Response to: Teacher Encourages and Participates in Emotional Abuse of Autistic Student

Well, I did it again my response to a post has grown into a post of its own.. This started out as a response to Elfninosmom’s piece about a Wendy Portillo, kindergarten teacher, at Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Florida who encouraged her students to excommunicate 5 year-old Alex Barton from their classroom. This is my reaction to the incident and I am not discussing the details of the incident. I want to discuss my reaction from three perspectives.

First as an educator.

What the Portillo did is inexcusable. She is supposedly a college educated intelligent adult. It is her responsibility to create an environment where are all children are accepted. Yet she is little more than an overgrown classroom bully.

My experiences as a learning facilitator taught me that some teachers have little tolerance for any child who is not “normal”. In the old days special needs children were often excluded from school. That was until the 1970’s and “Education for All Handicapped Children” (now IDEA) was passed and special education became mandatory. That means that schools do not have to provide advanced classes, sports or other extra-curricular but are required to provide services for special needs children. For many years special needs children were shipped off to special classes or resource rooms for part or all day. In the 1980’s and 1990’s inclusion and content mastery became the “in thing” students were only removed from classes for extra help or not at all. Today especially with budget cuts inclusion is more popular than ever. So, what is my point? Well, the Portillo looks like she has been teaching for a few years. I’m sure that  this is not her 1st experience with a disabled youngster or difficult child. Of course, she may be the kind of teacher who believes all children must fit her mold.

I understand that some children with Asperger’s Syndrome can be challenging to teach especially if you have other children in the classroom. Over the years I have had several students with some form of Autism and most did well in my class. As a professional educator it is one’s responsibility to help all students succeed in the classroom especially in the lower grades. My policy was that any student who desired to pass and was willing to work for the grade would pass.

Finally, this is the last week of May all students are going to be a little rowdy and even the good ones act like hellions. Couldn’t the Portillo make it one more week? Maybe she is just a very mean and vindictive individual. Her behavior was extremely unprofessional. In the very least the teacher should be censured and loose her teaching credentials permanently.

As someone who has a learning disability.

One of my teachers in elementary school had zero tolerance for my learning disabilities. To be successful in school I required only minor accommodations due to my severe dysgraphia. It is still painful to think about the teacher’s action. It was emotionally damaging for me as a child to be publicly humiliated. It was embarrassing when she would dump my desk on the floor and encourage other children to laugh at me and call me stupid. From that time until high school graduation my nickname was “Stupid ” or “Dummy“.

As a human

I am appalled that an adult is so insensitive that she would have no problem torturing an 5 year-old. Is this woman some sort of monster or does she have absolutely no conscience? This precious little boy was created in God’s image. Alex deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

What kind of example is Portillo modeling for impressionable young children? In effect she is saying that it is acceptable to treat those with special needs as less than human.

My Suggestions for Dealing with Portillo

The Port St. Lucie Police Department have decided not to file child abuse charges against Portillo. It really isn’t surprising that no charges have been filed. She poses no future threat to Alex.

Portillio’s teaching career should be over permanently. Further, her teaching certification should be revoked. While I think she should never teach, I think mandatory community service working with disabled children might not be bad.

I think it would also be good for Portillio to get a dose of her own medicine. Maybe have her stand in front of the school or other public building holding a sign stating I pick on 5-year-olds. Also, I think Melissa Barton, Alex’s mom should be given an oportunity to make a victim’s impact statement to Portillio.

Sky Watch Friday: Storm Rising

They are building a new Kohl’s near us. They tore down the shopping center where the bookstore used to be to build Kohl’s. Noticed the storm clouds moving in and decided to get a shot of them.

For more Sky Watch visit Tom.

Real Hope For Haiti

Aaron from The Paper Mirror and other bloggers have been blogging about Real Hope for Haiti this week.

Today I want to share one of the stories from the rescue center.

This is a story of hope. it’s a story of faith, trust, and obedience. a normal American family, much like yours, felt like God was asking them to move to Haiti to give the hope of Christ to Haitians in need. In 1999, Zach, Gretchen, Licia, and Lori began taking children into their home. It started with a child that was severely burned on her leg and stomach. The dream of a rescue center in Cazale, Haiti finally came to fruition in May of 2002, where they currently care for 50-60 children and 4-6 adults at any given time. You can read more about this amazing rescue center here.

Real Hope for Haiti is a evangelical non-profit grassroots organization that proclaims the gospel to the beautiful people of Haiti. There’s no other way to put this: this rescue center saves lives. Many children have entered this place on their deathbed, received life-giving medical care and the love of Jesus Christ. it’s hard to imagine a place that demonstrates the call of Christ more than this. As with Mother Teresa’s mission in India, places like these are central to the theme of loving and caring for the least of these.

