VARIED CARE FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
Scott Vanover
2010
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[VARIED CARE FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Abstract
This paper is about how law affects special education. More importantly this paper is
about the varied care that children with autism need in order to get the best education possible.
Autism has a long history and this paper shows how autism education came to be. From court
cases to educational practices this paper will better help understand why each child with Autism
is unique.
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Varied Care for Children with Autism
Children with special needs can be very similar to one another. Each condition has
similarities and differences, yet do the children with the same condition need to be taught the
same? Do they have the same skill sets and needs as the other? I found out first hand that
children with similar conditions can vary widely when it comes to what they need to learn and
behavior development. This topic interested me when before I even knew I wanted to be a
special education teacher. In the summer of 2008, I worked as a special needs day camp
councilor at Camp Campbellgard. Two campers, “Kelly” and “Austin”, have autism on the
severe end of the spectrum. Even though they both are severe autistic, the care for both children
was different on many levels. Kelly uses basic sign language to communicate to others, while
Austin communicates with other people verbally. Kelly learns by repetition and by watching
others. Kelly’s tantrums were very physical and she would try to bite herself. Austin would
scream at an eardrum shattering pitch when he was frustrated or did not want to do an activity.
Working with both children really opened my eyes and shocked me at how different one
disability can be and how varied the care is for each individual. This is important to understand
because the knowledge gained could lead to a cure for autism, help improve teaching methods,
and also build rapport with students.
The history of special education is a grim one. Many people in Greek culture and in that
era people would kill children who were born with a disability. As time moved forward people
with disabilities were still shunned and separated from society, as a whole and the stance didn’t
change until the 1800’s. During that time the country was expanding and growing and the Civil
War was fought. The Civil War was a stepping-stone for not only African Americans but for
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education as a whole. In the 1900’s special needs and education in general got a great deal of
attention. States made laws to euthanize the mentally challenged and to keep them out of
schools. Special needs picked up momentum and were on the coattails of the Civil rights
movement. Brown v. Board of Education set the precedent for all education, especially special
needs education. After the Brown case many more laws and articles started to be made for
children with special needs including the Individualized Education Plan (IEP), the Least
Restrictive Environment (LRE), and Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Today,
even in the 2000’s, we still do not have equal treatment for people with special needs, but finally
they are starting to be accepted by society.
To enroll a student for special needs care parents and teachers must call and set up an
evaluation. After the evaluation the results will tell if the child would benefit from being in
special education classes. The parent’s can both accept the results and set up a meeting to create
an IEP or they can end the whole process. Eventually, the main goal is to integrate each student
to basic classes and get them in the LRE. This process is called mainstreaming. Both of these
laws go hand-in-hand with the guidelines of FAPE. The Individuals with Disabilities Act states
that all children receiving benefits must create an IEP and it is the teacher and parents role to
implement the new techniques. Having an IEP helps the situation in the case of Kelly and Austin
because since they learn in different ways and have different skills both of their IEP’s will be
specifically designed for them. This will increase learning and proves that children with the same
disability need different care.
An IEP would need to be changed to accommodate the culture and linguistic skills of a
different demographic. Sign language has many ways it can be interpreted throughout the world.
Teachers would need to take measures to insure that child was still getting a quality education.
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Other than being in a new region or country and adjusting to culture change, there should be no
other major concerns.
Laws are rules created, passed, established, and enforced by the government to keep
citizens safe. The government is consisted of three different groups, or branches, that work
together to form one governing body. One branch is the executive branch. The executive branch
is the department that enforces the law and puts the laws into effects. The most notable figure of
the executive branch is the President. The next branch is the legislative branch; the senate and
House of Representatives run it. These branches work together to create and revise laws and send
them to the executive branch to pass. The last branch is the judicial branch. This branch has all
the district courts, supreme courts, and appellate courts. It is the judicial branch that upholds the
law and interprets the meaning of laws. All three branches work together and their basic
principle is checks and balances to make sure that one branch cannot be more powerful than the
other two. The judicial branch is the branch of government that most affect special education. It
is crucial to understand laws and the origin of them. Teachers everywhere must know laws to not
only protect themselves but also the children they teach. Autism is a big topic today. Scientists
are looking for cures and researching how to fix the effects of autism. There are many court
cases that deal directly with autism education and the varied care these children need. As a future
educator it is important to understand these laws and be aware of the mistakes other people have
made.
