Article

2008-05-29 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Malignant teacher has class vote special needs kid out

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Posted by gorb 2008-05-29 04:23|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 Fire the bitch. Asperger's Syndrome kids read like brilliant nerds: ranging from bright to genius in intelligence, but clumsy and with poor social skills. However, the social skills can be taught in a "do this, do not do that, when someone says the other it means..." fashion, to the point where those with milder forms of the syndrome become indistinguishable from the normal population. And Aspergians are a joy to teach: quick to grasp ideas at a high level, creative, and capable of absorbing a wide range of facts to buttress the structure of theory, eager to make friends and generally highly obedient to classroom rules once they are explained. Only a mediocrity insistent on forcing others to be mediocrities would act as Ms. Portillo did, and such persons should not be permitted in the teaching profession.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-05-29 12:42|| 2008-05-29 12:42|| Front Page Top

#2 TW - concur, no place for this type of behavior in any classroom. I remember our teachers doing interesting things to get bad kids to behave in the classroom but there's a huge difference between misbehaved kids and those w/special needs. This is messed up. What was this child doing in that classroom in the first place? My nephew has a fairly severe form of aspergers & luckily he has usually been in the academic care of professional teachers and with peers in similar circumstances. This child should be in a classroom where he can be properly helped. Sounds like the one with the true disability here was the teacher. Anybody that participates in being cruel to a child needs to get beat the f*ck up.

Posted by Broadhead6 2008-05-29 12:58|| 2008-05-29 12:58|| Front Page Top

#3 Broadhead6, I watched the child sitting in his mother's lap during the interview. He looked to be pretty high functioning, which is no doubt why he was mainstreamed. I was recently told of a case where the young man wasn't diagnosed until his university sent him out on a co-op job; until he had to function in an adult work environment he never registered as more than merely nerdy.

I've a young relative with fairly mild Asperger's, which wasn't diagnosed until high school -- until then she functioned just fine in not only mainstream classrooms but in honors classes. After spending a year of intense social training with her therapist, and with a great deal of patience and understanding from her teachers, she will go off to college with a high degree of confidence in her eventual success. It sounds like your nephew is in the right environment to enable him to master as much as possible the skills necessary to function in the outside world, as well as to learn to his no doubt very high capacity. My congratulations to his parents. :-)

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-05-29 13:35|| 2008-05-29 13:35|| Front Page Top

#4 Only a mediocrity insistent on forcing others to be mediocrities..

Isn't that in the definition of the public school system? That's the whole basis of throwing out measured performance and promoting self-esteem curriculum.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-05-29 13:40|| 2008-05-29 13:40|| Front Page Top

#5 BH6, more and more kids with issues are being 'mainstreamed' into regular classrooms. Generally well accepted by the academics, less well accepted by some parents and teachers. Not sure why this child was in that classroom.

This teacher should be looking for work Monday in the bowling or fast-food industries.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2008-05-29 13:52|| 2008-05-29 13:52|| Front Page Top

#6 Voting a disruptive influence off the island doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me. For far too many years we've coddled the disruptive and out-of-control kids at the expense of the majority who might actually learn something if the classrooms could be brought back under control. If we're to fund public schools let's ensure that the impediments, biological or otherwise, to educating children are removed.

Posted by AzCat 2008-05-29 13:52|| 2008-05-29 13:52|| Front Page Top

#7 "Voting a disruptive influence off the island doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me."

In kindergarden? When the "teacher" knows the child is not a little shit, but a special needs child that SHE isn't handling correctly? And to have the other children tell him why they don't like him? (Not his behavior, him.) Steve's right.

Please rethink your position, AzCat.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-05-29 13:58|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-05-29 13:58|| Front Page Top

#8 This would be OK with me if the parents are allowed to vote on which teachers stay.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-05-29 14:12|| 2008-05-29 14:12|| Front Page Top

#9 Why my children do not go to public schools, reason #173.

Googling "Wendy Portillo" doesn't bring anything else up but more references to this story. I'd be curious how old she is, how many years teaching, is she an "activist" of one sort or another, etc.

Posted by Mike 2008-05-29 14:13|| 2008-05-29 14:13|| Front Page Top

#10 Thank you Barbara.

