School principals who believe that children with autism can be included in a regular classroom are more likely to include them in a regular classroom.
This study was designed to measure how school principals feel about inclusion of students with autism in the classroom. Principals with the most experience were the least likely to support inclusion. Principals who had personal experience with autism were no more likely to support inclusion. Principals with formal training in special education were more likely to support inclusion. The authors suggest that principals need to have more knowledge of autism and the role of inclusion in the lives of children with autism.
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Children with autism and horses
Jan 17, 2012 by AnonymousPREFACE:
My experience working with children diagnosed with Autism has been a little like knocking on the door to their place of business.
Option #1
Sometimes, no one answers the door and even if the hours of operation are posted, they are not always observed.
Option #2
If the door is answered, you rare sometimes invited in, but once inside you realize it is a waiting room where messages are exchanged. There is no direct contact. This can cause delays, miscommunication and confusion. Patience and timing are critical.
Option #3
With enough effort and understanding you are sometimes (and hopefully) invited into the main office and speak to the boss directly. In this setting, skills understanding and effort are still required but are less demanding and more productive.
This is the most rewarding and productive of the three options.
The equine program developed at the Westwind Rodeo Academy has facilitated the opportunity to enter the office and speak to the boss directly. (Remember - they are not YOUR boss, but the boss of the company you need to do business with.)
I personally believe it has been a key ingredient in several instances, in moving forward and grasping the potential for the Education system to assist and direct students diagnosed with Autism in their academic efforts and opportunities.
FOLLOWING : Is a cursory description of a multi-faceted program that will hopefully provide a glimpse into these concepts.
CAUTION: The thoughts information and data provided here are solely my responsibility and have not been endorsed, accredited, approved or even spell-checked by the Westwind School Division, the Westwind Rodeo Academy or any other authority.
Harlan (Lanny) Smith B.S.W., Family School Liaison Counselor
e-mail lannysmith56@gmail.com
The Program
More than just a riding program, the Westwind Rodeo Academy in Cardston Alberta provides a unique program centered on relationships that is based on a triad as part of a larger group of nine. Each child that attends the program is matched with a specific horse and equine specialist EQ (horse handler) that is chosen for their skills and experience working with children with special needs as well as their command of horse knowledge and competence.
The group of 9 is formed with 3 groups of 3 to allow for broader experience, interactive activities and comparative experiences and an ambience in the session. The selection of which 3 students will attend together is carefully considered and may include children with a variety of challenges not limited to Autism. The sessions are repeated for 6 consecutive weeks and may be repeated up to 4 times a year, space allows and need requires, although each section is provided as a stand alone intervention.
One of the most inspiring experiences is when children fully embrace the horse and the relationship when they take the opportunity to lay down on the horses back without saddle (sometimes with a bareback pad or blanket, but not always), and spend quiet time, just embracing the horse while the child is at rest. This can include conversation with the EQ as originated by the child and is largely a listening activity for the EQ, or just a silent time. This activity is sometimes suggested by the child and sometimes by the EQ and may occur at anytime during the session. It is can be used to de-escalate the child or address stress or emotional discomfort. It is also used as a modest celebration or reinforcement in the relationship.
Actual riding occurs during these sessions but is not the object or the goal. Many sessions pass without the child being on horseback as the situation dictates. Each session is focused on the child's orientation to the world around them as far as they can express through words, body language, choices or actions, their needs and concerns as well as interests and inclinations. Although safety is an over riding principal, convenience to the horse or EQ is secondary to the child's expressed or perceived preference.
We have witnessed EQ's trotting beside the horse as ridden by the child who has expressed a desire to have the horse move at faster than a walk.
(Again, safety is paramount which necessitates one or more EQs running beside the horse. In this case, the child's skills and aptitude to remain safely on the horse is previously determined. We also consider the horses history and attitude and performance on that particular day as part of the decision making process.)
This can be physically demanding and inconvenient for the EQ but a major contributor to the child's experience and benefit. The results the child experiences, the more effort required by the EQ to facilitate without imposing or tainting the child's experience.
The other component of this system is the support of a Mental Health Practitioner and supervision by the Facility Director. This completes the formal team. Decisions about activities, concepts and specific goals are managed by the Facility Director and Bahavior Specialist and the EQ's in consultation.
We have also encouraged with some success, the attendance to at least one of the sessions in each section by a significant family member as well as the students classroom teacher and possible other support personnel. These individuals are given direction about the concepts of non-interference and non-projecting on the child's experience while acknowledging the elements the child is embracing. They meet the horse, the EQ and observe the activities. We often take pictures or video and encourage this experience to be talked about at home and in the classroom.
Of course this is a snapshot of the experience in condensed form and there are many details and intricacies that cannot be explained or properly presented in this format. Overall, the development of this process has been most rewarding and inspiring and worth the investment of time, money and effort. It requires many elements working in concert to achieve this model. We are fortunate that these things have come together thus far.
Questions or comments leading to discussion and education are appreciated.
Let's go to the hop!
Jan 9, 2009 by dankohnAs is usual, Christmas and New Year’s have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Did I enjoy it? I can’t remember…it really was a blur. Actually, I noticed that I enjoyed the holiday season less than usual which breaks my heart. Being so worried about Jonathan’s job and money put a damper on things, but we made merry nevertheless. The kids had a great time opening presents and stuffing their faces with junk food from Christmas Eve all the way through Christmas night. Everyone was very generous as usual, especially Santa. Thomas loved his bicycle and actually was pleased to wear the helmet as he rode the bike around the living room, sending knick-knacks and cats flying, as I foresaw.
One shocker, however, was that the bike was not his favorite present. Mrs. Claus saw in Barnes & Noble one of those Klutz kits with a human skeleton and book in it. Mr. Claus was not enthusiastic about buying it, believing that young Thomas wouldn’t really care for it. Was Mr. Claus ever wrong! Thomas loves that skeleton so much that it is still in one piece and he puts it in its little display case every time he’s done playing with it! He also got a pop-up book about the human body which he really seems to get into.
Hayley has not yet shown an aptitude for any specific area of academia. She got the Barbie Overpriced Diamond Castle and several of the dolls that go along with and she was quite thrilled with that. Both of the kids got clothes from certain people, and those people know who they are, and I thank them most heartily.
I took the tree down on December 28, a full two days later than usual. It was also a forty-degree day so we went outside with the new bike while I took down the outside lights. The kids toys are getting smaller (and more expensive) so we didn’t immediately need the room in the house occupied by the tree. Thomas eventually conceded that the bicycle should live in the garage which was a huge win for me. We re-arranged Hayley’s room to accommodate Barbie’s new digs with little trouble and I just purged all of the old give-away stuff from the kids’ rooms. I’m going to start on the closets and dressers in all the rooms next.
New Year’s was a quiet affair. My sister, her new husband, and my other sister came over and we played games and tossed back a few. Very low-key and we didn’t have to find a babysitter since everyone came to us! That kind of New Year’s, with my sisters and brother-in-law is beginning to be a tradition because we did it last year too. I’d be happy if we did that kind of thing every New Year’s forever.
The rest of the holiday break went swiftly…It felt like it flew by. This past Tuesday, we saw Thomas’ neurologist for a check-up. We both lamented the bad luck that the Focalin, while immensely helpful for Thomas’ ADHD symptoms, also caused that disturbing facial tic. She has started him on Strattera which is for ADHD symptoms, but is not a stimulant like Ritalin or the others. It can still cause tics, but maybe it won’t because it works differently. He’s going to continue with the Clonidine as well because that happens to be an anti-tic medication in addition to all of the other things it can do. Strattera is a medication that “banks” or “ramps up” in your system, so it may be four to six weeks before we notice any improvements. Or tics. But I’m trying to stay optimistic. I told his service team at school that he is on this new medication and they should observe and report.
