Where do we draw the line for Special Education in Public Schools?

So I was assigned an SEA (Special Ed Assistant) position at a local high school recently.

I show up to learn that I was going to be working with a violent "student" who suffers from a disorder (can't remember the name right now) that makes him very autistic. He cannot talk and communicates through a limited number of signs. The boy is 19--he does not attend class, and has never attended class as long as he has been in high school. This school keeps disabled kids until they are 21 and they work on preparing them for the real world in doing things like laundry, setting the table, washing dishes--chores that most of us learn before we are ten. This school does have a high percentage of job placement for these kids once they reach 21. I think I was told 90%. These kids get jobs as cart collectors at Walmart or doing laundry for a hospital or a simple job like that. I think this is a great program and think that this training time with these kids is important HOWEVER I do not feel it should take place in a public school.

Let me tell you about my day. I get there and am told that I will be working with another SEA with this boy. So 2 adults per 1 student. My primary job would be to call for security if needed. I had to tie back my hair (so he couldn't yank it) and hide any jewelry I had--so he didn't yank them. I was warned not to touch him--because it may set him off. I was also taught a few basic restraint techniques---sounds like I am working in a jail ward....

We went to the door to pick him up. It took us about 30 minutes to get him in the door, get his jacket off and to get him to sit in the cafeteria. The cafeteria is his "classroom". We then attempt to show him using pictures what we will be doing for the day. We then try to take him to the bathroom--and yes this grown man needs help to use it--and does wear a diaper for accidents which happen often. It takes us probably another 30 - 45 minutes to walk him to the bathroom. He doesn't want to walk. He starts yelling in the hallways. Teachers begin closing their doors because he is interrupting their lessons. Finally we get him to the bathroom. He takes another 15 to use it and then we are off. We decide to let him walk to get exercise. This ends up becoming a mistake. He walks to the library, where once again he becomes loud and disruptive. We then attempt to guide him (without touching him--remember this--that is why it takes so long to get him to do anything) back to the laundry room--his other classroom. Right now he is being taught to do laundry. Basically, the other SEA hands him laundry and he puts it in the machine and turns it on. He then wants to lay down for a nap, and does so for about 20 minutes. Then we are off to the cafeteria to try to get him to color a picture--the kind of picture Kylan now colors. He becomes disagreeable again and attempts to hit people as they pass. We call security. Security helps us get him seated in the cafeteria. Passing period then begins and students walk through the cafeteria. He strikes out and hits one. We now create a barrier (I, the other SEA and security) around him --remember not touching him--to keep other students out of his reach.

You like this so far--it does get better....

So we end up keeping him in the cafeteria until lunch. It feels like a decade has passed. I sit with other SEA's and their students. We find out there is going to be a fire drill. Things like fire drills can really set disabled students off. Argh! There is snow and it is winter. And now our task after lunch is to get him out of the building before the fire drill.

We get outside and go for a long walk. Then return after the bell. The walk was actually good. Perhaps all he needed was some fresh air. We come back in and see administrators running the hall. They stop and ask us if we have seen a certain SEA. We hadn't. Turns out, one of the other SE boys (the one I sat next to at lunch) had gone off the deep end. He bit two teachers taking chunks of skin out of them---those teachers were being rushed for help since there was a lot of blood. The other SEA was being looked for because they thought that he might be able to get the boy to calm down. After talking to the SEA I am working with I discover that this is not the first time this has happened. The boy is known for vicious bites that often lead to stitches and scarring. Yes and he is put around other students.

The rest of my afternoon actually went well. We got our kid to sit down and put together some elementary puzzles. We then fed him a snack and got him on the bus.

So here is my question--why are these students--who are a danger to themselves and others--put in public schools where they really aren't getting the value of a public education. They are getting an entirely separate education. We are endangering hundreds of kids to put them in a public school that is of no use to them? This makes no sense to me. I think that ABSOLUTELY there should be programs for these kids, however I think it should be in a safe area for them--where they are not disturbing the education of others and they are not endangering others.

Short and to the point. I don't have much more to say for this entry. Think it over next time you send your kid to school. Do you want your kids around others that have violent tendency or that are disruptive? Remember what we always push though--equal opportunity and equal education---yet these kids really can't get either because their disability hinders them. So why are we putting them in public schools?