If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.
Fark SearchWeb Fark

         more options... Create account

(TC Palm) Followup Autistic child voted out of his Kindergarten class may now have another vote. This one by a jury   (tcpalm.com) divider line 268
More: Followup  
•       •       •

12572 clicks; posted to Main » on 07 Jun 2008 at 3:54 PM   |  Make this a Fark FavoriteFavorite    |   share: Share on OMGTWITTER WEB2.0share on StumbleUponshare on Facebook  more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!

268 Comments   (+0 »)


Archived thread
First | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | » | Last | Show all
 
Epsilon [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 01:04:38 PM  
If the kid can't behave, put him in a special class that is equipped to deal with that.

I'm all in favor of civil rights, but what about the rights of every other kid in class to not be distracted by this little goofball? They should all suffer this injustice so as to not hurt his feelings?

 
TexasPeace [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 01:50:31 PM  
Epsilon, you're right.

Except the removal technique requires refinement. Humiliation and intentional infliction of distress is not necessary. If I were on the jury, I would grant nominal damages.

 
ExJerseyGirl [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 02:08:36 PM  
Was he actually removed from the class or just humiliated?

No matter what, the teacher should be fired.

 
dletter [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 02:26:56 PM  
Epsilon: If the kid can't behave, put him in a special class that is equipped to deal with that.

I'm all in favor of civil rights, but what about the rights of every other kid in class to not be distracted by this little goofball? They should all suffer this injustice so as to not hurt his feelings?


I agree to an extent with that, but, then you have a private meeting with the parents about his behavior.

Not embarrass a 5 year old kid (likely to have Austism issues) with a "Survivor" style lashing and vote out.

 
lionfish [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 03:14:43 PM  
when the removal occurred he hadn't been diagnosed yet. He was just a normal bad kid in kindergarten.

 
scottydoesntknow [recently expired TotalFark] 2008-06-07 03:57:12 PM  
Can't we just come up with a compromise for this voting? Give the autistic kid 3/5 of a vote, that way he'll still have a say, but not as much as the normal children.

I'm surprised no one's come up with this idea before.

 
Nurglitch 2008-06-07 03:57:22 PM  
He deserved it.

 
Dellirium 2008-06-07 04:00:01 PM  
So a spanking is right out then?

obscure?

 
alacy52 2008-06-07 04:00:21 PM  
scottydoesntknow: Can't we just come up with a compromise for this voting? Give the autistic kid 3/5 of a vote, that way he'll still have a say, but not as much as the normal children.

I'm surprised no one's come up with this idea before.


You magnificent bastard.

 
stingrza [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:00:56 PM  
Not only does he sound like a pain in the ass to his classmates, it sounds like he's going to fit in brilliantly with the other celebrity-obsessed losers of his generation:

From TFA: The media attention in the issue has helped, she said. Alex enjoys seeing himself on television and watching himself talk, she said.

 
TheXerox [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:01:23 PM  
lionfish: when the removal occurred he hadn't been diagnosed yet. He was just a normal bad kid in kindergarten.

The article states that the teacher knew about the boy being tested for the condition at the time of the vote.


I'm all for this kid. I have Asperger's Syndrome and very few people knew about this condition when I was this boy's age. To my classmates I was a little weird, but I got along OK (not perfectly, I did have some rough spots) and I didn't violently lash out at anyone either. God bless my teachers for having the ability to see beyond my relatively minor social ineptitude and treat me like they would any other kid. Can't imagine how I would have felt were I in this kid's shoes.

 
sorhed 2008-06-07 04:03:16 PM  
Autistic kids rock!

 
Akbar the Trappiste Monk 2008-06-07 04:03:58 PM  
stingrza: Not only does he sound like a pain in the ass to his classmates, it sounds like he's going to fit in brilliantly with the other celebrity-obsessed losers of his generation:

From TFA: The media attention in the issue has helped, she said. Alex enjoys seeing himself on television and watching himself talk, she said.


So farking what? He's a kid! Wouldn't you love to see yourself on TV if you were 10? I'm sorry if an autistic child doesn't meet your criteria for refinement.

 
animalmagnet 2008-06-07 04:04:10 PM  
scottydoesntknow: Can't we just come up with a compromise for this voting? Give the autistic kid 3/5 of a vote, that way he'll still have a say, but not as much as the normal children.


I see what you did there.

 
nikatkins 2008-06-07 04:04:37 PM  
The public humiliation was over the line, the parents should sue. And FTA "Alex was officially diagnosed less than a week later with an autism-spectrum disorder" that is pretty broad. If he had full-blown autism I doubt he would have made it to a normal kindergarten class.

My guess is Aspergers

 
Dr_4_Bob [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:04:41 PM  
Did none of you read the article? He was in the process of being diagnosed as this occurred. The teacher was aware he was in the process. The teacher did this anyway. Her action was preemptive. Even if it had not been, her disciplinary procedure was inappropriate.

