Autism-The High School Years

The all “Autistic” County Classroom had a staff of six classroom aides, six students and a teacher. The students each had their own one on one aide.  We had what we called the “Dream Team”. The design of the class was that of a life skills program. Totally set up to teach these skills and more. It was the perfect classroom in the beginning. Everyone was so excited and giving all they had, to help these students get a head start on life.

The age group for this class was set for ages 14 to 22 years old. When we started the program, the students ranged in age from 14-16. I don’t think we thought ahead to when these students would reach age 18 to 22 and begin the transition into the real world. If I knew then what I know now, I would have asked that we do thing differently for the older students. I guess you live and learn.

The concept of the class was to give these students a chance to learn the life skills they needed and also improve their social and vocational skills. A glitch in the program was the location. I know “beggars can’t be choosers “but once again, the classroom location was very segregated from the rest of the high school campus. This made it difficult to integrate our kids. The teacher did find a couple regular education teachers that were willing to work with her in the beginning. My son was able to go into the district special education class with a great district teacher that I knew from the middle school. Not exactly the integration I would have chosen, but it worked out well the first couple years. The class also worked in the library on campus, so it gave them exposure to the “standard issue” students. One of the psychology classes became a big part of our special class. The psychology students became “peer buddies” and would come into our class to interact with our students.

This group of students also put on a “Special” Prom each year for the special education students. They were such an awesome bunch of kids. The teacher of this class had asked me years before my son entered high school, to come and speak to his class about what it was like to parent a child with Autism. This same teacher is the one that welcomed our students and sponsored the Prom. He was and is absolutely amazing and I appreciate all he did for our kids. So glad to know he is now representing our district as a board member.

My son actually made a lifelong friend from having these students involved with our “special” kids. His friend is now going to be a teacher and she says my son “inspired” her also. Even though my son towered over her, she was never afraid to be my son’s friend, like most kids. She went to the proms with him and was never intimidated by his size or behaviors. She is amazing and we love all she did to help my son.

Our classroom worked so smoothly the first few years. The ratio of kids vs. aides was fantastic. The behaviors in the classroom were almost non-existent, because of the one on one attention the students received.  The kids were out in the community volunteering at restaurants, going bowling, to the mall and horseback riding for leisure activities. The fact that they were constantly busy and doing different things helped tremendously with keeping the behaviors under control. Things couldn’t have been better. Our class was a model classroom for others in the county. Our teacher had been open to trying new and exciting things to keep the kids interest. All was well until………

More and more Autistic kids were growing older. Soon, they were entering high school. The RCOE started loading students in the class, but not staffing more aides to help. The structure of the class changed dramatically. The staff wasn’t given the support they needed to keep the program as it originally was planned. The kids with the worst behaviors were placed in this classroom, which would undo what we tried so hard to have. We knew the students needed the small ratio and the intense learning environment we started with, but no one was listening. All the administrators cared about was that the more challenged Autistic kids needed placement somewhere, so why not in the Autistic class? It seemed to become a dumping ground. Instead of this being a model classroom, it became a nightmare, not just for the staff, but for the kids as well. I felt so bad for everyone and tried to help get changes, but no one would budge.

I saw my son and his peers become frustrated, confused and all around unhappy. The staff took the blunt of this and it began to take its toll on them also. We knew the concept of the “model” class was to be no more. It was so disappointing.

My son was 18 now and needed to be working on transitioning in a few years, out of public school. Because of the overwhelmed staff, it seemed the older the student got, the less the transition skills were being taught. I soon realized the class wasn’t serving the needs of those 18-22. These students, after all, were now adults. The dynamics had changed for them. They really needed to be out in the community all the time. The days of classroom learning were over. They needed to imitate what their day would be like, once they left the comforts of school and get a taste of the real world. Unfortunately, the staff couldn’t accommodate both the younger and older students. I started to see a pattern with the staff and the older kids. It seemed the years between 20-22 years old they were just left to sit in that “relaxation” room most of the day. I can’t say I blame the staff because they were not prepared for what the transition portion of this program needed.

 I just didn’t have the energy to try, once again, to ask that they start an 18-22 year program. I knew it would be the answer to a much needed problem. With my son approaching the exit years, and the budgets of both the district and county programs being cut so badly, I just let it go and hoped for the best. I just couldn’t do this again. Unfortunately, it proved not to be a good idea to give up on.

My son’s teacher and I visited a lot of the adult programs in the area, way before my son was to exit out of school. What we found shocked us. They really had no experience with the adult autism population and most had no idea what was coming up. I started to question then, what was ahead once my son left public school. When that last year of public school arrived, things weren’t looking too promising for the future.

As involved as I was, as a mom and advocate, this transition period from public school seemed to fall on deaf ears. I tried to put the right things in place. I had the district bring down an expert transition person from Northern California, to do a much needed vocational assessment on my son. She did an excellent job and gave us the tools we were looking for to help him. Unfortunately, at this point in time, it was a little too late to really follow this assessment plan. I finally got my son an augmentative communication device, after years of just using a PECS book. The device, although very bulky, helped him enhance his communication skills. Unfortunately again, we didn’t get this device until the last few months of his school years. It took those months just to get everyone trained on how to help him with it. Too little too late, again!  

The high school years came and went so quickly, I still have a hard time believing how fast! Having seen how fast the school years go, I advise parents to start with the transition process early and don’t wait around until the last year to look into what is ahead. It takes a lot of planning and the outcome isn’t what you think, once you leave the security of public school.

Next: Autism-The Transition From Public School….