Samantha Drake: My Thoughts, My Words, My Life

Today I got yet another call from my son's school saying that he was having an angry outburst. I came down to the school to find my son saying that he didn't want to be the teacher's friend. I asked why he was upset and he couldn't articulate what was making him upset. I decided to stay the entire day and observe the class and to see how the teacher interacted with the students as well as how the students behaved in the class. What I observed simply shocked me. I could not believe that the teacher had even been calling me by the way the other students in the class were behaving. The things that she said my son was doing was being done repeatedly throughout the duration of my stay by each student in the class yet no parents were called. There were children cursing, hitting, kicking, talking, yelling, throwing things, etc. However, all of these things the children were doing are things that you would expect in a kindergarten class. To take things just a step further the class is 11boys and 4 girls. This tells me right off hand that the class is going to be more rowdy than an average class because boys just naturally find things to get into. The next thing I noticed is that the teacher is very soft spoken with the children. She sort of suggests that they do things rather than insist and make them do what they are supposed to do. The teacher is also a little elderly to be working with so many young children. She was just too tired to fuss with them. The children listened to me telling them to pay attention and to listen to the teacher more than they did their real teacher. I am concerned about why and how they decide to notify parents and if they are informing the other parents about their children's behavior.

I have never been the type of parent to say what their child would not do. I have been very open to each alligation they have approached me about my son with. However after observing the class today I question the concerns that the school has brought to me. There is absolutely no structure within that classroom. Austic children need to have a structured learning environment so that they are not able to begin getting antsy and impatient. The thing about it is that there isn't enough structure for the children who are "normal" let alone enough for my son who is autistic.