i always loved the library when i was younger. haven't gone much recently because they were so terrible nearby. and hard luck when your school opens up the nice new one weeks after you graduate. the old one was terrible. i personally would like to live near a big school when i get my own place so i can go to the library and read. i did go to the local bookstore and read there when i had the chance.
the great autistic school would have to have a library like the library of congress...get lost for days and be the center of the school.
also needs open space nearby, to explore, not isolated from the rest of the world in some way.
the state of us public schools make me think that i would homeschool my kids instead. soicalzation is way overrated, a little less isn't going to kill them. i'm not teaching my children to be the same and agree with everyone else, but to thrive with their own talents.
I'll have to come back later and post all the planning I've been doing for the school I'd like to open when I'm older... It'd be crazy expensive, but it would be so wonderful.
Don't have the time to explain right *now*.
OK! Here goes!
I want to become a special ed. teacher and at some point open my own school. I don't know yet how much of what I want to do is possible, because I don'ty fully know the limits of the school system yet, but my "dream school" is something like this:
- Student to teacher ratio would be around 4 to 1
This could be acomplished without having to pay too much money, by having part-time (well trained!) aides who asist the teachers.
- Lighting would be LED, so brightness/color could be adjusted to suit the students' needs perfectly.
- At the begining of the school year, the parents and student have a meeting with a teacher who will be in charge of the child's learning program- their advisor (this is a system used by my highschool and it works very well). This advisor talks with the student and parents about how the child learns, medical issues, and the child's interests. They make every possible attempt to put the child in a learning environment that will allow them to learn best, based around their interests.
Let's say a kid is very strongly interested in music. This kid enjoys making music, listening to it, and memorizing facts about music. When the kid is in science class, he'll be learning the science of sound waves, working partly on his own, partly with the aide, and partly with the other students. In history class, he's learning about the history of music in america; when the teacher teaches the other students about WWII, he might talk about the music used in Nazi propaganda, as well as music played in America at that time, to help the kid learn. Everything is as individualized as possible and based around the students' wants and interests.
- Students would be allowed to focus intently on an area the have particular interest in, like science, so that the majority of their classes are science-related. One student might have more of their schedule devoted to Math while another is mostly studying the Arts. This only goes up to a point, however, because of learning requirements set by the school district, which all schools must meet.
- Testing would be based on student portfolios, which consist of a collection of everything the student has been working on- inside and outside of school- and homework would be based purely on how well a student understands the material, so that students who are ahead in class don't have to do homework when they don't need to do it to understand. Even when homework is assigned, it would be minimal in scope and not affect the students' grades.
- Social skills would be taught as a class.
- All learning, or at least as much as possible, would be based around different learning styles in order to teach most effectively. Thus, all five senses would be engaged in each lesson, to ensure that the lesson is fully absorbed by all students, no matter how they learn.
- Students would be encouraged to involve themselves in decision making and guiding the school.
- Students would have full accesability to rooms where they can be alone, in darkness if they prefer, listening to music or reading if they like, or just lying there, when they need to, even if they leave class to do so.
- Each student would have time to spend, each day, doing whatever he or she wants.
There's a lot more, but that's what comes to mind right now. If I think of something else big, I'll post it.
Let me dig this thread up even though it has been inactive for the past few weeks, because alot of what I have been reading on AFF lately suggests there is a real need for places like this. So, the question I will pose is, how exactly do you make it happen?
Keep in mind, great things often have humble beginnings. It would take money, lots of it, to fund such a place, so it would be years from its inception before it achieves the capabilities discussed above.
My guess is that alot of parents of Aspie kids (the parents being either NT or Aspie themselves) will be forced into homeschooling if they don't want to go along with what the school has in mind. When that happens, the people in these homeschooling situations should organize into a club and stay in constant contact, bring their kids together for shared activities, etc. (This being on the scale of one group per city, county, etc.)
That might go on for a few years, during which time there would have to be a way to raise funds to build an actual school. That won't be easy because you'd have to raise enough to buy land for a campus. With land, there is also the matter of taxes, zoning, engineering, etc. How much land (in acres or hectares) do you think it would take for each campus?
Even at that point, it's still not as grand as the ideas above, but on its way there. The first thing to appear on the campus would be temporary buildings (office trailers, etc.). (Even some universities started out with only temporary structures, so it's nothing unusual.) Then of course, there's the matter of hiring faculty and staff, and being able to maintain a payroll for them. (It would have to be a private school, so as not to be politicized.) Would anyone care to try calculating the tuition rates?
If it survives enough years like that, THEN those in charge of it can look into building permanent facilities with the specialized arcitectural features described in some of the posts.
I know everyone here likes to go all over the place with topics of discussion, but for the next few days at least, try to stick with what it would take to get it started. And, don't forget to include your opinions on the toughest part of it all, funding.
