Over in my other blog where I talk about everything, I made this post about a kindergarten teacher in Florida who had her class vote on whether they thought a little boy who had been sent to the office should be allowed to come back to class. It’s been reported now that the boy is in the final stages of being diagnosed with an Autism Related Disorder (ASD).
Not only did the children vote on whether the little Aspie should be allowed to return to class, but he was made to stand in the front of the room while the other children told them how they felt about him and gave their “final answer”. They all told him he was disgusting and annoying, and he was “voted off the classroom”.
The educational spin is that the teacher had been doing a lesson on tallying. Now, this blog is about work – and I work in education for a global company. I cannot imagine doing this with adults and not being punished. Let alone a kindergartner, let alone a kindergardner with Aspergers!
What do you other education folks think? What in the world was this woman thinking?
You know, kids don’t grow out of Asperger’s and other ASDs. That means we work with folks on the spectrum right now. Just because someone acts in a strange way that you may find annoying, does that give us free reign to get rid of them?
Just a follow up link to this post…this is what happened after the little boy was voted off:
http://69.89.31.226/%7Etreasuv0/wordpress/?p=75
“The teacher then allegedly asked the boy where he would go now that the class doesn’t like him the boy replied, “to the office?” the teacher returned with “they do not want you there” then the 5 year old said “home” the teacher said your mom is at work you can’t go home. He finally said that he would go to the nurse and the teacher sent him out of the classroom to the office where he stayed for the remainder of the day”.
He is five years old. Oh, it’s a good good thing Brianna always had amazing teachers. Her teachers went above and beyond even when the administration of the school told them not to. If someone had done this to my daughter – I am not sure what I would have done.