The first week back to school was great for Thomas, mostly because he spent all of break asking when he’d go back to school again. He really enjoys it, or he needs it; either way, he’s cool with school. My brother-in-law and his fiancée gave Thomas and Hayley their own little dry-erase boards for Christmas and I had a brainstorm yesterday as I was cleaning and de-crapitizing (I made that word up, but I bet you know what it means). I decided to draw a little picture schedule for Thomas on his board to help him get dressed in the morning. He has such a difficult time completing multi-step tasks. I cannot just tell him, “Go get dressed.” He has to have constant verbal cues about what to do next. So I drew little pictures for him on the board: taking off pajamas, putting on shirt, putting on pants and putting on socks and shoes. Here’s the problem: Thomas can’t read and I’m not a very good artist. So we have to kind of work on it together. The whole point eventually is for Thomas to not need the visual cues anymore and just get dressed when I ask him to. Hopefully, by springtime he’ll have it down. That’s a good goal, I think.
Today at school there was a sock-hop for all of the kids who didn’t have any “office referrals” (that’s “not being sent to the principal’s office” to you and me). Since kindergartners are generally never sent to the principal’s office, the whole class got to go and Thomas’ teacher said that she wished I had been there to see! He danced with a nice girl in his class (holding hands, even!) and he did the Bunny Hop with the other kids…he completely participated and even enjoyed himself a lot, it seemed. Actually, the girl that he was dancing with has been his “special friend” lately and the teacher has had to remind Thomas about personal space. This little girl is a sweetheart and very smart; she can already read, actually…but I thanked her for dancing with Thomas today.
So the weather here is crummy again. Those meteorologists should all be canned. The high here next Wednesday is zero. Zero degrees is the high. Honestly, if we can’t make the house payment or buy food, it’s not going to be because Jonathan was laid off! It’ll be because of the awful weather! At least there’s nothing you can do about the weather. Nobody’s to blame.
Hopefully, we’ll have a good few days sometime late next week (or next month…or never) to make a snowman and take the kids sledding. Thomas really loved sledding last year and I’d love to take him again. I’m still waiting for weather conditions to be right for taking them to school on a sled like a mush-dog.
For now, we’re holed-up in our little house, peering hopefully through the curtains every day looking for sunshine, crossing our fingers as the car sluggishly cranks and then barely catches on those coldest mornings, being thankful that we have heat and what we need to get by for now. Taking it one day at a time, I guess.
Long-term memories
May 8, 2008 by AnonymousIt has been a busy week here so far. Sunday morning, Hayley had her dance class pictures. All the little girls looked like angels! I have to admit that I am surprised at how serious this dance thing is. I guess that I expected a little recital at the end of the year, but there’s this big production at a big auditorium the next town over, and the pictures and the rehearsals too! I ordered pictures, despite the fact that I wanted to protest the absurd prices by not ordering any at all, so I expect to be satisfied. I think Hayley smiled nicely. There’s no way for me to be sure, since parents were not allowed in the picture area.
Tuesday was Thomas’ IEP meeting and the first full-staff IEP since that fateful IEP two years ago when the word “autism” was finally said. Anyway, everyone who is part of Thomas’ service team at school was there including Thomas’ kindergarten teacher for next year AND the resource teacher! Jonathan and I couldn’t believe it. We were waiting to be taken back to the conference room when this teacher walked in and I recognized her from that silly orientation a couple weeks ago. I thought, “Could she possibly be here for Thomas’ IEP?” Sure enough, she was there for it and Jonathan and I thought that was completely wonderful.
During the course of the meeting, we revised the reason why Thomas receives special education services from “developmental delay” to “autism” which opens a few more doors for us. Thomas’ teacher did a Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) test on Thomas and with that instrument she determined that he falls on the mild/moderate end of the spectrum. The psychologist reported that his scores in the various areas of testing ranged from far below average in some areas and “superior” in one area in particular: long-term memory and recollection. Normal is about 80-112, and Thomas scored 123. Everyone around the table said “oooh” and “aaah,” but Jonathan and I nodded quietly. This score was nothing new to us. I’m frankly surprised that Thomas hasn’t related details of his birth to me. I would find this most interesting since I was under general anesthetic for it and don’t remember a thing.
Thomas’ composite FIQ (I think that’s “functional IQ”) was 72, just above the cutoff for the MLP classroom. Jonathan was okay with that. He was very concerned going into this meeting that the staff was going to gloss over Thomas’ problems and make it seem like he is higher-functioning than he really is just so they could get him into the general education classroom. The staff was very frank about Thomas’ strengths and weaknesses yet confidently recommended that we put him in the general classroom with ninety “resource minutes” per week. That will be speech, occupational and social therapy integrated into classroom time every week. The principal said, and I am apt to agree with her, that it does no good to mainstream a child and then have him out of class all the time for therapy. Thomas’ new teacher (who goes by Mrs. Surname – Thomas has already mastered her difficult-to-pronounce name and we only had to tell him once – hello, long-term memory!) said that she prefers that all therapy be done in her classroom as long as it is reasonable, so I believe that they’re going to do that. This year, she said that she had only seventeen students as opposed to the thirty that we were warned about, so we’re very hopeful about that. We think that Thomas would struggle with so many kids around.
Everyone had really nice things to say about Thomas. All of the people in the meeting felt that he’s just a really happy-to-know-you kind of kid and they’re sorry to see him go. So am I! We’ve had a really good experience at Thomas’ pre-school; we know the staff there and everyone knows us. It’ll be an adjustment for sure, but I think Thomas will do fine. He understands that he’s going to a different school next year and he says he’s eager to make new friends. We’re going to go and visit sometime soon, which Thomas is also eager to do. He said he wants to meet his teacher and see the room and jump right in, so that’s great. I’m thinking of becoming involved in the PTO or PTA or whatever the acronym is these days. It’s a cute little grade school just a few blocks from our house, so I’m not sure if I’ll sign Thomas up for the bus or not. I’ll feel a little guilty having the bus pick him up when we live so close – it’s like having a pizza delivered even though you live really close to the restaurant. I’ll probably have him take the bus anyway because Hayley will have to get to preschool by 9 a.m.
Tomorrow, Hayley and I go to school for the Mother’s Day Sing and Ice Cream Social. Thomas has been singing his songs here all week, so I kind of already know what the “sing” part is about, but it will be sweet to hear all the kids sing together. I’m especially eager to meet Thomas’ little girlfriend and her mom! I’m hoping to exchange numbers with her and possibly get together with them over the summer. We have to discuss the wedding, after all. I’ve heard that as mother of the groom, it is my job to “wear beige and be quiet.” I’m not sure I can comfortably do either.
Down to the wire
May 1, 2008 by AnonymousAnother week closer to summer vacation and I’m not dreading it. Unfortunately, I am still pressing the green rubber nodule for an apostrophe, but it’s become a part of my life now and I’d miss it if it changed. Or not. Anyway, Thomas was off on Monday because I thought he had a cold. I still think he had a cold, but it didn’t knock him on his cute little bottom the way it knocks adults on our large, cellulite-ridden bottoms. As soon as the time came for the bus to have picked Thomas up on Monday, I realized that he would have been fine and I was in for a very long day.
Thomas still has a runny nose, but it doesn’t bother him nearly as much as it bothers me. I’ve never been very good at dealing with a runny nose. If I see another kid with a runny nose, I have to resist the impulse to whip a Kleenex out of my bag and wipe that nose. He’s been picking a lot, too. Charming. There’s no school tomorrow for a School Improvement Day. I wonder what they do, exactly, on those days.
