Another Autistic Child Left Behind By The System… But Who Is At Fault?

Autism is no longer the mysterious condition it used to be, passed off as nothing more than parental worry and childhood quirks.

A recognised disorder it is thought to affect one in every 100 people in Australia, a substantial number by any measurement.

Yet we still don’t understand it as well as we should, and children are suffering because of it.

A story emerged today of yet another autistic child failed by the system that his parents put their faith in. Just nine years old, he was locked in a dark room, with the windows covered up, and provided with nothing but a mattress and a pillow when his teacher needed a ‘time out’. This didn’t happen once, but as many as 20 times in the past year. It’s not surprise that his behaviour has spiralled, and he has no interest in going to school.

To our surprise, in the year 2015 of the modern era, this is not the only story like it that we’ve heard. It’s one of many. Just a few weeks ago it came to light that a Melbourne daycare that catered to autistic children had a large wooden box on site that children could be locked in. Official paperwork from the daycare referred to it as a ‘desensitising box’, although it was dismantled as soon as higher-ups discovered it. Then in Canberra in September is was revealed that a cage was built to house an autistic student, and then attempted to be covered up by many of those involved.

That’s three cases in two months, and we aren’t impressed.

There’s obviously something missing from the discussion and understanding of autism in our communities, particularly when it comes to a school environment. But in this latest case, who is at fault?

The Teacher

It’s easy to blame the teacher in this instance. After all, she was the one who thought it was appropriate to lock up a Year 3 student in the room by himself as many as 20 times. By any measurement of appropriate teacher conduct, that’s not on. The use of the room in itself indicates that there is a serious lack of understanding about autism as a disorder, and how people can effectively work with kids who have autism. Not only that but you have to wonder if it’s ever ok to leave a nine-year-old boy unsupervised, let alone to lock them in a room all alone, autistic or not.

However, we understand that there are a number of challenges and complex issues associated with educating a child who is on the spectrum. This is particularly true if the individual needs of that child have to be managed along with the needs of all of the other children in the classroom. To the uninitiated many of the actions of autistic children are seen as simply misbehaving, and we can’t really blame the teacher if she wasn’t provided with the tools and support she needed to cater for the child.

So then who is at fault?

The School

If we can’t blame the teacher in full, it seems clear that the school is to blame for the issue. The fact that the boy was locked in the room as often as 20 times in the last year, and that the room itself was set aside for that purpose proves that other staff knew about it. This seems crazy. The fact that an individual person might think it’s ok to lock up an autistic child is one thing, but to have nobody on the staff make a move to stop the behaviour seems incredibly hard to believe.

Add on to that the teacher’s reasoning for locking up the boy – that she needed a time out – and two things start to emerge. The first is that she clearly didn’t have enough of an understanding of the autism spectrum disorder to have the boy in her class. The second is that she didn’t have the support. In both cases there’s an argument that the school should have made provisions. More and more children are diagnosed as being on the spectrum every year in Australia thanks to better diagnostic tools and an improved understanding. Schools need to start to adapt to the new world that this will bring. The first step is to better educate their teachers, and to provide them with all of the tools and support they need to work effectively to ensure that children on the spectrum have a positive school experience.

But is this enough to solve the problem?

It’s More Than That

The truth is you can’t blame the teacher or the school entirely. Our lack of understanding about autism spectrum disorders goes much further than that. Despite autism being a day-to-day reality of 230,000 Australians there is still so much we don’t know. Ignoring the disorder, and failing to be adaptable and understanding of the many different behaviours and responses that autistic children on the spectrum display is a must, not just for teachers or schools but for us all.

It hurts us to see autistic kids being separated from their peers, treated differently and made to feel as though they don’t belong. They already have a harder journey to walk than most, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of becoming happy and functional adults, even if that is at a different level to others. But that future starts for kids in primary school. So let’s stop treating autistic kids like there’s something wrong with them, and start seeing them as the wonderfully unique people they are.