So, here’s how it works. people from the surrounding villages and mountains come to this small village of Cazale, Haiti to bring their sick and malnourished children. some travel for hours down difficult mountain paths, risking their own lives to bring their sick to this mission. they are then admitted into the clinic, given medication and food, and if they are in really bad condition are checked into the rescue center. some children stay for 4-5 months while others may be there for 2 years on the difficult path to health. some children get back to full health, others struggle for many years, and sadly some can’t make it through the impossible circumstances. in every case, these children are loved and cared for with the love of Christ.

In underdeveloped countries, children are usually the most at risk. when the average Haitian makes less than one dollar a day, children rarely get the food and nutrients they need in the first years of their lives. this leads to children suffering from kwashiorkor, which is the near-death results of not having protein and nutrients to live. normal families sometimes only have flour and water to feed their children, which causes these kids to be at the end of their ropes. with conditions like these, more than half of all Haitian children die before their fifteenth birthday.

In Cazale, lives are saved. Children are healed. Wounds are bandaged. broken and desperate kids are loved and cared for. for a lot of children in the surrounding areas, the rescue center may be the ONLY chance they have for real hope of survival.

The rescue center and clinic are completely funded by a few individuals and a small number of churches. currently, there are less than 15 individuals/families who give every month, and less than 15 churches that give every month. they are grateful for these generous people, but are needing more people like them to join in.

Here’s the cold, hard truth. it costs around $15,000 a month to support both the clinic and rescue center. (the rescue center alone takes $8,000 to operate). this $15,000 covers hiring local Haitian men and women (empowering them to be a part of change by giving them jobs, skills, and ministry), food, formula, supplies, medicine, and rent for the 2 buildings. in other words, $15,000 is bare minimum. this doesn’t include any future development or planning. this is the cost of maintaining and sustaining the lives of the people there. currently, there are monthly commitments of $5,000. that means only 1/3 of the monthly budget is met by monthly supporters. the other 2/3 is based on one-time donations and people giving here and there. because of a lack of monthly supporters, it makes it increasingly difficult to keep the doors open every month.

How you can help

You can send a check to their ministry office

Real Hope For Haiti
P.O. Box 23
Elwood, IN 46036

For on-line donations.

More about Real Hope for Haiti.

Score One for the Little Guys

The Dallas Baptist Patriots baseball team has been selected to play in the NCAA Division I National Tournament for the 1st time in school history. This is the Patriots 3rd season in Division I play. DBU is the 1st independent team other than Miami to be invited to NCAA Regional tournament since 1992.

Congratulations Guys!

HT: We Are Texas Baptists

Banned from Church

Last week ABC News had a report about Adam Race, an autistic boy, who was banned from attending Church of St. Joseph in Bertha, Minnesota. Apparently Adam had become so disruptive that the church considered his attendance a threat to others. Rev. Daniel Walz claims that accommodations were made or at least offered to the family. Now, a restraining order has been issued preventing Adam from attending services. The Races insists that no accommodations were offered and that the boy was not dangerous. While I am not personally involved, this incident has really bothered me. I have been processing the situation and formulating my response all week.

There is something about banning a person from church that just does not seem right. A church is supposed to be a place of refuge and worship for all. I have worked with teenagers long enough to know that sometimes it may be necessary, however a court order does seem excessive. I am just not comfortable with the thought of banning someone from church. Well, that is really not the point of this post anyway.

Growing up in a ministers home I have attended church my entire life and there as always been at least one disabled person who attended my church. As I reflected on the Races situation I begin thinking about observations I have made from my own interactions with disabled congregants.

Several years ago we had some friends at the church we were attending whose son was developmentally disabled son. Matthew* enjoyed attending church. It was not uncommon to here Matthew loudly proclaim, “Yeah! God!” or to cheer when our pastor came to the pulpit. When was the last time you saw someone be truly excited when the pastor started preaching? Matthew’s favorite place to sit was at the pastor’s feet. He had a desire to worship God. How many times do you are you really anticipate receiving a word from God?

Theo* is a pre-teen at our church who has Autism. Like Matthew, Theo loves attending church. He approaches worship service with much gusto. Theo loves to sing and makes a joyful noise. While some may consider Theo and Matthew disruptive I do not. Actually, I believe that both boys take a scriptural approach to worship. To them church is about God and not doing the right thing, pleasing others or appearing good. I have thought a lot about my own reasons for attending and what I do during Services. Am I really there to have a meaningful encounter with God or have other things gotten in my way?

A church is or at least should be a community of faith. In all communities diversity can or should enhance and enrich the community. It is only through interacting with those who are different from ourselves that we learn acceptance and hopefully learn to see past the differences to person. It is very easy to see only a person’s disability and not the person inside. For more on my thoughts on labels and disabilities read this.

*Names changed