Here is the link:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/29/
police-report-reveals-teachers-side-incident-which/
?feedback=1#comments
According to Wendy Portillo:
1. Alex was voted out of the classroom for the rest of the day, not for good.
2. Alex was under a desk, pushing it up with his feet.
3. Second discipline referral that day.
4. Ms. Portillo wanted Alex to hear from other kids the impact of his behavior.
5. Ms. Portillo stated there are inaccuracies in a written report.
Alex's short list of crimes accused of by other students as noted by Alex to a police officer:
1. eating paper
2. picking his nose
3. eating his boogers
4. biting his shoelaces
Alex's list of bad things about Ms. Portillo as noted by Alex to a police officer:
1. She told Alex Barton that she hates him [at the time of the incident].
2. She scratched him.
3. She stepped on his shoelaces.
4. She pulled his shirt collar.
N.B. Ms. Portillo and other kids in the class refuted the last three allegations from Alex.
At least one parent has stated that Ms. Portillo is:
1. exceptional
2. caring
3. top-notch
My good friend Jeremy Crow (and those who are unfamiliar with his writing really ought to seek out his blogs) does not defend the teacher however he does point out that there has to be more to this story than is written. To that I certainly agree. I have to wonder if this incident was isolated or if it was a larger part of a long chain of incidents. Perhaps there have been other on-going issues and problems and this was the end result.
What the teacher did, as reported-- in my opinion-- was morally and ethically wrong.
This situation does bring up questions about inclusive education, the availability of aides in each classroom, teacher supervision, and the accuracy of testimony of children. I don't have any answers, just a bunch of thoughts and suppos-eds.
Seems to me that this incident surely was not the first indication that Alex Barton and Ms. Wendy Portillo were having a problem. As the adult and a teacher, Ms. Portillo has the responsibility to seek out supervision when there is a child that she finds extremely vexing in her classroom that she is either unwilling or unable to deal with.
The questions of inclusive classrooms vs. resource room pull-outs vs. special education classes I shall leave to those better qualified to answer. http://autism.about.com/b/2008/05/30/
your-thoughts-requested-how-far-should-teachers-go-to-include-children-with-autism.htm
My own observations are anecdotal in nature only and thus aren't anything to base a course of action on. Here I must point out that Alex Barton was in the process of testing on May 27th and now has been labeled as having Asperger's and A.D.H.D. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/30/earlyshow/
living/parenting/main4140155.shtml
The question about the accuracy of testimony of children-- children are not always very accurate. There are court cases and things written about elsewhere that point this out. To wit, the McMartin case and the children satanic sexual abuse scares of the 80s and 90s hold some examples.
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2001/the_devil_in_the_nursery
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/mcmartin_daycare/5.html
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/mcmartin_daycare/9.html
http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/
investigative-issues-in-ritual-abuse-cases-part-1-and-2-1994/
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_mcmar.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_case.htm
http://www.rickross.com/reference/false_memories/fsm66.html
http://www.illinoisfms.org/200505ar.html
The question about the accuracy of testimony of the accused-- let's just say that adults have been known to be reckless with the truth in a cover-your-ass world. What will come of this remains to be seen. I gather from perusing other blogs that the Dr. Phil show folks http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/
may/29/30gt-autistic-student-mom-receive-worldwide-hed/
have called Melissa Barton, looking for an appearance on his show. And that Alex's mother is talking about suing.
Ms. Portillo continues under administrative duties as of this writing. And Alex continues to not attend school, apparently due to his mother's wishes. He did get to talk on the telephone with a schoolmate and will get to visit this summer.
radical sapphoq
7 comments:
Just curious what your thoughts are about the parent's role in Alex's situation? If there were issues over such a long period of time, including discipline concerns (which, in most schools, would involve a note to the parent), did mom or dad request a parent/teacher conference? If that didn't happen, did they request a parent/teacher/principal conference?
