroom has come up, and it's a tough one.
I have always thought that the ASD label is a label. It is not the summation of the entire child, nor yet is does it show all they will become. It is a pointer to the fact that I need to make certain changes in the environment, in teaching style, in attitude, in awareness for that or those children. It is a diagnosis, not an excuse.
So why do so many parents of children with ASD almost refuse to believe that their child could simply have been a bit naughty? As a teacher, the eyes are the window to the reasoning and conscience, and when a child looks to see if you are looking, and then does something deliberately, and then looks to see if you are looking again, then that is one of two things.
Either they are having a stressed moment and need some attention but don't know how to ask, or don't have the strength to ask, or it's plain mischief.
For the record, I don't mind a bit of mischief. The rules are that it can only be something that they would like done to them, and that everyone has to find it funny, but a certain amount of joke playing is allowed in the classroom. They are only 7, 8 and 9, they are only children. Outside the classroom they are to behave properly and they are not to let me or the class down. Inside the classroom we are just the same as any other pack of small animals. We argue, we play tricks, (we don't playfight!) we laugh, we learn, we support each other, and we grow.
I am the Alpha female, it's my pack and my rules, but they are good children because they have such strong, reasonable and reasoned out together boundaries.
And I digress.
One of my ASD children had some behaviour issues last week, and so I asked his mother in, just as I would any other parent for the same behaviour issue. We discussed it as reasonable adults. Later in the week, from various quarters, apparently the muck hit the turbine because of this. So do I not inform parents when their child's behaviour is beyond acceptable?
As it happens, this child had finally reached the top of some list or other, and was being seen by the AST in the week after (last week) so we're going to be able to address it straight away. It'll be through the usual route of social stories (which I must look into) and talking and so on, but it'll be ok in the end. The child will work with another child who has similar friendship issues, but doesn't seem to mind so much.
In fact he is another child giving much cause for concern this week! I know that the majority of ASD children have a focus. Some of my children change focii on a regular basis, every 4-6 weeks. One of my aspie children has had a PDA for a visual timetable (I must blog on that later - very sucessful!) and it has to be surgically removed from his hand for him to go to bed. The last two days he has 'forgotten' it. Yesterday I had to remove scissors from him twice (in his mouth once!) and he managed to cut a hole in his jumper and his t-shirt. I really, really don't want him to have a scissor focus coupled with a complete misinterpretation of dangerous situations and an utter disregard for personal safety. It just doesn't look good to me!
We've also sorted out a lot of the Christmas stuff this week, and my children are doing most of the singing. Which is excellent. We can sing. No props to make, do drama to do and explain why we're being other people, just singing. And percussion. None of my ASD children have a noise issue, so percussion is something we can all take part in and achieve at.
I didn't mention the percussion to the other teachers, but hey, surprises are good!
Laters. I have 17 things on my 'SCHOOL list of stuff to do' and 12 on the 'HOME list of things to do' But I am a modern woman, I can bake my cake and eat it!
I have always thought that the ASD label is a label. It is not the summation of the entire child, nor yet is does it show all they will become. It is a pointer to the fact that I need to make certain changes in the environment, in teaching style, in attitude, in awareness for that or those children. It is a diagnosis, not an excuse.
So why do so many parents of children with ASD almost refuse to believe that their child could simply have been a bit naughty? As a teacher, the eyes are the window to the reasoning and conscience, and when a child looks to see if you are looking, and then does something deliberately, and then looks to see if you are looking again, then that is one of two things.
Either they are having a stressed moment and need some attention but don't know how to ask, or don't have the strength to ask, or it's plain mischief.
For the record, I don't mind a bit of mischief. The rules are that it can only be something that they would like done to them, and that everyone has to find it funny, but a certain amount of joke playing is allowed in the classroom. They are only 7, 8 and 9, they are only children. Outside the classroom they are to behave properly and they are not to let me or the class down. Inside the classroom we are just the same as any other pack of small animals. We argue, we play tricks, (we don't playfight!) we laugh, we learn, we support each other, and we grow.
I am the Alpha female, it's my pack and my rules, but they are good children because they have such strong, reasonable and reasoned out together boundaries.
And I digress.
One of my ASD children had some behaviour issues last week, and so I asked his mother in, just as I would any other parent for the same behaviour issue. We discussed it as reasonable adults. Later in the week, from various quarters, apparently the muck hit the turbine because of this. So do I not inform parents when their child's behaviour is beyond acceptable?
As it happens, this child had finally reached the top of some list or other, and was being seen by the AST in the week after (last week) so we're going to be able to address it straight away. It'll be through the usual route of social stories (which I must look into) and talking and so on, but it'll be ok in the end. The child will work with another child who has similar friendship issues, but doesn't seem to mind so much.
In fact he is another child giving much cause for concern this week! I know that the majority of ASD children have a focus. Some of my children change focii on a regular basis, every 4-6 weeks. One of my aspie children has had a PDA for a visual timetable (I must blog on that later - very sucessful!) and it has to be surgically removed from his hand for him to go to bed. The last two days he has 'forgotten' it. Yesterday I had to remove scissors from him twice (in his mouth once!) and he managed to cut a hole in his jumper and his t-shirt. I really, really don't want him to have a scissor focus coupled with a complete misinterpretation of dangerous situations and an utter disregard for personal safety. It just doesn't look good to me!
We've also sorted out a lot of the Christmas stuff this week, and my children are doing most of the singing. Which is excellent. We can sing. No props to make, do drama to do and explain why we're being other people, just singing. And percussion. None of my ASD children have a noise issue, so percussion is something we can all take part in and achieve at.
I didn't mention the percussion to the other teachers, but hey, surprises are good!
Laters. I have 17 things on my 'SCHOOL list of stuff to do' and 12 on the 'HOME list of things to do' But I am a modern woman, I can bake my cake and eat it!
posted by Teacher at
7:39 AM
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