One court case that shows the relationships between autism and the varied care they need
is Hjortness v. Neenah Joint School District. The plaintiffs were Joel Hjortness and his parents.
Joel was a bright student but had a wide range of behavior problems that directly affected his and
his classmates. His parents felt that the school failed to meet the IEP accommodations or provide
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the individual attention he deserved and not providing FAPE. The defendants were the Neenah
Joint School District and their representative. The school said that he had behavior problems that
neither the school nor medical professionals could diagnose. The school stated that they did
everything they could to meet the IEP’s standards. This case was tried three times in court. The
first case was settled January 18th, 2007 in the 7th U.S. Circuit Ct. The second case was settled
November 14th, 2007 in the 7th U.S. Circuit Ct of Appeals. The third case was settled June 23rd,
2008 in the U.S. Supreme Ct and the decision denied certiorari to plaintiff. The defendants won
all three cases. Since the Hjortness’s failed to provide the medical basis for the argument since
no professional could diagnose his or her son. This case shows my point that children with
autism have many different ways to be treated and cared for. The student had many ways and
forms of care he needed provided and the school had no way of meeting his IEP with all his
behavior problems. Teachers cannot teach a student without knowing what to do or expect from
a child (2008 LEXIS 5092).
The second case that relates autism and the varied care are demonstrated in Mark H. v
Hamamoto. The plaintiffs in this case are Mark H and his wife who feel both of his daughter’s
disabilities made it impossible to enjoy access to benefits of public education without autism
specific services they wanted to be compensated in money for the lack of services. The
Department of Education, DOE, was aware that the girls needed services and failed to provide
them with reasonable accommodations and used the Rehabilitation Act § 504 as evidence to
support their claim. This act declares that any person with a disability that is qualified for
services cannot be discriminated against. The defendant was Patricia Hamamoto the
superintendant of the school district. The case has been heard three times.
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The first case was Mark H v Lemahieu and was settled in Hawaii’s District Ct in 2005. The
decision is to have another hearing from the lack of evidence the plaintiffs provided. The
plaintiff could not prove his daughters were being intentionally discriminated against. The
second hearing Mark H v Lemahieu was settled in 2008 in the U.S. 9th Circuit Ct. Again the
plaintiff could not provide enough evidence to support his claim and ruled in favor of the
defendant. The third case was decided in the U.S. 9th Circuit Ct of Appeals on August 26, 2010.
The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and reversed the last decision. This case is to be tried
again at a latter date. This case is important to my topic because as a future educator I must
understand all that FAPE involves. Accommodations must be made and the school should have
researched the needs of the girls to make sure their needs are being reached (2010 LEXIS
17837).
Article 7 also tells us more information on what procedures need to be done to meet
FAPE for children with autism. When evaluating a student suspected with autism the educational
report must include multidisciplinary team’s assessments, observations, and information aligned
to the characteristics of autism (40-5). The effects will generally be seen around the age of three
(41-1). Other characteristics associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and
stereotyped movements. Children with autism are resistant to environmental change or change in
daily routines and have unusual responses to sensory experiences (41-1). It is important to know
these laws to know what to look for in diagnosing a child. Also, knowing these laws will help
protect teachers and be aware of the little duties needed to meet accommodations required to
provide FAPE.
As a future educator it is crucial to understand the laws that correspond to teaching
children with special needs. The Judicial branch is the branch of government that most directly
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affects special education. It is this branch in which the law is interpreted and precedents are
made. Two court cases that show the varied care that children with autism require are Hjortness
v Neenah Joint School District and Mark H v Hamamoto. In both cases the school to ensure
FAPE did not meet the accommodations. The children were bright students but because nobody
could figure out what specifically was wrong. The schools are responsible for making
accommodations for students with disabilities and it is their duty to research what the child
needs(Hjortness v. Neenah Joint School District, 2008),(Mark H. v Hamamoto, 2010). Knowing
the law is a great way to not only protect the students, but to also protect the schools and teachers
that work hard to serve children.
Court cases are the work of the law in practice. Many of the court cases are still going
back and being re-tried. Court decisions have a great and lasting impact on both parties involved
and for future people who deal with the same problems. In the case Mark H. v Hamamoto, for
example, has been tried and reversed three times and was remanded for future proceedings.