And what about the principal's role? Evidently the principal was aware of Alex's issues to the degree that she knew he was being evaluated. Did the principal ask Portillo whether she needed extra help?
Seems to me this is NOT a single-person issue, though obviously what Portillo did was flat-out wrong.
Lisa (autism.about.com)
Boy, every time some adult "allegedly" abuses a child, the child complains and parents get all legal and "uppity," the first people you hear from is the false memory syndrome people.
Yep. Kids are evil. They lie. And they are just tattletales who want to get good people into trouble.
:End sarcasm
As to the kids voting the kid out for his horrid sins of nose-picking and fidgeting - google "Manufactured Consent."
Bob, first of all,
I was endeavoring to point out in my overused example with the McMartin case that young children witnesses are not always as accurate with details as one might wish to believe. Same goes for adult witnesses. [And for adults who are deliberately lying in order to avoid consequences of things they have done]. We now know via neurologists that the brain's memory devices do not function like computer chips. Although I am generally no fan of the F.M.S. folks, I make no apologies for recognizing the research of Elizabeth Loftus as having validity in respect to how memory works. As per Oliver Sachs and others, we now also know that the functioning of the brain is not as clearcut as the old left/right regional model would have us believe.
As for the satanic sexual abuse scares [which you did not mention but which I am mentioning specifically because of your sarcastic reference to all kids being evil lying tattletales], I remember those scares of the 80s and 90s all too well. I have not seen any valid documentation of babies being killed during ritual abuse, nor any reports other than anecdotal ones of widespread ritual abuse occurring.
I am sorry that something in my words prompted you to reply with sarcasm. As bloggers and as readers we take the risk of running into things that we ourselves may not care for or perhaps could have expressed in a better way. I prefer rational discourse whenever possible. Rational discourse and agreeing to disagree certainly can be blocked when one party has been triggered into the recall/reliving of traumatic events.
I have my own history of abuse and rape that I have had to deal with-- a history which includes people not believing me when I asked repeatedly for help to get out of my situation. Inherent in my past was the complete and utter failure of the courts and other people and organizations charged with protecting me to protect me.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I always remembered my abuse. I didn't have the luxury of forgetting it for awhile nor the creativity to shunt it off into compartments so I could continue to function somewhat adequately.
Noam Chomsky surely would not recognize his thoughts on manufactured consent relate to this incident involving kindergarten children. Or even if he did, I don't. I would appreciate a straightforward explanation here of how you tie these two things in together. My knowledge of Noam Chomsky's work and of propaganda in particular still did not yield a connection. Telling me to google a term of his was less than helpful. I've read a fair amount of Chomsky way back when he was still totally involved in the acquisition of language studies before he became more politically a socialist.
Lisa Jo, I am not willing to assign any blame to Alex's mother. I suppose that is rather subjective of me, but too bad.
What I am envisioning/guessing is that the teacher had some long-term frustration with Alex/his behavior/?other things? taken out on Alex. As an adult, she ought to have been insightful enough to recognize some problem within and go deal with it in some adult way.
As a young child, Alex would not necessarily recognize that his teacher was being pushed to the edge. I believe Alex is blameless in this by virtue of his being a child.
The principal should also be providing adequate supervision and direction to the teachers under the principal's charge. While not foolproof, perhaps this mess could have been avoided if the principal or resource officer or some adult said, "Gee this kid is getting sent to the office a lot. What is up with that? Is he really the total problem here?"
We don't know if Alex's mother had a conference or requested one, we don't know (and perhaps will never know now) if the principal or resource officer addressed some issue with the teacher in terms of her responses or how to better manage Alex's behaviors in her classroom. And we don't know if notes were sent home whenever Alex was disciplined or what they indicated if they were written.
What Ms. Portillo did was flat out wrong: that much is obvious to me.
She should be kept in an office somewhere doing paperwork until this whole mess can be sorted out. Unfortunately, I find it difficult to believe that she will ultimately be fired over this (and her teaching license revoked) much as I wish that would be so.
