[FEAT BC Admin]

In this discussion area, please feel free to share your experience in implementing A.B.A. programs in the school system. We would particularly like to hear from those parents who converted their school teams to A.B.A. We’d like to hear the nightmares as well as the success stories.

Any insight that can be shared by school-based special education assistants to help parents would also be very meaningful.

Topic

[Deleted User]

In response to the post inquiring about "play based" schooling, I would just like to add a few thoughts. I am an elementary educator, with interest specifically in primary and special education. Educational research on early childhood education emphasizes the importance of "play" in the early grades to strengthen social skills. Play is also seen as an excellent foundation for language development. Play doesn't necessarily have to be traditional play – dolls, house, etc., but could also be considered use of manipulatives to explore mathematical concepts, and word development. Many centre activities use play as a way to explore literacy, such as creating letters/spelling with play dough, and literacy games, which always incorporate more than one student. Many primary grades employ some of theses activities. Games and manipulatives (pattern blocks, unifix cubes) are also available for free exploration.

[Deleted User]

In response to Montessori and Play based education. I am a grade 8-12 teacher (in a regular school system) and I have noticed that some (many?)students coming from alternative education systems have trouble adjusting to high school. But, that is just my observations and we all know how dangerous it is to go by gut instinct.

What one needs when making this kind of decision is DATA. As we all know in the autism world, it is easy to come up with good ideas (sensory integration, giant steps). However, we should base our decisions on what is proven to be effective. Think about what you want your child to achieve and then see if you can find research that shows how effectively these schools achieve it.

I think the hardest thing for us feat people to do is to put aside our gut instints and favoured philosophies and do what is scientifically most likely to work for our children.

[Erik Minty]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to offer their opinions on Montessori; it was very valuable to hear both sides of the story.

There was also some mention of "Play-based" schools. Admittedly I've been out of the school system for quite some time, but I have never heard of these before. It sounds on the surface like an ideal setting for an autistic child who is high-functioning academically, and whose ABA program is focused on behaviour and socialization (does my personal-case bias begin to show?)

Are play-based schools integrated into the school system, are they private, or are they more like what we used to call "Special Ed" classes (although I don't think you're allowed to use that term any more)?

I've found some general (US-based) information about play-based programs, but I don't know how the information applies locally. I would really appreciate exploring this more if anyone has some further information to share.

Thanks again!
Erik

[Julie Ng]

In response to Erik Minty's post I asked our daughter's (our son is autistic) Montessori Directress to add her thought's on the subject.

————————————————-
molehillmontessori@yahoo.com

Hi Joe,

I've tried responding to the items about Montessori,
but there is no instant registration for me. Perhaps
you can add this in:

As a Montessori directress/administrator, I must admit
that good schools (Montessori or not) are difficult to
find. Indeed, many "Montessorians" seem to equate
having a ideal class as being one that operates with
pin-drop silence. This was not what Maria Montessori
intended. In fact, a Montessori environment should
have a healthy "buzz" of activity, allowing for both, individual work as well as group interaction. As a parent, one must decide on the educational philosophy that best suits the family's needs and philosophical inclination.

Montessori is not a play-based system. Maria
Montessori observed that the reason why children
wanted to "play house" is because they were keen on
learning how to do "real" things like adults. A good
Montessori school would facilitate this, using it as a foundation for helping the child achieve independence as well as empowering the child to actively participate in the "care of environment". Indeed, many Montessori schools operate on the assumption that parents will arrange playtime for their child with other peers outside of school hours. Unfortunately, in our highly competitive society many parents send their children to Montessori school not for "play" but for "education". As an educator, I often have to explain to parents that helping a child socialize is just as important as learning how to read and write, etc.

A good Montessori school should educate the whole
child, taking into consideration, each child's
developmental needs and abilities. However, it also
has a strong community component. Besides
participating in tasks that meets it's own individual
needs, each child is also expected to participate
within the classroom environment in a socially
appropriate manner: respect for self, others and the environment. As such, "Grace and courtesy" lessons are given to children when they enter Montessori to help with communication and appropriate behaviour management. Unfortunately, the definition of "appropriate" varies greatly from one class to another. A good Montessori school will use defined guidelines based on safety considerations rather than the desire to "control" a class.

Much of Montessori involves children interacting with
each other as well as self-directed behaviour. In a
large class of children who are mixed(autistic and
not), the interactions with the standard Montessori
staffing ratio may be difficult for both the autistic
children and their non-autistic classmates. Some
Montessori schools will take a limited number of
"special needs" children, but it would depend on the
class and child.

