The Autism Spectrum and Education Responsibility

In the year 2006, I discovered that my son; whom had difficulties communicating and socializing with children of his own age; had autism. I would spend at least the next 6 years of my life attempting to educate others in autism and how it works. I felt that was my responsibility. Much like Temple Grandin stated in her speech “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds”, Jareth learned in a very different way from other children; and similar to “Shakespeare in the Bush”, he simply could not understand when trying to explain things the way we would to others. It was my responsibility to inform his teachers of how best to reach him. Like in the text “Letter From the Birmingham Jail”, I knew I would be persecuted for stretching outside the “norm” to reach him and help others reach him the only way, I knew, he could be reached. In the text “Part-Time Indian”, the author was picked on and bullied for being different and being true to who he was. It is my responsibility, as his mother, to ensure he can hold on to his identity while facing injustice and inequalities throughout his life.

Much like the picture above, my son faces a life behind the theoretical bars the world has constructed around him. The world seems to have a single story about autism and about “disabilities” in general. I believe that the responsibility to enlighten others in the mysteries of autism is much like the Elders did for Laura Bohannan when she attempted to explain how she had interpreted the story of Hamlet in “Shakespeare in the Bush”. People that do not have experience with autistic children believe they have all the facts and all the information necessary to understand autism, but they are only looking at it from their point of view and from the limited research they seem to have done. Attempting to explain to them that how it works in theory is a very different story than how it works in practice is not an easy task. However, it is my responsibility as a mother of an autistic child to do whatever I can to help them understand.

The definition of autism is very vague, as its still; to this day, unclear where it stems from exactly and what exactly all of the symptoms associated with it are; which is easy to see in one of the first articles that can be found when doing a search for autism on the internet: Autism – Mayo Clinic Definition.

The website defines autism as: “one of a group of serious developmental problems called autism spectrum disorders that appear in early childhood — usually before age 3. Though symptoms and severity vary, all autism spectrum disorders affect a child's ability to communicate and interact with others.”

When anyone outside the autism world reads a definition like that, they seem to focus immediately on the term “disorder”. When this term is heard or read, it is interpreted as a disability. The world believes that those with a “disorder” or “disability” are at a “disadvantage” and they treat them as such. In my mind, this is a horrible inequality to these brilliant minds.

Temple Grandin stated that these special minds need a certain kind of education; and that children with autism are not getting the kind of attention that they need in order to learn the best way that they can. This is a terrible injustice and I have been working on rectifying that with Jareth’s teachers. These students need the opportunity to express their individuality and identity without hindrance.

I may not be put in jail for the way I am approaching the situation, but much as Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham”, I cannot sit idly by in my life and not be concerned about what happens in my son’s education. I will fight for the best education I can give to him. It is not usual for public schools to allow an autistic student to mainstream into the regular classes, but to place them in the resource classes. Jareth was in resource for a time and we found that he was far behind in his learning from other children his age. My husband, Derek, and I would not let that happen. We went to several meetings with school board representatives as well as the resource teachers, the principal, and the regular teachers in his school to ensure our son would receive the best education possible. He was mainstreamed the very next school year.

In the text “The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian”, Sherman Alexie states that when he started at Reardan High, other students stared at him and called him names, all because he looked different. His identity had caused him to be outcast from the very beginning. This is what happened to my son. He was treated differently from the time he joined the main class. He has never really had any friends, and I know this is because the other students his age cannot relate to him at all. They’re not sure how to socialize with him because he is different. He hasn’t been bullied until this year. And much like the story, he fought back. I received a note from Jareth’s teacher one day stating that Jareth had punched another student. That other student had been picking on him rather relentlessly. Jareth did the only thing he could think to do to make the other child stop bullying him. He punched him.

Now, I do not condone his behavior at all, however, I feel that if he is met with injustices, he has a right, nay, a responsibility to fight back. I would prefer he used “nonviolent direct action”, as Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently worded it; however, he is only 10 years old, so I will afford him this small violence just this once.

I can understand why the children treat him differently. I would have been much the same had I gone to school with someone on the autism spectrum. I may very well have and never even known it. That person probably would have been someone that I went out of my way to avoid. Jareth is in the Asperger Syndrome portion of the autism spectrum. As defined on the Autism Speaks Website,

children with Aspergers have “limited or inappropriate social interactions; "robotic" or repetitive speech; challenges with nonverbal communication (gestures, facial expression, etc.) coupled with average to above average verbal skills; tendency to discuss self rather than others; inability to understand social/emotional issues or non-literal phrases; lack of eye contact or reciprocal conversation; obsession with specific, often unusual, topics; one-sided conversations; awkward movements and/or mannerisms”. Jareth expresses many of these symptoms.

I know that if I had known anyone that had these tendencies, I would have done all that I could to steer clear of that person. I’m not one for bullying or teasing, so I would never have done either of those to that person; however, I would not have pushed to be friends with them either.

I know children are cruel creatures to each other. In light of that, I have done what I can to help Jareth integrate normally into society while still holding on to his identity. I have been helping him learn how to deal with inequalities and injustices that I know he will face throughout the entire time he is alive. This is my responsibility as a mother with an autistic child.