The system is somehow at fault also and a society which is intolerant of intra-personal differences and perspectives. We are a rather xenophobic society. Those of us on the spectrum have the "benefit" of being able to study average behavior. Those folks who aren't don't have nearly as many sources of study concerning what it means to be marked in a world that values uniformity.
Thank you both for commenting.
spike
Wendy Portillo is a bitch. She is not a teacher. That requires actual education and a professional license holding her to some actual standards. She sucks. We as a society should be more "uppity" when it comes to who and what we allow around us and our kids. Autistic kids, and all!!
Actually Mike, like it or not, she is a teacher. She does have the education and the license.
As to being held to professional standards, I can only hope that "the system" will do the right thing for once.
As to her being a "bitch," I don't know if she is or not.
I do know that I wouldn't allow her to babysit my dog, never mind a kid.
Furthermore, I think since inclusive education is becoming more and more the way to do things, all teachers should be dually certified-- in special education as well as in their area of specialty.
spike
Bother - I was sure I answered you and it seems I did not.
Well, I shall, I hope, today. But I'm afraid it will be a longish one.
A couple of quick high-points, though. The McMartin case is rather complex and casts no glory upon anyone. But the most damning thing was that there were two weeks between reports of abuse and tunnels and any investigation.
A couple of years later, parents gained access, and a crude archaeological study was done, which was widely ignored - but which found many features that seemed to match the stories the children told.
As for Elizabeth Loftus - well, as good as her work is, her daughter's work on "Betrayal Trauma" is what brought her into the field. FWIW.
Personally, I think her work cannot be stretched to apply to traumatic memory and repression; seemingly an entirely different mechanism.
BTW, I don't happen to believe (nor have I ever) in a global satanic conspiracy. I've met satanists. :P
But I do believe that there are folks that will use whatever works to gain power over others. I do believe that those sorts of people read the same types of books - and at the time, I recall that a number of really creepy ones were available via Paladin Press.
Including a number written by Col. Michael Aquino.
Experimentation on unwitting civilians - even children - is hardly something to disbelieve of our Cold Warriors. Project Monarch comes to mind. The various radiation experiments do. The "Psycic Driving" experiments and the CIA LSD trials are all public. And let's not forget the grandaddy of all such things, the Tuskegee Experiment.
It's certain many other such things have not become public, considering how embarrassing those revelations were.
As for "manufactured consent", it may be a stretch in the sense Chomsky used it, but then, I was speaking from the perspective of Power Dynamics. I did not actually know that Chomsky used those words, thought it doesn't particularly surprise me.
The idea is that if a person in authority and with a large power differential suggests a course of action, they will tend to get the answer they wish to hear, whether or not that's a real answer based on the real feelings of the subordinates.
In other words, compliance is the first reflex, and this is something that people who will be in power over others are taught (in responsible contexts) to be aware of if they are seeking actual responses.
Oh, and as my wife is a special education teacher, I would agree, every teacher should have that training. First, it's getting to be a legal necessity. But more importantly, it's tools and strategies make one a much better teacher.
Any grown woman, nevermind a licensed professional educator, who thinks it is OK to abuse and terrorize a child this way, diagnosis or no diagnosis, is a bitch.
Not a debate.
Inclusion is popular for many reasons, but since this child di not have a diagnosis yet, he likely did not have an IEP and thus was in the mainstream class like all other registered kindergarteners. Many of whom are probably disruptions to the class form time to time for various behaviors or reasons. Is this "teacher" going to treat them the same way? She already used undue influence and duress to have them bully the one who was "different". Teachers do not necessarily all have to have special education training, but common sense and common decency would be nice. Don't you remember in pre school or sunday school being told the basics "Everyone is different", "treat others as you want to be treated", "its not nice to bully"...etc?
When the child has an IEP, the IEP team of parent, professionals, etc decide what is appropriate for the child's educaton, what classroom, therapies, etc. Meantime, regular ed teachers need to be aware that terrorism is not in the lesson plan.
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