On Monday night, Thomas’ teacher called to let us know that the kids would be walking to a fire station on Wednesday to see the trucks and talk to the firefighters. We got to talking about Thomas, as his IEP meeting is less than a week away at this point. Really, everyone at Thomas’ school says such nice things about him! The school social worker, whom I met with today, prefaced our meeting by saying that he’s so friendly and just a happy little guy that everyone enjoys having around. She wanted me to come in and complete a standardized questionnaire-type thing about Thomas’ habits at home; what he can do, what he can’t do, disruptive behaviors and the like. I have to say that I think he scored fairly well for a regular five year-old. The social worker helped answer some of the questions that I had to think about by saying, “I’ve never seen him do that at school.” She seemed really excited about Thomas’ progress over the past two years and what we can expect of him next year.
Jonathan and I had a big argument on Monday night about Thomas. Jonathan was listening while I was on the phone with Thomas’ teacher and he was getting pretty upset about what he was hearing just on my half of the conversation. I mentioned to the teacher that I was sure that the psychologist gave Thomas an IQ test but because of that test, Thomas would most likely not qualify for the MLP classroom. Today, the social worker told me that a child has to have an IQ of less than seventy to qualify. Everyone we’ve talked to believes that Thomas’ IQ is more than seventy (including us). Jonathan feels, however, that Thomas would do much better in an MLP classroom, which is all-day kindergarten. He is worried about how Thomas will do in a regular kindergarten class with thirty kids; he’s afraid Thomas will get left behind, that the teacher won’t have the special education background or support system she will need to educate Thomas and still give the other kids the time they need. Valid concerns, all – but I think that Thomas can do it. I’m really interested to hear what Thomas’ service team has to say on Tuesday, but I think they’re going to recommend that he be in a mainstream class and I’m all for it.
I’ve been talking to Thomas a lot about kindergarten next year. I think he understands that he’ll be going to a new school and he says he’d like to make new friends. I’ve asked him how he thinks he would do in a class with a lot more kids and he says, “You know, Mommy, I think that would be good.” The more I think about it, the more I think he can do it and I don’t think I have to explain to anyone reading this that it would mean so much for us and our family if Thomas could be in a mainstream classroom for kindergarten. He would still get “resource minutes,” which are minutes set aside during Thomas’ school day when he would go get occupational therapy or speech therapy – whatever he needs. I’m very excited about the IEP meeting because I have a feeling that they are going to say a lot of great things about Thomas, and who ever tires of hearing educators extol their child’s virtues?
I just really hope that Jonathan and I can go into this meeting with a united front. My position right now is “wait and see.” Jonathan seems to think that the teachers and therapists are pushing us to accept a mainstream classroom for Thomas because of money issues within the district. I personally think that this theory is cuckoo-bananas. The argument Monday got pretty heated at times, but I had my trademark smart-mouth comments locked and loaded and those drive Jonathan just crazy. My bottom line is that I don’t think the service team would recommend anything they didn’t think Thomas could handle. And no matter what we decide next week, nothing is written in stone and we can always change our minds before next year, or two weeks into the school year or any time at all. If Thomas will be in a mainstream classroom, that would mean he’d attend our home school – and I guess I should go and register him there after all. I was kind of short with the principal, too…maybe I’d better go and volunteer for something. My mom was the PTO president of our grade school for a few years…maybe I could do something like that. Nothing to it, right?
So we’re looking forward to next Tuesday. Jonathan will be out of town all weekend on a fishing trip with his brothers and boy-cousins…they put a treehouse-esque sign on the door that says “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” all weekend. The only possible exception is any female who will cook or clean for them. I think they even rib anyone whose wife calls while they’re on this sojourn, so I’m planning on Jonathan being basically unreachable all weekend. It’s supposed to rain here all weekend too, so I don’t know what we’re going to do. Thomas loves to play tennis on the Wii…he’s really good at it, too! We’ll find some way to fill the time until Monday. They sent the gluten-free kid’s leftover snack and Tupperware home with Thomas today, so he’s got to return that on Monday anyway.