Public Schools Prepare to Educate Kids with Autism
Like a lot of 11-year-olds, Austin Wright likes junk food. This handsome redhead munches on chips and squirms on the couch next to his mother, Sara Wright, while she talks about how she and her husband, Jerry, learned that Austin had autism. She says that by the time Austin was 3, his vocabulary was limited to a few words: dada, mama. Other kids were zooming past him developmentally.
Their pediatrician said Austin was just a slow learner, but his parents knew otherwise. A Boston area specialist saw him, and immediately recognized the signs. She told the Wrights that Austin had a form of autism, and that he needed special educational therapy right away.
There are more than half a million children in this country diagnosed with some degree of autism, and that number keeps on growing. Many of the most severe cases must be educated in private schools, and local public schools must pick up much of the tab. But now, many public schools are preparing to educate these kids themselves. The May Institute, a Boston-area research and education center for children with serious developmental delays, is helping them get ready.
Austin was admitted to the May Institute shortly after he was diagnosed.
"I visited some of the public schools," Sara Wright says. "What I saw, it was like they were being babysat then. They've come a long way in the public schools now."
While she talks, Austin claps his hands and squeals. But he's well behaved, and has learned a lot during his years at the May Institute. His parents say that when he gets together with his cousins, you can hardly tell he has autism. He runs and plays with the other kids, and loves to swim in the ocean. Oh, and he likes to sing the Motown hit, "My Girl."
The Challenge of Educating Children with Autism
Austin's education is very expensive. The May Institute receives an average of $75,000 per year for day students. It's easy to see why. In a classroom, teacher Christina Flynn is working with a boy named Matt. She teaches Matt basic skills through constant repetition.
"Show me Matt," she says, and when Matt correctly hands her his picture, he gets a high-five or a snack. They will repeat this exercise over and over until he has it down.
In a conference center down the hall from the school, lecturer Glen Dunlap is telling a group of teachers how they can work with autistic kids in their own classrooms, and save the expense of private schooling. They watch a classroom video in which a special education teacher struggles with a 9-year-old child who lets out a blood-curdling scream when he gets upset. The teacher tries to discipline the child by using traditional methods: giving him a time-out, removing privileges. The teachers watching the video laugh in sympathy as they watch the child completely ignore the teacher, and scream even louder.
As Dunlap explains, teachers need to take a scientific approach to the problem. They must team up with their colleagues and take copious notes on the child's behavior. When does he act out? What seems to cause the most disturbing behavior? After months of work, the child's teachers succeeded in reining in his behavior.
More Students with Autism in Public Schools
It takes a lot of work, but many public schools are managing to work with autistic children in mainstream classrooms, because they have to. In Newton, Mass., the number of autism cases in schools is "growing like wildfire," according to Jeffrey Young, the school superintendent.
"It's just an unbelievable explosion of kids," he says. "It's growing both in terms of number and severity."
To deal with this growth, Newton has ramped up special services, like a special-ed preschool that goes right through the summer. On the day I visit, a young boy named Alex is reading a children's book to a group of preschoolers.
"What kind of animal would you like to be?" Alex asks them all. Alex is now headed for middle school, and has been diagnosed with autism. His former teacher, Robin Fabiano, says that when Alex first came to her in second grade, he couldn't speak. But after years in a regular classroom, he has overcome his social problems, and speaks well. He still needs extra help. But when he recently graduated from elementary school, Alex was able to make a speech, and get through the ceremony on his own. That's exactly what his parents have been hoping he'd be able to do.
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JOHN YDSTIE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm John Ydstie.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
There are more than half a million children in this country diagnosed with some degree of autism, and that number keeps growing. Many children with the most severe cases must be educated in private schools, but local public schools have picked up much of that tab.
Now, many public schools are preparing to educate these students, and that's creating challenges and opportunities that many schools just haven't faced before.
Here's NPR's Larry Abramson.
(Soundbite of child shouting)
LARRY ABRAMSON: Once your ears have recovered, imagine being a special ed teacher who has to get a child like this to calm down. What would you do?
Unidentified Woman (Teacher): You know what? You've just lost your smiley face.
(Soundbite of child crying)
Unidentified Woman: No.
(Soundbite of child crying)
(Soundbite of laughter)
ABRAMSON: Twenty-five or so public school special ed teachers watching this classroom video laugh in sympathy with their colleague - a real teacher dealing with a real child. This 9-year-old could care less about the loss of a smiley face. The teachers are gathered at a conference center at the May Institute, an autism research and training center outside Boston, to learn a better way.
(Soundbite of child shouting)
ABRAMSON: Techniques that might work with other special ed students just don't cut it with kids like this one.
Lecturer Glen Dunlap of the University of South Florida tells the teachers they can figure out what's triggering this behavior.
Dr. GLEN DUNLAP (University of South Florida): It looks sometimes as though he's in full control, you know. He's like, oh, I'll have a little scream, you know? Or maybe that'll get me some attention or something like that. But at the same time, you know, what set it off?
ABRAMSON: Massachusetts, like other states, is already facing an explosion in the number of autistic kids, so the state is building capacity and has paid for these teachers to attend this weeklong seminar. Glen Dunlap shows how teachers spent months documenting the student's behavior, figuring out just why he explodes. It's a lot of work, but the payoff is huge.
Unidentified Woman: All right, caring starts by trying to do your best. That's right.
ABRAMSON: The teachers all smile as they see Mike and his teacher chatting happily. This before-and-after demonstration makes a big impression on Chuck Garman(ph), a teacher in the Lynn, Massachusetts, schools who had been working on similar issues.
