The incidence of the curious child in the mainstream ???
The conventional wisdom is often an oxymoron waiting to happen .
The conventional wisdom has it that autistic children who have developed speech should be educated in the mainstream . Inclusion is indeed a laudable objective . But confusing 'inclusion' with a simple mainstream placement renders the conventional wisdom invalid . Indeed for some autistic children - intolerable pressures experienced in a mainstream school makes future integration in the wider community less likely .
At the core of this outcome is the damage done by stress . At the start of their school careers their neurology means they have underdeveloped capacity to deal with sensory input - the world as experienced via their senses is SCREAMING at them while we try to teach them the 3 Rs . Instead of having a focus on sensory integration , a one-size-fits-all mindset applies - as if these children did not have huge issues to overcome before they can actually sit still and learn in a group setting .
In secondary school any progress made over the years can be lost as the blinkered drive towards exams fatigues them - though they can be deemed very adept because of their powers of long term recall of detail . Along the way the increased self-awareness of adolescence intertwined with autism-hostile surroundings can drive their self-esteem into the ground .
There IS a high incidence of Depression during adolescence . It is naive to imagine that 'the blues come out of the blue' . They are generated by application of 'the conventional wisdom' allied to a very narrow definition of what constitutes 'success' . In short : The BIG picture of what really matters for young autistic people is lost in the headless chicken race to the exam room .
The conventional wisdom has it that autistic children who have developed speech should be educated in the mainstream . Inclusion is indeed a laudable objective . But confusing 'inclusion' with a simple mainstream placement renders the conventional wisdom invalid . Indeed for some autistic children - intolerable pressures experienced in a mainstream school makes future integration in the wider community less likely .
At the core of this outcome is the damage done by stress . At the start of their school careers their neurology means they have underdeveloped capacity to deal with sensory input - the world as experienced via their senses is SCREAMING at them while we try to teach them the 3 Rs . Instead of having a focus on sensory integration , a one-size-fits-all mindset applies - as if these children did not have huge issues to overcome before they can actually sit still and learn in a group setting .
In secondary school any progress made over the years can be lost as the blinkered drive towards exams fatigues them - though they can be deemed very adept because of their powers of long term recall of detail . Along the way the increased self-awareness of adolescence intertwined with autism-hostile surroundings can drive their self-esteem into the ground .
There IS a high incidence of Depression during adolescence . It is naive to imagine that 'the blues come out of the blue' . They are generated by application of 'the conventional wisdom' allied to a very narrow definition of what constitutes 'success' . In short : The BIG picture of what really matters for young autistic people is lost in the headless chicken race to the exam room .