Reply to CNN report -- Autism: Could high U.S. rate be due to over-diagnosis?

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "CNN report -- Autism: Could high U.S. rate be due to over-diagnosis? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I also think that our public school education is asking WAY TOO MICH, TOO EARLY from children - which makes many children "fail" to meet those goals, and look like they have "needs."

I know know know (as an early childhood eduacator) that many children do have ASD, ADHD and anxiety.  But I also know that kindergarten children need more play-based education, more time to play outside than 20 or 30 minutes some days not all days, and that our children no longer walk to school, even those who live close enough to walk, because their parents must leave the house to get to work before the kids could leave so those kids end up driven to school or bused.  Leading to not even having a 20 minute walking time when those kids could get their wiggles out before sitting ALL DAY in kindergarten.

Remember in the 70s when kindergarten was play-based? When it had dramatic play, a post office area, when you played outside on the climber, swingset (yes, over concrete, I'm not saying it was perfect) but those kids got exercise.  In my 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classes we went outside in the morning for recess, then after lunch we got a 2nd recess, then we walked to/from school - we got a lot of exercise.  So those active, hyper, quirky kids got a lot of exercise, which helped them focus.  Oh, and they didn't need to sit the whole day starting at 5 years old, either.

Sigh.  I'm so frustrated by our school system, and I do believe that some kids (not all) end up being diagnosed because they don't fit into our developentally inappropriate education expectations.

And, with all this sitting and focusing, and trying to make them read in September of Kindergarten year, we are still behind many other school systems.  Perhaps trying to push it down doesn't work?  That we should focus on teaching when it does work?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics