Reply #8: I read the entire thread and was amazed by the ignorance.

[merwin]

Between my own parents and in-laws, we have a college president, 2 college professors, an elementary school teacher who now works for Reading First teaching low-income schools how to teach reading properly (a program which had its federal funding canceled, even though WA has had huge successes with it), and a couple high school teachers.

My mother-in-law in particular is a special-ed teacher is currently teaching the last chance high school special-ed kids in a low-income district. The one thing that almost every high school kid that is in her class has in common is that they all have learning disabilities that have been mis-identified as anger/behaviorial issues for so long the kids turned into what the teachers thought they were.

It looks like the school was looking for a reason to get rid of the child because they didn't want to have to accomodate her anymore, as is shown by this quote:

"Teachers and the principal wished to pursue charges because they felt there were ongoing problems and this was the only way to resolve it," Lakewold said.

This statement shows that the teachers and administration knew what the child's triggers were and either didn't care or wanted to provoke her.

I personally score very high on all of the Asperger's tests, but have only been formally diagnosed with ADD (although my dad did not want to treat it and I didn't find out that I had ever been diagnosed until recently). I'm not sure many doctors would give a diagnosis of Asperger's to me as I've developed enough coping mechanisms to either pass as a very shy NT or fade into the background.

I really feel for the girl, as school was equally hellish for me between the beatings from other kids, humiliation, and then being blamed by the administration as the cause of the problem. It eventually ended up with my parents transferring me out to a private school because the administration sucked so bad. I had the same issues at the other school, but not nearly as bad.

I really hope Obama pushes for proper rules being put in place for special needs children, with special attention placed on the lowest of the performing schools instead of punishment. But I don't want to get into No Child Left Behind here :)