Most exercises/activities for younger children are
geared for individual "work". Children have the option
of choosing a familiar activity (one which the
directress has "presented") and be engaged in it until
the child's interest expires. This aspect of having
limited choice and freedom can work well with autistic children.

However, Montessori activities/exercises are rarely
found in multiples. As such, children have to wait
until a particular exercise/activity is "free" before
they can use it. This waiting can be a challenge for
many autistic children and the re-directing of such a
child may be difficult for unskilled Montessori
directresses.

Many lessons given in Montessori such as "three
period" language lessons which allows a child to
manipulate materials, while learning about them seem
to parallel to some ABA lessons and Montessori's the
"freedom" within a structured environment can be
ideal.

I strongly suggest you "interview" Montessori schools individually as each one is unique. Trust your gut and go with a school (Montessori or not) that best understands and suits the needs of your child and family. If you wish to provide a social environment for your child, I would suggest you seek out a play-based program and not Montessori. However, if you are keen on having your child in a Montessori environment, then choose one that has staff and administration who have exposure and training in dealing with autistic children.

I hope this helps! Wishing you best of luck in this
endeavour.

R.Weinstein

[Deleted User]

Hi Eric,

Our daughter attended a Montessori school for 6 months and overall I would say it was of little or no benefit to her.

First let me preface by saying that MOntessori schools today are not always directly following the theories of Montessori, I found a fair amount of variance from the theory to the practical application in the schools we saw. As well I found each Montessori school we looked at varied from others I heard about or saw – like all schools, much is dependent on the teachers, the philosophy of the school and other parents and kids.

One of the reasons we chose to send her to Montessori was because we knew the owner of school and she was familiar with our situation and very willing to accomodate us. She allowed us to bring in our own aide and helped us to secure supported childcare to fund this woman. THey were very open to our need for a picture schedule and our behavioural plans. I do not think they would have been so receptive if the owner and I were not friendly. I have heard stories of other Montessori's refusing to take children with special needs, regardless of need, DESPITE the fact that much of what Maria Montessori designed was for children who had special needs. Montessori has become somewhat elitist and not all of the parents were very receptive to their child being in a class with a child with special needs – but that can happen anywhere.

Unlike some Montessori schools, ours did not outlaw talking amongst the kids. No kidding, some of the schools do not allow the children to talk while they are working. Ours allowed for a some one on one interaction. However it was limited and not very spontaneous as the children were not working together on projects and therefore didn't have much to say to one another.

Social skills are one of the core reasons we send our kids to school, we can teach them through one on one interaction at home during therapy.

THe structured way activities must be done in Montessori allowed her to be rigid, which she thrives on, in an "appropriate way". However it did very little to help her learn to not be rigid, a very integral part of our work with her. Children with autism are often stuck on doing things one way and like everything to remain exactly the same. Montessori allows for this, the room never changes, the materials don't change and you have to do one way with no variance. I strongly believe we need to teach our autistic children to be flexible and to do things a variety of different ways. Life is not a montessori classroom.

There were some great fine motor activities at the Montessori school. Since leaving Montessori we have done many of the fine motor tasks and self-help skills called practical life at home. We have used some Homeschooling/Montessori books for ideas here. There are easy enough to do at home and frequently can be created from items you already have. You don't have to follow the rigid Montessori way of teaching to find them useful and they work in nicely into the ABA program at home. (some examples are threading beads, doing zippers, buttons, tying shoe laces, scooping beans with a spoon from one bowl to another…)

There was NO play, no dress up, no playing house or school or imaginative activities which our children so desperately need to work on. Being at a play based school now has allowed breanna to develop her play skills to a higher degree making playdates easier and giving her a chance to work on her language and learn concepts.

There is little if any group instruction in Montessori, only one on one which our children already receive alot of in the home work environment.

The philosophy of MOntessori is that the child essentially leads themselves in discovery of the world around them – this doesn't always work well with our children who may rigidly resist certain types of activities. Montessori doesn't seem to require them to work on this. Montessori teachers (depending on their personal beliefs) do not always agree with the ABA belief that the therapist/adult is doing the instructing and the child is there to learn. Compliance and such doesn't always sit well with them.

