Autism at CMS
I've been blogging for over six years about Latin America, and it is only now that I need to write about something else, very personal yet also tightly bound to public policy.
If you care about autism, read on. If your child is in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), read on. If neither applies, please read on anyway.
My 10 year son has high functioning autism, which makes his life challenging in ways my wife and I work daily to grasp, even after years of reading, talking to (and paying) every expert we can find, and listening to him. He does not intuitively understand how to make friends, how to deal with conflict, or know what others are thinking.
His brain does not work that way. But he is brilliant. And I mean brilliant in a way I wish I was, with amazing understanding of planes, electronics, and mechanics. I have a Ph.D. and am a full professor, but his intensity of knowledge at that age amazes me. With a rigorous academic environment, he could thrive.
But CMS fights us. They tell us they've never seen anything like him, that he's emotionally disturbed, incapable of achieving what we think, and it must be our fault as soft parents. His academic level is high, so he's in a Talent Development (TD) school, Irwin Academic Center. Last year he was at Croft Community Elementary, which treated him so poorly that we filed a successful state complaint that ruled he was denied a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), a serious finding.
After years of fighting, we managed to get him an IEP (Individual Educational Plan) based on his disability, part of which details how discipline needs to be administered because it is so delicate with an autistic child. However, his IEP is inconsistently honored, and he was just suspended even though the school clearly did not follow the IEP stipulations.
What does this mean in practice?
This:
Imagine a teacher leaving a room of 10 year olds all alone. Then imagine putting a 10 year old in charge of disciplining a peer with autism, encouraging the peer to publicly humiliate those who in her eyes misbehave. This means actively encouraging a child with autism to fight back. That is what led to the suspension.
I don't get it. I just don't. CMS has no classroom for children with high functioning autism, and our requests even to talk to the new superintendent, Heath Morrison, have resulted only in condescending emails.
We know many parents who have fled CMS because of the conscious failure to accept the fact that some children have high functioning autism and need more help in the classroom with recognition of their high academic potential. For someone like me who is the product of all public schools, from kindergarten through Ph.D., this is truly depressing.
