Autism vs Brats
This video angers me. If you know somebody with autism, it will anger you too!
I cannot believe that he equates loudmouth kids to those who have autism. My cousin is a special education teacher too. They don't give the answers to anybody. Obviously, he has never dealt with children with disabilities before be it a learning disorder or autism. Heaven forbid, they need an extra hand. I guess if you're not normal according to what the textbooks say, society should just throw you away or you're destined for only getting an education online so no one has to deal with you.
I understand that the prevalence of these disorders are going up. Could it be that we have better intervention techniques now so that we can catch these kids early and get them the help they need?
Let me know your thoughts on this!
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8 thoughts on “Autism vs Brats”
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He's a douchebag. I'm following Sweetney's advice and ignoring the trolls.
Jerk. While, I can agree with CERTAIN points (namely that ADD/ADHD spectrum is grossly over-diagnosed), equating an autistic child with a trouble maker is just way over the line. I think the reason for a surge in Austism/Asperger's diagnoses recently has more to do with how the medical community classifies them. Many of these children would have been written off as "idiots" (in the old medical terminology) and institutionalized not so long ago.
While I do think that Savage used the wrong way to express himself, I do think that autism and things like ADD/ADHD are over diagnosed.
I know many kids who are on ADD/ADHD medications who should not be on them, but the schools told the parents their kids have it, and the parents put their kids on medications.
The same can be said for some autistic children.
It's been over diagnosed, kids without the disability, have been labeled as autistic when the real problem is that they are just slower, have learning and mobility disorders, and then they get labeled as autistic.
My sister, an OT/PT, used to work for Easter Seals, a national Organization for special needs children, and she said the amount of children diagnosed at autistic and special needs was inflated, that many of her students should have never been in a special needs school at all.
Now I'm not saying that autism isn't real because it is, but the numbers of children diagnosed as having autism in just the last 5 years has gone up 120%, and out of all of those children, there are many misdiagnosed kids who simply have learning disabilities that have nothing at all to do with autism.
I also know this first hand as my adopted niece who was born with several disabilities and health problems, was diagnosed as having autism, and she does not.
She is now 4 years old and the doctor admitted he made a mistake in diagnosing her autistic.
She has audio/sensory issues which makes her have symptoms similar to autism.
My sister has been working with her to teach her how to handle her sound and touch issues.
So while I disagree with him calling them brats, he made a grievous error explaining what he meant, he is definitely on to something.
Far too many children are being diagnosed with autism when they probably have deep learning disabilities, audio/sensory issues, and other problems which are very similar to the symptoms of autism.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I had to put in my two cents in here!
First off, I truly believe that autism, ADD, ADHD, and any other very small, minute little disorders are over diagnosed for simple hyperactive kids.
Doctors and parents are just in denial that perhaps kids are just a bit active, a bit loud, and perhaps do not have the yearn to learn.
As I approach my senior year of my teaching degree, I have been in all types of classes: regular, inclusive, special education, ESL – you name it, I've had to observe it.
It all comes down to this: many people automatically assume that if the kids are diagnosed with some kind of disorder, perhaps there is no hope for them BUT drugs. The sad part about this is that there are all types of research facilities and projects that have said other wise. It takes time, nurturing, caring, love, and most of all patience to work kids through these phases.
Yes, there are those kids who really and truly should be diagnosed with these types of disorders. Bug guaranteed, not every child who comes in with 'similar symptoms' found on WebMD need to be diagnosed simply because they meet those symptoms.
School districts are no help either. Administrators do not want to pass up the opportunity to get extra funds rolling into their schools. The more 504s and IEPs filled out and approved, the more funding they can get into the school.
However, a lot of parents do not help. Some have good intentions, some are simply too paranoid, and many are just too lazy to give a little effort, love and patience to their kids to see them through the phases where they simple truck the kid into the doctor to get a note of diagnosis, then march the poor kid into school to get a 504 or IEP filed, and then from there it is all taken care of so their child does not have to deal with a hard life.
I have not watched the video, but read snippets all over the net and did sign the petition to get his sponsors to take note.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/DisabilityComm…
There's a way to present your feelings on an issue without being as divisive as this jerk has been. To say that autism is a "fraud, a racket" and that asthma is a scheme to get children on Social Security Disability is over the edge.
What if would have said such horrible things about a certain nationality (which he has in the past, btw)? Would it be OK for him to just rant and then say that he was just trying to prove a point?
While there are medical and psychiatric diagnoses that are over diagnosed there are many people (here, children) that have Autism. To belittle them and their parents is dehumanizing.
I pray that anyone who deals with children does not do their own diagnosing as this disease has so many spectrums. So does ADD/ADHD. Please don't blame children!
There's an interesting case in the UK at the moment. A young adult with Aspergers Syndrome is on trial for trying to blow up a cafe full of people in a failed suicide attack. There is much debate as to whether he is the villain or the victim, having been groomed by extremists. He has the mental age of a 10 year old, yet researched bomb making on the internet and built a bomb at his home, which luckily failed to go off.
There's a lot of stereotyping out there. My brother is dyslexic but otherwise a smart guy, and all his life people have thought he was just trying to cheat the system by having someone there to read his test questions or to help him learn what works for him studying wise (Obviously he can't just read the chapter). It's silly.