The kid may have belonged in another class, a self contained environment, or in that class with an IEP and SEIT. You can't decide prior to diagnosis. The teacher should be fired for opening her school to a civil suit and inquiry by the Feds under an IDEA violation.

 
neutron5o [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:06:01 PM  
It's a 5-year-old kid. Why the hell does he deserve money for an event he won't even remember in 2 weeks? Discipline the teacher for being a jackass and let's get on with life, shall we? There's no point in pulling money out of the district's ass for such a trifle of an offense.

 
TheGreatZarquon 2008-06-07 04:06:20 PM  
They could have moved him to a better-equipped classroom without using a reality TV-inspired voting process. The teacher may have had good intentions, but she acted on them with breathtaking stupidity.

 
Single White Male 2008-06-07 04:06:43 PM  
Epsilon: I'm all in favor of civil rights, but what about the rights of every other kid in class to not be distracted by this little goofball? They should all suffer this injustice so as to not hurt his feelings?

Have some compassion. With encouragement, this poor young man could one day grow up to become a Wal-Mart greeter.

But with all these negative vibes he's getting he'll be lucky if he can become a door-to-door knife salesman.

 
cman 2008-06-07 04:08:06 PM  
TexasPeace: Epsilon, you're right.

Except the removal technique requires refinement. Humiliation and intentional infliction of distress is not necessary. If I were on the jury, I would grant nominal damages.


You can have all the private meetings that you want, but truth be told, nothing gets the point across like being humiliated in public.

A private meeting about a disruptive child is about as helpful as a strongly-lettered UN document.

 
TheXerox [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:08:56 PM  
neutron5o: It's a 5-year-old kid. Why the hell does he deserve money for an event he won't even remember in 2 weeks?

Yeah, because being publically humilated by your teacher as the majority of your classmates vote you out of your class is something a kid would never remember.

 
bigredwrench 2008-06-07 04:09:11 PM  
1. This is kindergarden. If the kid remembers this in the future I'll be surprised.

2. This is kindergarden, put the goofball kid out in the hall or send him to the office for a chat with the principal.

3. Did I mention that this is a kindergarden class? 5 year olds, blocks, graham crappers and that old pee smell.

 
puffy999 [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:10:05 PM  
scottydoesntknow: I'm surprised no one's come up with this idea before.

Two thumbs up. Or, I guess, 6/5ths thumbs up.

TheXerox: God bless my teachers for having the ability to see beyond my relatively minor social ineptitude and treat me like they would any other kid.

I'll be perfectly honest. If "minor social ineptitude" was the only problem for the kid in the class.... and the teacher took it this far, that person should never teach anywhere ever again, and the civil suits should go ahead (though I'd rather not see anything go to the parents, but the kid, and nothing more than a new TV or some such... unless you're REALLY discriminated against [this could very well have been used as a teaching tool for a child with social problems, if indeed it was only minor social ineptitude], I'm sorry, you don't deserve DICK from a publicly-funded school).

If, however, this kid was like a kid I recall from that early an age... no, they don't have a leg to stand on, and the parents are another example of the "cater to me and my child as I bring yours down and take your money" generation.

 
Sharkface217 2008-06-07 04:10:30 PM  
The thing I'm aghast to see is that the teacher's superiors and (if I remember correctly) the District DA stated that no wrongdoing took place.

/there's a reason why I'm glad I live in a Republic, not a Democracy

 
S.A.S.Q.U.A.T.C.H. 2008-06-07 04:10:56 PM  
I'm getting a kick out of these replies because I'm a 5-year-old kid.

 
preshrink 2008-06-07 04:11:20 PM  
What's supposed to happen is that kids like this are supposed to get tested and, get an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that provides for how behavior problems will be managed. This kid probably shouldn't be in class with the other kids for the rest of the school year and maybe next year he can be mainstreamed.

What the teacher did amounts to abuse. Even if he is autistic, that kind of thing will leave a scar on some level. Yes, we all suffer little and big injustices, invalidations and traumas as we grow up, but nobody should purposefully (the teacher had to know) inflict those on someone.

 
ImagineMichael 2008-06-07 04:13:15 PM  
Kid or not, these things can still affect behavior and being put in front of a classroom and told the things that are wrong with you are anything but helpful. And they wonder why some kids become bullies. Yeah, down the road he may not remember the exact event, but it doesn't mean that the kid is unfazed and unchanged by it.

Autism or not, the teacher was wrong to do that and should be punished. 5-year-olds are not in a place where they're going to be perfect so she should be aware of the ways to help them or get help for them, not humiliate them and vote them the hell out of a classroom.

 
shawn82 2008-06-07 04:13:49 PM  
scottydoesntknow: Not tryin to threadjack, but did anyone else get this advertisement?



