Need Help Understanding Childhood Autism

[MidnightCry]

This evening was my daughter's first gymnastics class (kids are ages 5-6) and there was a boy who was completely out of control. Did nothing the teachers told him to and did everything they told him not to do. I felt horrible for the teachers and for the other children who were trying to do their thing but were dodging this kid and trying to work around him as best they could. My daughter came close to getting clobbered by him a couple of times. Without knowing he had autistm, I said to his mother that the teachers are having a really hard time with him and wondered if she could help them out. She got extremely defensive and told me that he had autism, like everything he was doing was okay then. Anyway, we sort of "had words" and then dropped it. It was difficult to watch this kid controlling the class for the remainder the hour.

I KNOW that many children (as well as adults) have autism and I'm just trying to understand what's a good solution for these kinds of situations -- meaning, how can autistic children and others function together in social situations? How do public school teachers handle these kids?

I TRULY am not trying to sound horrid -- I have tremendous sympathy for the situation and am just trying to understand things better. I have a special needs daughter (drug-affected from foster care) and I'm not sure I'd put her in a situation where she was a constant, extreme distraction but I don't know what the options are.

Thanks for anyone who's "been there" and can help me understand better.

[Sing4Him]

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer

[MidnightCry]

Thanks -- any info from people who "live it" would be appreciated. Seriously, what do you do about school or other social situations? Our church's private school had an autistic child last year that the teacher couldn't handle so the family was asked to put him elsewhere.

[Pat Hood]

My daughter could be like that when she was younger, but don't class all autistic children the same way. It is different in so many cases. But read the references given and it given and it will help you understand a lot.

[LoudRam]

Our son is 8 years old. He's autistic and blind. We have an idea about what sets him off and we avoid those situations as best we can. Needless to say we don't take him out to the store much. One crying baby and he flips out. It's not easy but we learn to deal with it. We just bought a travel trailer and we use that for our weekend getaways. He has his own place to relax that way. One that he is familiar with.

[IM_HIS]

I have a child with dual diagnoses of Down syndrome and autism. We have reached the point in our journey with Jonah that we don't feel the NEED to insist that Jonah be included in every activity. He IS included in a lot of things, including AWANAS at church, VBS, Sunday School etc. But, we are very careful and he always has an aide with him.

Through the years we have discovered that it's OK for us to say "nope, Jonah can't handle that situation" and we've also discovered that if we try to force him into an environment that WE want him in, but he can't handle....it's not fair to ANYONE, Jonah or the other kids. And that's OK. But, it did take us a long time to accept that...

So, I have been the parent whose child is disrupting something. I have also been the parent whose child's activity has BEEN disrupted....

It's a tough place to be. But the fact that you are asking questions, and really, really trying to understand...is wonderful. And rare, in our experience.

I hope that everything works out. When you are paying for a private lesson like this... you DO have the right to expect that your child will not be injured/overly distracted by ANY other child, disabled or not.

YSIC,
Anji