howcome teachers r so inexperienced with Autism..?

Teachers have to know so much as it is, it’s another something that we need to learn about. 20 years ago, Autism wasn’t heard about much. Now, it is being diagnosed more frequently, because doctors are learning more about Autism, too. Autistic children need special education, and that is almost an entirely different field. Each teacher is specialized in their field; elementary classroom (all subjects), high school (pick any subject), art, PE, special ed, music (choir to symphonic band), … just to name a few. Would you want a high school coach teaching a 5 year old Autistic child?… both are teachers.

We try to learn as much as we can by continuing our education with university classes, getting our Masters degree, and staff development days. But, the classes taken have to do with what you teach. For example, a elementary school teacher(with a class of 33) would take classes about how to enrich his students and his teaching. Being a regular educational teacher, why would he take classes about Autism?

Autism is growing, and teachers are trying to keep up.

The greatest difficulty with autism is that it presents differently in each individual, so what one person with autism can do and needs are different from the next. Some students with autism can be integrated into a general education class and do very well, while others need a different environment to succeed. Frequently autism is a label given when testing can’t pin down an alternate diagnosis, but the doctors know there is something going on. Unlike other disabilities where the biggest difference is the degree of the disability (mild, moderate, severe) and many methods of dealing with them have been tried and tested, autism is so individual that a program of methods of educating the student needs to be developed for each person. Also, autism is a relatively new disability to have been identified and the numbers of children being diagnosed with it are increasing dramatically.

ddluzdelsol— to answer your question… Regular teachers SHOULD be taking classes on autism and any other special needs, if your school does forced integration. If your school doesn’t, than I agree, you shouldn’t have to. But more and more schools are integrating these children (which I disagree with, as the parent of an autistic child), and not training the teachers. There’s something wrong with that. These children CANNOT act like the other students, so it’s not fair to put them in a class with a teacher who has no clue what they’re dealing with. It’s not fair to the teacher, it’s not fair to the autistic child, and as someone stated above it’s not fair to the rest of the class. Nobody wins in this situation. These kids need to learn to read social cues, understand when kids are joking or that a kid who bumps into them did it by accident, etc. They will not learn these things on their own, but have to be shown. That can’t happen when they’re integrated. I do agree with the statement that the dr.’s are just learning about autism, I was going to say that.

I am homeschooling my son, because it’s the best fit. I don’t agree with class sizes of schools for regular children and was planning on homeschooling so that my children could be individuals, but when I found out Tim was autistic and started reading from others how well they do when homeschooled, that confirmed my decision.

To the original poster: That’s pretty much why, because they’re not being trained. The sad thing is, most of the special ed teachers are not being trained to really work with these children, either. I’ve known a few personally, and know a lot online, who had serious trouble with the schools and their autistic children. There’s no excuse for that. Special ed classes are treated as a babysitting service, and that’s just not right. They don’t need to go to school for that. I have a friend who’s Asperger’s son escaped from school a dozen times when he was 7 and 8 years old (not sure about after that), and by the time they realized it, called his grandma and she found him, he was a mile away from the school. He is now 11 years old and still doesn’t know his alphabet (I found out it was lack of actually teaching with him, working with his problems to help him learn), yet I had him reading a few words in a book when he was eightThat convinced me I could do a better job teaching my own!

i just would like to say as a parent of an autistic child, i find it quite frustrating when teachers feel that they do not have to “bother” themselves to educate themselves on autism or any other special need. are typical children the ones that deserve a good education? of course not.

some teachers rather not be bothered with “dealing” with these kids and maybe put fort an extra effort. it really angers me when i hear stories and comments like that.

in my case, my child has been lucky to be surrounded by educators and therapists that either have a strong will to help and learn and/or educated in the autism field.

i know that autism is coming in full effect in the public school system, but i wish that teachers would be more understanding and not so “it’s not my job” type of attitude.a

Check with your local Universities..some offer state funded programs (free of charge) in which they will come to the school and not only teach the teacher about autism but the classroom as well. It teaches them how to deal with their behavioral changes, give ideas for teaching techniques, etc.They will be able to help educate the teacher and classmates more about a person that has autism.

I don’t think it’s the teacher’s fault or the child’s fault. I think that fault lies with the administration of school systems. With Autism on the rise, Administrations need to do more to educate teachers. I think that the wave of the future is to have regular ed teachers minor in special ed. Normally regular ed teachers might get 1 class in special ed that covers several disabilities. I think that if I could give some advice to upcoming teachers it would be to get a minor in special ed and you would be more marketable.

Educators are not familiar with this type of special needs to individuals who have Autism because, they don’t have the experience working with these individuals. You may want to surf a web-site that has many answers to your questions and, you will be able to assist educators understanding what is Autism. When surfing go to Autism, blog and parents this will help you understand.

good luck

The autism spectrum is huge. High functioning as well as non-verbal and developmentally delayed. Autism has not been high priority in many public schools. Our district offers continuing education to teachers and aides for credit. Our State Universities offer some free courses for teachers. When I was getting my degree in special education 6 years ago I had one tiny course in Autism. Teachers learn by doing too. I had nine children on the autism spectrum last year in first grade and kindergarten on my case load. Each unique in their needs. One first grader could read at third grade level but couldn’t comprehend anything. One Kindergartener knew no language and his behavior kept him out of the classroom 80% of the day; and by the end of the year he knew 10 signs and could be in the classroom 80% of the day because of his behavior plan. My school is full inclusion but does offer smaller classes for autistic children who are functioning on a lower level developmentally. This is where we help them learn language and communication skills so that they may function in a regular ed classroom with peers their own age. I agree with the other writer that not all of these children belong in a reg. ed classroom all day. They need to be able to focus on what their learning needs are, and many times the reg. ed classroom is simply too much stimulation for them to be able to attend to the tasks they need to accomplish. Just remember that in most districts and states, teachers must continue their education with so many classes or CPD’s (continuing professional development) each year to be recertified. As a special ed teacher I need so many in my field and so many in just general education. We are trying to learn more and many of us work very hard at becoming better teachers. Hope this helps some. Melanie

The brain is a unique thing. And it truely has become personalized to each individuals learning style anymore.

Teachers are very general about teaching. Even the teachers that accompany students for their special needs lack a lot of knowledge on how to help many types of learning styles and need specific groups of kids.

A great deal of teachers aren’t educated in teaching kids with Autism. And it’s no fair that a teacher has to step away from 29 students just to teach the one child with autism.