I thought there was a huge thread about the CEO and how this is pretty much a scam...when did Drew start selling advertisements known to be scams?

/457-55-5462


Lol, adblock FTW

 
Alyna_jf 2008-06-07 04:14:16 PM  
TexasPeace: Epsilon, you're right.

Except the removal technique requires refinement. Humiliation and intentional infliction of distress is not necessary. If I were on the jury, I would grant nominal damages.


Exactly. You don't go and humiliate the poor boy. You talk with the parents, the principal etc etc etc to see what should be done. Maybe an aide, maybe a "special" school.

This teacher needs to be fired big time. She obviously has some issues. I actually just finished reading the investigation report (or most of it.. it was long), and the teacher seems like she would be more suited for a career as a jail warden.

If it were up to me on how things would be handled, I would have the teacher fired, and I would award enough money to the parents to have the boys therapy, schooling etc paid for until he's 18.

 
SarahBW 2008-06-07 04:15:11 PM  
"There's no point in pulling money out of the district's ass for such a trifle of an offense."

Yes there is. The district and those employed by it need incentive to do their jobs properly. Perhaps doing jobs wrong saves effort and money. Why train teachers? Why put youngsters in the classroom best suited for them if that will be more expensive? It's a lot of trouble to do what the law demands, which is "provide a free and appropriate education for every child" in the district.
If there is savings in time, effort and especially money in harming the odd duck child, it will be done unless there is risk that harming the child will cost time, money and effort exceeding that which might be saved via slacking off and hiding problems.

 
baufan2005 2008-06-07 04:15:34 PM  
When I was in high school we had an autistic kid in one of my classes. I of course got the seat right beside him. By the end of the semester if they would have had a vote to kick him out of class I would have signed it over a thousand times. Their were times that he would just start screaming and flailing about. They never did anything to him, the teacher just ignored it and I had a kid screaming in my ear.

 
puffy999 [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:17:43 PM  
Ah, I get it now.

20 years ago (whether or not you have a disorder), if you were being a bad kid to numerous other students, a teacher may very well have the students collect up and tell you that what you are doing is wrong. When you grow up without a lot of kids around you, and you're in kindergarten, you may not "know" that hitting other kids is bad until those kids tell you, because you are socially out of the loop. And sometimes, you need an event like this to help.

Now: that's abuse, harassment, and no kid deserves to be confronted like that.

 
puffy999 [TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:18:39 PM  
Alyna_jf: If it were up to me on how things would be handled, I would have the teacher fired, and I would award enough money to the parents to have the boys therapy, schooling etc paid for until he's 18

Thank God it isn't up to you.

Not against the firing... but against the taxpayers having to pay this family hundreds of thousands of dollars for this.

 
JustinKase 2008-06-07 04:20:26 PM  
wth is an autistic kid doing in a regular class anyway...still was stupid of the teacher to vote on this....hmmm mayhap the Teah is autistic too

 
tboucher 2008-06-07 04:21:32 PM  
If the kid can't behave, put him in a special class that is equipped to deal with that.

I'm all in favor of civil rights, but what about the rights of every other kid in class to not be distracted by this little goofball? They should all suffer this injustice so as to not hurt his feelings?


my kid has been tagged at age 4 with possible autism spectrum stuff. If he's a problem in the class, I'd pull him in an instant and take him wherever the school district wanted me too. If the teacher stuck him in front of a bunch of kids had have him voted out, I'd be hard pressed to say I wouldn't hunt that teacher down and harm them.

The teacher in question should be stripped of her ability to teach in the 50 states, barred from working with children in any form, and biatch slapped a few times for good measure on live television while people vote where they get to smack her.

 
vastrightwing 2008-06-07 04:21:54 PM  
Take children who won't behave and find them a distraction like a video game and let them distract themselves alone. No need to mainstream distracting children with the rest of the population. No humiliation. No punishment. Just remove them at the least possible cost to the taxpayers and the parents. If the parents complain that their little Johnny isn't being mainstreamed, explain he disrupts the other denizens and if he shows that he wants to come back, he can. But as soon as he acts out, he's out. This is real time out and it will work.

 
scottydoesntknow [recently expired TotalFark] 2008-06-07 04:22:00 PM  
puffy999:

If, however, this kid was like a kid I recall from that early an age... no, they don't have a leg to stand on, and the parents are another example of the "cater to me and my child as I bring yours down and take your money" generation.


I remember in elementary school (5th grade, god damn I'm surprised I remember that far), we had this kid named Josh who was autistic. One day he flipped and started cussing the teacher out, I'm talkin words I'd never heard before. He then tried to escape through a window, but it was one of those that was a full pane and the bottom opened upward and only to a certain extent. He got stuck and started freaking out. We had to leave the classroom as the fire department was called in. All in all, it was a pretty productive day at school.