Garmonbozia,
One of many possible careers I've entertained the idea of is Special Ed. Teacher, with the intention of becoming head of an aspie school.
The two ways I thought of doing it- and I'm sure there are others, these were just my thoughts- were:
1. Go through college, studying AS and education related topics. Get a teaching certificate. Take a few years to gain teaching experience; then apply for a grant to start a charter school geared towards aspies. Take it from there.
2. Get rich and fund the school yourself. This one requires figuring out and executing a plan to get rich, of which I have many, all of which require a lot of hard work and luck.
Therefore I intend to attempt the first course of action and will only inact the second if the oportunity presents itself.
Re: item 1, that's awesome, and I hope you can make it work. Just one thing. Where does that grant money come from, and who ends up with a vested interest, and therefore influence, as a result?
Re: item 2, the getting rich part is something that's not going to be happening to too many people any time soon. What came to mind when I wrote my previous post was the slow build-up and investment of donations, fundraisers, etc., possibly even toward the creation of an endowment that pays interest, with the interest paying for a significant chunk of start-up and operating expenses. An accountant would have to work that one out.
I have to apologize, I was a bit confused about the process and now I know more.
There is a lot of paperwork involve in starting a charter school. The funding comes, not from a grant, but from state funding; you get a lump sum of money per student (my mom said $6,000 per student but I don't know if that's correct). Then there are a whole bunch of grant agencies which offer money for specific purposes- like "teaching kids about watersheds" or "giving each student a computer"- that you apply to if you need money for that purpose.
#1 is also my plan. Perhaps we should team up sometime in the future, at least by correspondences of ideas of how to approach getting such schools up and running. My high school is a charter school, and aside from corporate donations and some wealthy people who have donated to the school, parents are expected to pay for their child's conservatory.
This needn't be the barrier that it may seem: my family is poor and we cannot pay $4,000 per year for me to attend this school (though we would if we could, as it is the only time I've really been safe at school). So we are not required to pay since we're unable, and other people pay partially. Considering that there are people who spend thousands of dollars per year on ABA, then hopefully there will be enough people willing to pay to keep up such a school. Optimal would be if there was an endowment for the school (where a wealthy person leaves a lot of money, say, several million dollars, to the school, and the money sits in the bank, with the interest going to pay for the school).
The best way to approach getting an endowment or other major source of funding would probably to find some people who are very wealthy who are autistic or who have autistc family members, educate them about the goals of the school, and try to get funding this way. Even though the school would necessarily promote a positive view of autism, even curebies will (usually) not object to the idea of a school that helps autistics, even if the school is not employing ABA or promoting cure, since most are realistic enough to know that, even if they want a cure, that one is not here now, and not likely to be here within a couple years, and their kids have to find ways to navigate the world as they are, at least in the short term.
So I wouldn't overemphasize that the school is anti-cure, especially since many people misinterpret this to mean anti-intervention. Just saying that the school encourages kids to be positive and reach their full potential is good enough, since this doesn't imply pro-cure but doesn't (necessarily) imply anti-cure either, which is a good thing since many parents have been ill-informed, and education is a slow process (after all, "the Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind"). And the goal of pretty much ANY school is to be positive and reach full potential, although in this context of parents with autistic kids it seems to carry an extra significance.
I don't think I'm getting rich anytime soon, or in this life at all, but I will financially support such moves as much as I am able when I am able.
Teaming up would be great! What grade/year are you in now?
As far as pitching the school to curebies goes, I think we jsut wouldn't mention a cure at all- instead we would highlight all the features the school has that would teach aspies/auties how to navigate life better, like social skills and daily living skills classes. Then if they complain that their kids still won't make eye contact, we can politely explain to them that we are focusing on more important things with their kid at the moment.
There might be existing funds/pools of money we could try to tap into that exist for special needs schools or something, but I'd have to actually do research to find that out, and I'm too busy right now. 
Re: pitching to the curebies - that's pretty much what I meant. Try best to not alienate anybody.
Currently a high school senior. I'm considering a school called the Evergreen State College, in Olympia Washington. It's an unconventional school (despite the fact that it is a state school), and one of the graduate programs it offers is a master's in teaching. I'm thinking of going there as an undergraduate to study math and computer science.
Another thing good about Evergreen is that a very high percentage of applicants are accepted, which is good for me since, despite doing well on tests and understanding the materials, there are some bad spots on my transcript (some due to emotional problems I was having, other times because the teachers and school staff weren't understanding of my needs, and were sometimes hostile to me).
I find it rather interesting that in nine years of elementary and junior high school, I made few acquantainces, and yet when I got to my high school (which is much more accepting of difference), I met my current good friends on the first day, in the first block of the class. Despite my still being very much autistic (rocking, little or no eye contact, unable to do small talk, etc.), I found no difficulties socializing with my friends, even though there were situations that I could tell if I had been interacting with other people would have been painfully embarrassing or awkward socially. Just goes to show that being autistic in and of itself doesn't preclude one from having friends and socializing to the degree that is desired - how tolerant your peers are seems to be a MUCH bigger factor in how that goes. And most of the people I socialize with are NT.
