Aspies For Freedom

Autism families' legal fight continues
JIM WILKES/TORONTO STAR
Lynn Shane plays with her “bright little fella,” Adam, 8, who was taken out of school because he also needs 21 hours a week of therapy.

`Make or break' moment in court challenge to allow therapists into classrooms to sit with autistic kids
Feb 11, 2008 04:30 AM
Jim Wilkes
Staff Reporter, The Toronto Star

Mississauga mother Lynn Shane no longer wants to be forced to choose between her son's education and the vital therapy he needs for autism.

She and her husband are among a handful of families pursuing a class-action lawsuit against Queen's Park and seven school boards in an attempt to secure therapy in the classroom for their children.

The plaintiff families will be in the Ontario Court of Appeal today in what Shane describes as a "make or break" moment in their legal challenge.

The families suffered a setback last March when a Superior Court judge tossed out most of their claims without a trial.

Lawyers for the province and targeted boards are now seeking $85,000 in legal costs from the families, as well as dismissal of the rest of their claims. The families, who have asserted in court filings that they have spent life savings, remortgaged their homes and taken on extra jobs to pay for autism therapy, hope to restore the dismissed parts of their action.

The Shane family pulled 8-year-old Adam out of school after he completed Grade 2 last June.

His mother, 43, said they could no longer try to keep Adam's days free for school while fitting in 21 hours of Intensive Behaviour Intervention sessions each week for his neurological dysfunction. The government pays $40,000 a year toward the therapy.

"They're mutually exclusive, yet he needs them both," Lynn Shane said yesterday at their Mississauga home. "It was confusing for him to be out of school while he was in therapy and he'd miss so many parts of projects in school. It was heartbreaking for all of us."

She said teachers aren't trained on the implications of autism, which can include limited social skills, communication problems and repetitive behaviours.

Shane calls her son "an incredibly bright little fella" who memorized the ages and birthdays of all the adults at his school, something his teacher thought was a nice trait.

"He is very smart, but that's a skill he doesn't need to have," she said.

She and her husband, David, want to have a therapist sit with Adam in the classroom, to help him digest what is being taught.

In the meantime, she is home-schooling Adam while taking him to Burlington for therapy four days a week.

Education ministry spokesperson Patricia McNeil said the education ministry has no policy on allowing therapists into classrooms, saying school boards make that decision.

The Peel District School Board, among the boards named in the suit, forbids any parent or agency from paying for in-class help for students, including autistic therapists, said spokesperson Brian Woodland.

"No matter what the role, the concerns are there, because you have a child on a completely different program from anyone else, but you have a teacher employed to deliver that curriculum," Woodland said.

WOAH.  Am I reading this correctly?  She'd rather have a son who was an idiot, but can talk to people?  Being smart is "A skill he doesn't need"?  And what, making eye contact is?  This lady needs her priorities rearranged.

I don't have anything against ABA/IBI, when it's used correctly (which it usually is not), although 21 hours seems like a bit much to me, and it's certainly not something which is "vital".  However, I agree that it's time the government and the schools made an effort to provide assistance to autistics and their families.

How could she do this to him?! Information of the sort you learn at school is such a wonderful thing. And on top of that, this isn't a child who  can't benefit from school; he's obviously verbal, if he can memorize people's birthdays and say them back.

I understand home-schooling. It's probably better for most, with decent parents. But who wants to bet that this kid's schooling will fall by the wayside, as they try to persuade him to act more and more "normal"?

It could be that, when they are restricting his access to information, they are not just denying him "useless" skills, but the opportunity to discover a skill or interest which will lead to a career; and if not a career, then lifelong enjoyment.

But their priority is that their child is the most "normal" possible, while skills and talents fall by the wayside.

Yes, I don't see why he would "need" all this therapy if he's able to cope in a regular classroom. Having a therapist there is only going to make him look even more "different" than he is now. I wonder what kind of autism he's got too.

I feel I know too little of what goes on at intensive behavioral trainings.