You were much more polite I could ever be. As the father of an Asperger's child, I can assure you that these kids usually have memories like elephants -- so this event will most likely be burned in that poor kids memory. In addition, these kids are not monsters, they're just a bit socially clueless. Being a little odd is not a crime, Azcat.

Posted by Gabby Cussworth 2008-05-29 14:15|| 2008-05-29 14:15|| Front Page Top

#11 I'd be interested in what the parents of those other children have to say. (And what they said to their children when they found out about this. My mother would have killed me first, then gone for the teacher.)

An enterprising journalist should be interested in that, too....

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-05-29 14:21|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-05-29 14:21|| Front Page Top

#12 AzCat, this boy was likely the curve-breaker for everything academic going on in that classroom, and every classroom he ever will be in. My young relative is a National Merit Scholar -- one of the top 15,000 students in the nation -- and a borderline genius, about as sweet, loving and helpful to her classmates as it is possible to be this side of Heaven. You speak out of ignorance.

Gabby dear, feel free to drop me a line.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-05-29 14:24|| 2008-05-29 14:24|| Front Page Top

#13 It will be interesting to see what my wife has to say about this. I sent her this this morning before she went to work......as a special needs Kindergarten teacher.

Me thinks that some mention of tar, feathers or possibly boiling oil may make it into the conversation this evening.

Posted by AlanC 2008-05-29 15:03|| 2008-05-29 15:03|| Front Page Top

#14 Thanks TW. I need to get my blood pressure down first.

Posted by Gabby Cussworth 2008-05-29 16:47|| 2008-05-29 16:47|| Front Page Top

#15

Only a mediocrity insistent on forcing others to be mediocrities...

i think you have found the operational basis for the current public school environment....

Posted by Abu do you love 2008-05-29 16:53|| 2008-05-29 16:53|| Front Page Top

#16 #9. Mike, this idiot has been a St. Lucie County "teacher" for 12 years-- nine of which were at Morningside Elementary. There's a Wendy A. Potillo, age 49, living in Port St. Lucie. Now you tell us her political philosophies and activism. BTW, great comments from RBers with experience with this disorder.

Posted by GK 2008-05-29 17:53|| 2008-05-29 17:53|| Front Page Top

#17 AzCat (aka friend of idiot Potillo): You've just been voted off of Rantburg by the society of classic posters for your rude and inhumane expressions of ignorance. WE DON'T LIKE YOU. WE DON'T LIKE YOU AT ALL. You have no understanding of disorders, you are backing a teacher who is sub-standard, and you obviously can't understand kindergarten--special needs or otherwise. SO GO AWAY. YOU SUCK. DON'T POST HERE ANYMORE. NO ONE WANTS TO READ YOUR STUPID POSTS ON ANY SUBJECT WHATSOEVER.

Having said that, depending on the disorder and it's affects, sometimes it is very difficult for regular teachers and students to cope with certain students--especially hard for teachers who don't have a hoot of understanding of the particular disorder and the special needs it might present, or how to deal with it in an integrated manner. Teaching either attracts great teachers with a true commitment, or louse-abouts who can't find anything else to do and think they can teach.

Having said that, gotta wonder if the whole "voting" thing isn't a sick example of the kind of ATTITUDE that will be running rampant among black Americans if Obama gets elected.
I KNOW that sounds excruciatingly racist, but it's not, especially considering Obama's "Pastor" Wright. Liberals are getting a false sense of empowerment through OBAMESSIAH, and for many it will be "pay back time." I have no doubt Wendy was feeling "the power" and had her own little "election."

For those interested:

Morningside Elementary School
2300 SE Gowin Dr
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34952-4948
(772) 337-6730

ex-lib (M.A. Elementary Education-Early Childhood Education)

Posted by ex-lib 2008-05-29 22:12|| 2008-05-29 22:12|| Front Page Top

#18 Whoa! ex-lib, that's a bit much given AzCat's obvious ignorance. Although given your stated profession, I understand your passion.

AzCat, we don't hate you, and we don't want you to go away, truly!

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2008-05-29 23:38|| 2008-05-29 23:38|| Front Page Top

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