Mr. CHUCK GARMAN (Teacher): I've never seen something that kind of is a how-to manual that someone that's not - doesn't have as much behavioral analysis background can start implementing it.
ABRAMSON: For years, many schools have had to send challenging kids to private schools like this one, which the May Institute runs on the other side of the campus.
Joy Burghardt is in charge of this and three other May Institute schools.
Ms. JOY BURGHARDT (Educational Services, May Institute): Many of our students have injured a classmate, injured a teacher, property destruction that they feel that they can't manage in a public school setting. And quite frankly, public schools have suspension policies, whereby if a student does certain things, they're suspended from school. We don't suspend any of our students because of behavioral issues.
Ms. CHRISTINA FLYNN(ph) (Teacher): Nice job. Show me exit.
ABRAMSON: Here, kids with pretty severe autism are exposed to a constant diet of ABA, applied behavior analysis.
Ms. FLYNN: We'll do a snack. I have reinforcement. Actually, he likes high fives. So we work with that.
ABRAMSON: Christina Flynn is teaching a boy named Matt how to match words with pictures she has laid out on a desk.
Ms. FLYNN: So he's - right now, he's learning how to identify his name with a picture of himself, and then the word exit with a picture of an exit sign.
ABRAMSON: Matt is 15 years old, but he has to learn incredibly basic skills this way, through constant repetition. Christina will show him these pictures over and over and over, and praise him every time he succeeds. And then - get this - she must keep track of every exercise. The notebook next to her is filled with pages and pages of checkmarks or minus marks.
Ms. FLYNN: Matt, show me exit. And he'll match. Nice job, Matt. And that's a plus, because he got it right. And we'll run these about 10 times.
ABRAMSON: Many kids will stay here for most of their school lives. Some live nearby in group homes, an enormous expense all paid for by local school districts. Some schools pay willingly, but many parents have to fight, even go to court.
Joy Burghardt says districts that do cover private tuition don't want to become a magnet for special ed students.
Ms. BURGHARDT: They'd prefer that we don't advertise some of the districts that we do a great deal of business with because they prefer not to have an influx of special education students, simply because of the cost of educating those children.
Ms. SARA WRIGHT (Mother): And this is Austin. Austin, say hi.
ABRAMSON: (unintelligible) Oh, that's Austin. Can you shake?
Mr. AUSTIN WRIGHT (Student): Hi.
ABRAMSON: How are you doing? Is that lunch?
Ms. WRIGHT: That's his snack he went and got out of a vending machine.
ABRAMSON: Austin Wright likes junk food, like any other 11-year-old. He munches on chips and squirms on the couch next to his mother. His parents, Sara and Jerry Wright, pushed the Boston school system to place Austin here after they saw what the public schools had to offer.
Ms. WRIGHT: I mean, I went on...
(Soundbite of child shouting)
Ms. WRIGHT: I went and visited some of the public schools. And I was willing to go see if the program was appropriate for him, but what I saw was just - it was like they were being babysat then. I'm sure - they've come a long way, the public schools now, and I know that.
ABRAMSON: Do you feel like parents today have an advantage that you didn't have, and that there's more...
Ms. WRIGHT: Absolutely. Definitely.
(Soundbite of child shouting)
ABRAMSON: Eventually, the district agreed Austin needed to be here. He's a beautiful kid - freckles, spiky red hair, cute enough to be featured on May Institute brochures. Years at the special school have brought him far. His behavior is under control, and he's become a bit of a ham.
Ms. WRIGHT: Sing Larry a song.
Mr. WRIGHT: "My Girl."
Ms. WRIGHT: Sing it.
Mr. WRIGHT: (Singing) I guess you'd say, what can make me feel this way? My girl. Talking about my girl. My girl, oh.
Ms. WRIGHT: Good job. Good job.
(Soundbite of applause)
ABRAMSON: Austin's progress is striking. It's also expensive. Tuition here costs about $75,000 a year. That's one reason schools are turning to places like the May Institute for help, to prepare for a future that is already here.
Dr. JEFF YOUNG (Superintendent of Newton Public Schools): They're growing like wildfire. It's just an unbelievable explosion of kids.
ABRAMSON: Jeff Young is superintendent of schools in Newton, Massachusetts, an affluent city outside of Boston.
Dr. YOUNG: It's growing - both in terms of number and severity.
ABRAMSON: Young and other superintendents realize they have to offer comprehensive services to these students, like this special ed preschool Newton offers all year and all summer long.
ALEX (Student): If I were an animal, I would like to be a huge elephant.
(Soundbite of laughter)
ALEX: (unintelligible) or maybe not.
ABRAMSON: My timing is good. Alex, a middle schooler and former student here, is reading a story to a bunch of preschoolers. They sit in a circle on a rug in the basement of Newton's education center. Alex's former teacher, Robin Fabiano(ph), says when Alex arrived in the first grade, he couldn't say a word.
Ms. ROBIN FABIANO (Teacher, Massachusetts): And his mom said to us that's, you know (unintelligible). His mom said to us, I just want him to graduate and not be able to pick him out of a crowd. And in fifth grade, he went through graduation without an aide with them. He did his speech. He didn't have any, you know, stereotypic behavior, nothing interfered with his, you know, the whole morning, and he went totally independently.
ABRAMSON: For Alex, the push to save money also helped him succeed. Many kids do better when they stay in school with their peers.
Larry Abramson, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: And to read why a growing number of students diagnosed with autism are attending public schools, go to npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