Do they actually spend time on making them walk "right", sit "right", write "right",...?

The bad ones do.  They also spend time trying to get them to look the therapist in the  eye and (sometimes) punishing them if they don't.
IBI/ABA is something I'd like to know more about.  I've heard people say that it's very useful when done correctly, but I've also heard people say that it's never done correctly and I've heard people say that it is completely useless even when done correctly.  I know only a little about what the therapists actually do, just some things I have read, so I think I need to find out more about it before I entirely make up my mind.

poor kid.  I can see him being tortured because his special interests will be called "a waste of time" and his stims will be "useless and obnoxious".  I think homeschooling would be great for some autistic kids because they could learn in a more calm and controlled environment.  Usually four hours per day would be enough for the school work and they could spend the rest of the day on their special interests.  But this kid is being taken out of the school system so that he can be transported to his IBI sessions for a total of 21 hrs per week, 4 days per week.  So realistically, he must be getting 5.25 hrs of IBI four days per day plus transportation time and just one day off.  Regular school is only about 5 hrs per day with lunch and recess breaks.  He is really being schooled at home then, only for one day per week if at all.  He is just getting IBI almost full time.  The mother is lying.

Nope, he definitely doesn't need 21 hours. I'd say more like... eh, 7-8 hours, with most of that being speech and social skills education. One and a half hours after school, probably enough. I'm assuming here that he's high-functioning Kanner's, and doesn't have additional needs like self-care, motor skills, physical therapy, etc.

If you want to find out, there are videos out there. I found one on "play therapy" for autie kids at my library. It consisted of a teacher actually teaching a child to play "the right way". It wasn't outright cruel or anything; but it did force the child to work despite overload. By the end of the video, the child was imitating a tea party... but I noticed that he did it exactly the way the teacher had shown him; so I assume it was rote memorization, not true play. Always the big weakness for ABA--teach them how, but not why.

Therapy is supposed to teach the child how to do literally *everything*... it's based on an assumption that he won't learn because he doesn't learn by imitation. So naturally they want to use a lot of time, because any time not spent in therapy is wasted time, time spent allowing the child to behave in an autistic manner. There are some who say that every waking moment should be spent doing some kind of therapy, whether that's formal therapy or just the parent getting the child to interact with them.

It's a lot like growing a bonsai tree... Typically, when you plant a sapling, you put a stake in the ground and tie it to the stake, so that it grows straight--that's education. Intensive therapy, especially ABA, is like growing a bonsai tree--every small movement is controlled, every bit of growth bent in the direction that's desired by the therapist. In the end, you get what you want; but it tends to be stunted.

Yeah, but that's what ABA is... a brace for behavior. At least that's the way I see it. YMMV.

Everyone has their uses imo.

And it's no wonder, if she can't explain why such a bright child would "need" so much therapy (aka mind control)

I thought the mother might be in trouble for saying she was homeschooling and not actually doing that.  According to the law in Ontario, children can be removed from school to receive "receiving "satisfactory instruction at home or elsewhere."  The law, however, does not clearly define what is "satisfactory instruction" unless a school board official complains and the government starts an inquiry.  If someone is fined for truancy, it is only $200.  

So, in fact, children attending private schools for "autistics" using IBI methods can teach the children whatever they want.  It does not have the be the government approved curriculum.  The government has a website that any person can assess that has the whole curriculum on it.

So she might think memorizing birthdays is "useless".  Though they might not realize it, it may be that his mind is practicing this skill for when he's older and needs to memorize more useful stuff.  I can see this being useful in math or computer programming.  (Kind of like keeping a database in your brain.)  In the US, kids have had to memorize state capitals because it might appear on a pop-quiz.  We have 50 states, each with a capital to remember.  Can anyone suggest a better way to remember all that?

Someone had commented that the kid's mom didn't specify what kind of autism he has.  Probably because if she did, the newspaper would be flooded with letters from angry aspies.

Yeah... he's in a mainstream classroom without an aide, and verbal... he's either Aspie or could pass for one.