Unless you are sending your child to a Montessori elementary school, they will be faced with a whole new type of education when they hit kindergarten or grade one. This could mean a rough adjustment for a child who has been attending a school where they work alone, don't have lengthy circle times, arent' expected to talk and the classroom remains static. Elementary school isn't like that at all. I know several children who attended Montessori with Breanna who had difficulty with this transition and they were "typical" kids. However, they unlike Breanna, did benefit from Montessori in some ways although one Mother told me she regretted not looking more closely at play based schools as her daughter seems to be revelling in the play house area in kindergarten.

And this last point may be only true of the school we attended, but the other children attending the school, the "typical" children were out of control. The philosophy of the teachers didn't seem to give them any way of keeping control of the class. My daughter was by far the most well behaved child during circle time and she was completely zoned out absorbing NOTHING. Children would be flinging themselves around during the songs, kicking others and running across the room. THe teachers seemed to be unable to keep everyone in line. Having two preschoolers myself, I am aware how crazy little ones can be, but I've also observed at over 20 other preschools in the search for the right place and I can assure you I have never seen such out of control behaviour in so many kids… and those on my team who had observed in many other schools as well agreed.

That is a very long answer to your question but let me also add that this year I have found the most amazing preschool and here are the characteristics that make it so great:
*The teachers maintain control of the class at all times but are sweet kind and soft mannered.
*there is structured circle time at the beginning, middle and end of the sessions. THe initial circle time has a rough routine to it but varies from day to day. There are songs, dances sometimes, weather, calendar etc as well as show and tell.
*there is play time where the children can play house, blocks, with farms animals, figurines and the like, puzzles, story books etc etc
*there are 2 crafts done each class, simple yet fun and the children are expected to complete at least one, usually both
*the teachers were open and eager to learn how to work with our team
*they were not SEA's or trained in the governments approach to children with special needs (ie: they had not attended a gateway seminar and considered themselves experts)I personally have had some very negative although brief experiences with government workers and do not allow people with "special needs training" to come near my child.
*they were more than happy to have the same expectations of my daughter, ie: not allowing her to be out of control because they felt sorry for her

Hope that helps! Please feel free to email me if you have questions that I didn't address

Mkarren1@aol.com
Michelle

[Erik Minty]

I'm just starting to look into Montessori programs in my area (Coquitlam), and I'm trying to learn whether the program would be suitable for a high-functioning autistic child in an ABA program.

Does anyone have any experience with whether the Montessori method is complementary to an ABA program, or would the two methods run at odds with each other? Or does it (like many things) depend on the individual child? Do SEAs work well with Montessori?

I'd be very interested in hearing opinions from all sides.

[Deleted User]

Just a quick heads up to parents of children enrolled(ing) in school. Education Minister Christy Clark has announced that School District funding will not increase but the provincial government is granting teachers raises. To 'help' school districts shoulder this additional cost the government has removed some controls giving school districts more 'flexibility' in allocating funds. Parents may want to consider taking a proactive approach in protecting services for their child as districts will be planning out their next years budget over the next several weeks.

The Weekend Vancouver Sun ran an article on the BC School Trustees frustration with this situation.

[Deleted User]

I was just wondering, Are there any parents on the board that have sent their autistic child(ren) to "regular" school with a one on one shadow/aid? If so, how long did your child need the one on one aide for? I know this differs from each child but I was just curious as to the range.

[Nancy Robins]

I have seen some resent posts (classifieds) advertising for therapists to work in school as a childs S.E.A.

Our child will be starting kindergarten in Sept 2002 and we would love to send one of our trained therapists to be his S.E.A. Is this possible?

I'm not sure if it makes a difference but we live in Surrey (School Dist #36).

Any information or input will be appreciated. Post on the board or email me direct at gary.robins@3web.net

[FEAT BC Admin]

A well researched story is in the Sun today entitled, "Parents say school appeals process hurts students." It talks about a widespread struggle against BC school districts and the severly flawed, biased complaint resolution process. Please visit the Vancouver Sun web site at this address –> http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/story.asp?id=D8E77A98-999D-415B-8E2E-64D8F7C03AE4

The story quotes the mother of an autistic child:
"The long and the short of it is they never looked at what my child needed," said Lalji, who won an offer of accommodation only after she took her complaint to The Vancouver Sun. "They cared about the needs of adults [in their employ] but forgot who they were supposed to be serving."

"It becomes a power thing …No one is interested in the child", said another mother quoted in the article.

[Author]

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