Court cases do not fully solve the problems and many things leave the courtroom unsettled. In
the case of Hjortness v. Neenah Joint School District the plaintiff was Joel Hjortness’s parents.
Where did Joel end up? What happens to students that cannot be integrated into the “typical
classroom” and what else can the school try to accommodate his needs? There really is no
answer. In the article written by Sheryl Rich-Kern, “For Some Students With Autism,
“Appropriate Education” is Hard to Define” has insight on this issue. The federal law states that
schools provide an appropriate education for all students. Appropriate for children with autism
depends on where they are at cognitively(Rich-Kern, 2010). It is hard to get the educational
programs required to reach these children effectively because of money issues. Inclusion has
shown to help all cognitive and social abilities in children with autism but lack of resources and
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aids to help along with parents who do not want inclusion are all factors prohibiting the
education of students (Rich-Kern, 2010). One way to help reach children with autism is brought
up in Jennifer Neitzel’s article’ “Positive Behavior Supports for Children and Youth with Autism
Spectrum Disorders” is to just give positive feedback to the student. Positive reinforcement not
only boosts the child’s self-esteem but also will better understand what is asked of them (Neitzel,
2010). The Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental Learning Disorders provides a
framework for helping teachers better teach and communicate with their students. This
framework is called the DIR/Floortime Model. The objectives of this model are to build
foundations for social, emotional, and intellectual capacities rather than focusing on isolated
learning (ICDL, 2010). There is three parts to the DIR model. The D is Developmental, focuses
on building strategies for critical thinking, how to stay calm in social situations, and engage and
relate to others. The I step is the Individual differences. This step relates to the varied care given
to children with autism. This step explores how each child takes in, responds, and understands
sensations such as sound and touch. Some children are very hyper responsive to touch and
sound, while others are under-reactive. Some children even seek these sensations out, even if
they know they do not like them. The R step refers to Relationships. That is how the child
interacts with caregivers and teachers (ICDL, 2010). For all the negative aspects associated with
autism, most people do not understand that people with autism are very intelligent. According to
David Wolman and his article, “The Audie Advantage”, people with autism can grasp and
comprehend information that most people cannot. Some children can recite whole episodes of a
show the first time they watch it. People with autism should not be looked down upon because of
the reputation it has come to develop (Wolman, 2010). Scientists are trying to develop a cure to
fix autism. Nancy Shule wrote the article,” Desperate for an Autism Cure”. She states that while
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scientists are trying to find a cure it is becoming difficult because of all that accompanies autism.
It can really be anything in the brain and just because a cure might be able to help some out, it
will not help all(Shule, 2010). These articles gave incredible insight on the world of autism. The
main thing that the articles mention is that autism is too vast or varied to be able to have one
uniform way of helping or curing children. The best advice was to build rapport with students
and get to know them on an individual level and try every technique possible to try and reach
each student. If the court case decisions taught anything is that if you are accountable and have
the best interests of the child and try all that can possibly be tried to reach a student and have
evidence supporting your claim, then you do not have to worry about further penalties from the
law.
Behavior is sporadic in children who have autism. The reason for this is because some
children are hypersensitive to the environment around them. Everything that makes a noise can
irritate the child and set off a fit. With working with children with autism one child “Cooper” did
not like whistling. If anyone whistled he would hurt the other child or run away and have a
tantrum. When he had his tantrums the only thing to do was sing his favorite song and just let
him calm down on his own. Sue Watson wrote an article, “Best Practices for Emotional and
Behavior Disorders in the Classroom”, that gives insight on how to deal with some of these
problems. Evidence of behaviors is obvious and can range from; looking pre occupied,
disruptive, impulsive, aggressive, and physically hurts self. Some ways to fix this is; have strict
rules and enforce them, acknowledge positive behavior, be consistent, establish a quiet cool
down area, self-talk exercises, and engage in active hands-on activities(Watson, 2010). Teachers
should be aware of all these practices and encourage classmates to do the same, especially during
inclusion. Inclusion is when a child with special needs does the exact same thing as the typical
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class. Inclusion is a big environment change, which will easily trigger bad behavior. Even is a
student is being mainstreamed they still require the services provided before.
Some students may have different cultural backgrounds then the rest of the class or
community. According to Leon-Gurrero West and D. Stevens in their article, “Establishing
Codes of Acceptable School-wide Behavior in a Multi-cultural Society”, there must be many
accommodations given to these students. Teachers must be able to communicate with the student
in their native language and that of the parents. The teacher must be aware and to know the ways
to address that culture. Children must be able to understand the language of the new culture
before they can be mainstreamed and integrated into the classroom(West & Stevens, 2007).