 
HeatherPK 2008-06-07 04:22:08 PM  
I'm not an expert, but doesn't autism strongly correlate with retardation? It's my understanding that about 70% of autistic individuals are retarded (just checked and Wiki confirms this). Sounds like the boy needs to fit in a separate classroom.

I'm not sure the humiliation was unwarranted. When I was in 1st grade, a boy pulled down my skirt and humiliated me in front of the class. The teacher made him stand up and asked if he would like his pants to be taken off as well. He burst out crying. Sometimes that kind of technique works quite well, especially when you're dealing with someone that [to the best of your knowledge] is just a misbehaving asshat.

 
shawn82 2008-06-07 04:22:47 PM  
Simple solution. Beat the tards.

 
The Subby 2008-06-07 04:25:50 PM  
TheXerox: lionfish: when the removal occurred he hadn't been diagnosed yet. He was just a normal bad kid in kindergarten.

The article states that the teacher knew about the boy being tested for the condition at the time of the vote.


I'm all for this kid. I have Asperger's Syndrome and very few people knew about this condition when I was this boy's age. To my classmates I was a little weird, but I got along OK (not perfectly, I did have some rough spots) and I didn't violently lash out at anyone either. God bless my teachers for having the ability to see beyond my relatively minor social ineptitude and treat me like they would any other kid. Can't imagine how I would have felt were I in this kid's shoes.


I hate the Ohh I have asperger's excuse, everyone who was a socially awkward dipshiat uses it. I swear its this generations "Glandular Problem" No you're not sick you just don't take the time and effort to fit in, playing video games and watching tv is to damn easy and doesn't get you out of your comfort zone.

 
mrEdude 2008-06-07 04:26:15 PM  
What does 'voting him out of class' actually mean?

Did they kick him to the curb?


If not, and all they did was let him know he was being a douche,
I don't see the problem.

 
UseLessHuman 2008-06-07 04:27:08 PM  
She was teaching a lesson on democracy. The difference is that, unlike our last election, this class of 5-year-olds had the intelligence to vote the retard out.

 
Funk Brothers 2008-06-07 04:28:04 PM  
Austistic people can make good employees for meager jobs that no else doesn't want to do for less and they don't care like Hispanics. There will be a huge growth of austistic children in the coming years that can be burger flippers while the normal population gets a college education. When the world fully develops, we can use them as factory workers because they're trained to do the same thing every single day instead of robots. Sorry if your child is austistic, but he/she will become a bruger flipper instead of a doctor. I know this is insulting, but it's truth just like the War in Iraq.

 
mrEdude 2008-06-07 04:28:46 PM  
ps leave Heather alone

what if she's like, 15?
/pervs

 
Murgen 2008-06-07 04:30:06 PM  
Maybe if the school district had just APOLOGIZED and fixed the issue there wouldn't be a lawsuit. But, in America these days, an apology means admission of guilt and we can't do that cause they might sue us!

LOL

 
shawn82 2008-06-07 04:31:05 PM  
mrEdude: ps leave Heather alone

what if she's like, 15?
/pervs


www.disarm.se

 
madgonad 2008-06-07 04:31:38 PM  
I love how everyone is mad at the teacher. If you think you can do better with the little behavior-cases than you know where to sign up. All the teacher did was allow the other children, who were actually the victims of his ongoing bad behavior, to tell the kid that what he was doing bothered them. Consider it an intervention by the teacher and his peers. I would give the teacher points for at least trying new ways to connect with the kid instead of just sending him to the vice principals office again and again.

/ex-teacher
//because I would rather have one boss that listens to me instead of 40 that don't.

 
Magnir 2008-06-07 04:31:42 PM  
bigredwrench: 1. This is kindergarden. If the kid remembers this in the future I'll be surprised.

2. This is kindergarden, put the goofball kid out in the hall or send him to the office for a chat with the principal.

3. Did I mention that this is a kindergarden class? 5 year olds, blocks, graham crappers and that old pee smell.


Dude, this ain't your daddy's kindergarten. In my sons kindergarten they covered spelling, writing, addition, subtraction, less than and greater then and rudimentary fractions. On top of that, the usual learning to read and write, and small level science stuff.

 
HeatherPK 2008-06-07 04:32:19 PM  
mrEdude: ps leave Heather alone

what if she's like, 15?
/pervs


LOL

You're 10 years off.

\No, the other way, perv

 
smokinfoo 2008-06-07 04:34:52 PM  
The kid wasn't autistic, he was being diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. Which is a form of autism, but not the ear biter kind. He basically has a problem relating to other people and their feelings. This is why no one likes him. The kid needs to adjust his world view.

 
Displayed 50 of 268 comments

First | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | » | Last | Show all


[Continue Farking]