I remember being young, even before I knew at all was autism was, and I would daydream, why couldn't there be a school where other misunderstood people like me weren't bullied constantly and given mixed messages from school staff who seemed to think I was both mentally *** and a genius simultaneously (and condemn me for the latter, even though I am neither)? I was lucky, though, in that my parents and most teachers have been very accepting of me, and very helpful to me.
I'm going into 10th grade now.
I don't know where I'll be going for college, but Penn State University is one of the likelier choices.
I always had friends, even at a young age, but there was a lot of teasing behind my back that I only half-noticed. High school, I had the same experience as you- I met most of my very good friends on the first day, and what made them exceptional was that they came right up to me and said "Wanna be friends?" without expecting me to be all that reciprocal, socially. I'm not very obviously AS, though; my body language and speech are mostly normal, though I bounce back and forth between acting iature and acting adult-like, which confuses some people, but which my friends took in stride.
For me what made them really good friends was that it was easy to talk to them because we shared interests. I can't talk to people I don't share interests with, not easily. But after a while of friendship-based-on-interests, I am better able to communicate with those people even about subjects I'm not interested in. I just need the interest-based foundation to work off of.
OK, som issues:
I'm not sure how much a problem bullying would be in a classroom mainly with aspies. I guess there would be some at least in a primary class no matter what. Someone at the chat who went to a special school said once that he/she was attacked at the age of 16 by multiple outside youths, and he/she still have physical damages after the attack. He/she had never seen them before and he/she didn't say he/she saw them afterwards. This might present a new issue of the safety of students in an aspie school.
Another issue is if a student disturb others' education and the teachers are apparently incapable of handling it.
OK, som issues:
I'm not sure how much a problem bullying would be in a classroom mainly with aspies. I guess there would be some at least in a primary class no matter what. Someone at the chat who went to a special school said once that he/she was attacked at the age of 16 by multiple outside youths, and he/she still have physical damages after the attack. He/she had never seen them before and he/she didn't say he/she saw them afterwards. This might present a new issue of the safety of students in an aspie school.
Another issue is if a student disturb others' education and the teachers are apparently incapable of handling it.
That last sentence brings up a really good point, erkolos.
What do we do when someone is having a total meltdown? It probably wouldn't be possible to move them somewhere until they calm down, not without people getting hurt, so any calming down would have to happen right there with the other studnets still there.
The reason that's a problem is because some of the studnets- particularly those with sensitive hearing- may be sent into a meltdown of their own because of the other person's meltdown.
Only solution I can think of- if a second student is clearly upset by the meltdown, get them out of the room and into a quiet calm-down room.
As for the original meltdown-er, we figure out what's wrong and try to fix the problem ASAP. The remaining students would be encouraged to coninue on with their lessons as best as possible while this is going on, unless they know something that will help.
I've had some more thoughts.
- Instead of having a schedule of 5 school days and 2 weekend days, we could have a schedule of 2 school days followed by 1 off day followed by 3 school days followed by 1 off day. This would break up the week into smaller and more manageble chunks, methinks. Usually by Wednesday I'm starting to wear out; by Friday I am barely hanging on. A break in the middle of the week allows rest and recuperation.
- Homework would be assigned in advance so all students could work at their own pace, taking more or less time as necesary to complete projects.
- Social skils would be a required class.
What makes a subject interesting?
Sometimes when I read I find something increasingly less interesting if something is mentioned that I have no abstract understanding of, and don't know how I can get a basic understanding of.
Like this:
"as in 1312 it issued statues and had currency of its own"
What I don't have any basic understanding of here is the age of 1312, therefore I have no interest in it. I think I would actually be more interested in the whole thing if not the age of 1312 was mentioned.
I think it is difficult to remember information when the information consists of too abstract parts to handle. I wont remember that a certain thing "happened in 1312" because I have no idea what that really means. I might remember it better if it means something to me like:
• It was about a century before the Renaissance
• It was in the medievial age
• Some king I'm obsessed about lived at that time
A feel of control...
It isn't always easy to feel confident in a subject when you are very aware that other pupils are way ahead of you.
Is this a problem that is possible to solve in an aspie school?
Simple tasks that aren't that abstract.
Some people say that the older school-systems where more autism-friendly because everything was straight-forward.
However, it is important to learn to be used to more abstract tasks, like writing a report I had for homework the other day. To me writing a report is a very abstract task because I don't have any straight forward idea of how to do that, either did I know where to find a straight-forward procedure of how to do it, but when I mentioned it to my dad he sat down with me and got me started, and the rest I managed on my own.