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I’ve seen it happen often, on a smaller scale. I’ve seen staff standing over a howling autistic boy, ordering him to calm down. I’ve seen staff bodily drag a child out of the room and down the hall. I stepped in to one situation and quietly asked the child what the problem was, waited until he was able to tell me, and we sorted it out. That teacher was just too stressed to try, and I don’t blame her — the child was nearly as tall as she was.

Training is needed. Training in sensitivity, crisis prevention, basic calming techniques, sensory overload, behaviour analysis, and most of all training in each particular child’s needs because they are all so different. School staff know enough not to stand over an epileptic and tell them to stop their seizure, but sometimes they try to stop an autistic student’s meltdown that way!

Peers in the classroom need training, too — autistic behaviour is often baffling, irritating, even frightening, and peers need to know when they are and aren’t safe, what the unusual behaviour means, and most of all, how to interact with their autistic peer in a friendly way.

Where will we find the money to do all this? Autism rates are rising, but taxpayers don’t have enough respect for the school system to make this kind of funding a priority. They also don’t understand the day-to-day effort it takes for a person with autism to function in this world. Until more funding is found, situations like this will come up again and again, students will be traumatized, and teachers will burn out.

Sue McGowan, Ottawa

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