Re: The best way to be included in this world...

You wrote:
"A child who is at home but totally reliant on others is not nearly as included as a child who is in a self-contained classroom learning skills that will allow him to have a job, care for his personal needs, etc"
True. But he has no choice but to live w his family, as evidenced by people in IL and elsewhere in the country once he/she gets out of HS. There are no group homes or CILAs to maintain that level of learning in kids w autism once they get kicked out of self containers after HS. So, preparing them in a closed envt is not beneficial.
Also, you need to remember that all kids w autism are not same. There are kids who even as adults would require assistance from friends, relatives and provider caregivers all thru their lives. My son may be one of them. But w inclusion, he is trained to tolerate normal people around him, lose most of his maladaptive behaviors and becomes more functional from watching non-disabled students and working side by side w them! It is not an easy task to maintain in inclusion, but my son's SD did a great job for 8 years w him. They have proved to me that he is an "INCLUSION
Material"! LOL:)

"The special needs of our children change from year to year. It's important to see them and be open to addressing them"
True. We can do them in inclusion as well. Like I said, there are ways of doing it. My son's SD has no funding problem as our SUPDT put it. So, I don't see why they can't implement it anyway. My son is not a traditional student and he will not sit in the class room for 6 hours at a stretch. They need to provide all support services like they did in those earlier years and maintain inclusion for him to be w normal people. A "BLIND CAN'T LEAD A BLIND"
But a normal person can lead a disabled. By being in inclusion my son is teaching the kids around him that there are kids who are different from them and who need help. It is not like the poster board child syndrome. Even if it, he does not know and I am not bothered by it. You hide a disability and create an awareness amongst normal population.

"In any case, I don't see how performing on a spelling test (and not generalizing) is helping your son gain independence"
Exactly. That is why, my goals for my son is not academics perse, but learning adaptive skills when in a room w full of normal people. That way, when I take out to restaurant, he maintains his leanrned self-control strategies from inclsuive settings~how to keep his hands, mouth and feet to himself, when necessary.
How to wait patiently in line w normal people, while he travels or try to get food by waiting on a line! How to be safe in an area when sudden disaster strikes and people around him help out (This is very important to me ever since he was a baby, as he used to injure himself at times. Physical safety can be accomplished by people who are normal around him as other kids w disabilities may also require assistance in ER situations).
I totally agree w your "statement about" generalization problems. That is why it will be a good
idea for them to be thought in community settings and in home settings as well.
g2g now. Talk to ya soon. Please reply.