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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are so many more kids with autism that have been out of control at home and they come to school and cannot function. Lots of parents have recognized their child’s need for services for autism and have made that happen, but lots haven’t. Parents now refuse to cooperate with schools and admin backs down. They don’t want complaints going over their heads.

Back in the mid 1980s in FCPS we had self-contained LD classrooms, where the ten kids or so in upper and lower elementary had a calm setting to work on core academics with scaffolded instruction, breaks, and targeted help with behavior. They mainstreamed as they were able to for academics and joined in specials with their grade. Each class had a special ed teacher and at least one IA. Then they decided to throw them all in gen ed with pull out and push in services, and those kids that had viewed their self-contained rooms as safe places to learn were overwhelmed in large settings and acted out. All kids cannot be comfortable in a large group, and not providing what they need in unconscionable, to me. The current trend of the workshop model is too loud, busy, and distracting. [/quote]

+10000

The current fad for mainstreaming everyone isn’t working for anyone.  Some kids absolute thrive best in small groups in less stimulating, less overwhelming self-contained environments with extra support.

In my FCPS school, most classes use a workshop model for language arts and math, which means that kids are moving around a lot and there is constant noise and talking.  At least half of the classrooms use “flexible seating”, the new trend, which means some kids are on the floor, some are on bouncy balls, some are under tables, on couches, on wiggle chairs, all over the place.  And there are almost always extra adults in the room: IA’s, SpED teachers, a volunteer, etc.

There is NO WAY this is the least restrictive environment for learning for many kids.  All that distraction, all that stimulation, and so little structure is VERY restrictive for kids...it prevents them from learning and causes melt downs and and inability to self regulate.

I can’t stand it myself as a teacher.  Its wayyy to stimulating and distracting for me.  And I don’t know where educators ever got the sense that this was what we needed to train kids to work in...workplaces are not chaotic like this.  Everything is NOT group work.  People are not constantly moving about.

I do think a huge part of the dramatic increase in meltdowns we see is that so many kids are inappropriately placed in this kind of high-stress, high-stimulation environment.

Overstimulation with electronic devices is another big problem.
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