Providing an “appropriate” education for children with special needs is very difficult.
Children with autism are taught based on the cognitive level they have achieved (Rich-Kern,
2010). Since autism has such a broad range having one teaching method will not work. Instead
teachers must broaden their horizons and try everything they can to find a method that works for
that child. It is proven that inclusion in classrooms with autistic children in fact makes them learn
better and provides the best results. Teachers must know see the signs; looking pre occupied,
disruptive, impulsive, aggressive, and physically hurts self and know what to do if a behavior
problem were to occur (Watson, 2010). Some inclusion practices are to have a quiet cool down
area, be consistent in rules, and give appropriate feedback right away (Watson, 2010). Doing and
learning these techniques will not only benefit the child, but will make the average teacher into a
highly qualified one.
The Judicial branch is the body of government that directly impacts and relates most with
special education. It is the judicial branches job to weigh in on the laws and help settle
grievances. The Judicial system is made up of Supreme courts, district courts, and appellate
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courts. The court cases that I have studied have given me insight on many different aspects of
teaching. The parents and the child are protected by IDEA and the 14th amendment. This
amendment gives the parents right to due process. Both cases came from parents who were
frustrated by the lack of implementing FAPE and feeling that their child was not getting the
attention and education they deserved. They used their rights and under the 14th amendment took
the schools to court. As a future teacher it was beneficial to know that even if you try the hardest
to give a child the best education possible that some parents will still complain and want to settle
the issues in court. After the cases the ruling is put into effect. If a case is a landmark case the
ruling sets a precedent for all other cases relatable. Under IDEA children have the right to FAPE.
Two components try to make sure FAPE is provided to every child. The IEP is a contract by the
school and teacher and parents showing how FAPE will be reached and what skills the child will
be learning. The goal of special education is to ultimately get the child in the general education
classroom or in the LRE. It is proven that students that get to be with their peers learn faster and
retain information better. When parents do not think teachers are meeting these two criteria that
is when the issue is a court problem. In Hjortness v. Neenah Joint School District the court
decided that since the parents had no diagnosis of their son’s behavior problems, even medical
professionals could not diagnose him, that the school did everything it possibly could to meet
FAPE (2008 LEXIS 5092). In the case Mark H v. Hamamoto, Mark and his wife felt that since
the school did not have any autism specific services, that they did not get to enjoy access to the
benefits and wanted money as compensation. The court ruled that since the DOA was aware of
his daughter’s disability and failed to provide services necessary for education (2010 LEXIS
17837). These court rulings affect students today because without these cases schools would not
be held responsible or accountable for the student’s education. Some problems that still need to
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be addressed are the lack of documentation for schools to prove that they were trying to help the
students and provide them with FAPE. The application of the law is not controversial, but I feel
that teachers get the short end of the stick when it comes to court cases. If found guilty teachers
have to pay fees and whatever the court awarded the victors.
Autism is unlike any other disability due to the vastness and variety in which it can
develop. Some children are highly functioning and others are extremely severe. Children with
autism can be hypersensitive to the world and senses around them. Any little noise can set off a
fit. The thing that people must realize is that the children are not doing bad behavior on purpose,
they cannot help it. Teaching children with autism is an even bigger challenge because there is
not just one methodology to teach them. Students with autism are taught and placed in
environments based on the cognitive level they have developed. Children with autism are not
dumb, they are very intelligent and can remember information most “normal” people cannot
grasp. The reason children with autism have such varied care is due to the fact that every child is
different. One methodology would not benefit many students. Varied care and educational
practices are vital to the development of students and essential to the growth of their cognitive
development. As a future teacher I learned that the best way to teach students with autism are to;
have a safe quiet place in the room the child can go when frustrated, recognize behavior, good or
bad, right away. Teachers need to give positive feedback and reinforcement for good behaviors
and be consistent in discipline for bad behavior. Also, have hands on or engaging activities to
have the student more involved (Watson, 2010). Working with students with special needs I
know that most problems occur when the child is bored or during transition periods when there is
no order or structure. Varied care is necessary in order to provide the best education possible.
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Researching court cases and reading articles on autism has opened my eyes to how important
being a special education teacher can be.