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Chrys Alobwede

Prof. Echols

English 1201

1 May, 2022

School has Failed Autistic Children

On July 28th, 2010, a child named Gordon Alobwede Jr. was officially diagnosed

with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of three. The diagnosis had not come to our

family as a surprise as my little brother had already exhibited traits of isolation and lack

of verbal communication. As a result of his condition, Jr. struggled to fit into many of his

surroundings that involved the presence of others. My brother was never able to

express his emotions or desires to outsiders due to the fact that most of the world lacks

understanding toward someone like him. It was also a struggle to teach Jr basic

comprehension skills as well. When the age came for Jr to enroll in public schools, my

family had hoped that he would find an environment in which he would thrive. We had

hoped that there would be a way to help my brother reach his maximum educational

potential. In his early years of school, however, this had not seemed to be the case for

Jr. Children like my brother in his elementary school were assorted into separate

classes from the rest for special education. These classes did virtually nothing for Jr, his

teachers’ only focus was to make sure that he was not too hyperactive during school.

The scenario replicated itself in five different schools that Jr was sent away from for his

behavior. Jr is now enrolled in his freshman year of high school at a Montgomery

County educational center where he is psychologically and academically thriving for the

first time in his educational career. He has been placed in an environment where the
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teachers and aides are trained to understand all of their student’s differences and to

accommodate each individual’s disabilities. Unfortunately, we are not the only family

that has complained of the lack of support for their autistic family members. Most public

school systems in the United States claim to have special education for those with

mental disabilities but the majority of the time, this just means divided classes. The

schooling system today has failed to educate those with Autism to their full potential due

to the lack of mental understanding and support for those with the disability.

The figure represents the increase in diagnosed autism in the United States

throughout recent years (TACA). Knowing that the awareness of autism is augmenting,

this proves to be evidence that the school system needs to adapt to the increasing

number of affected children that need guidance.

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Autism is characterized as a mental disorder that affects one’s social skills,

behavior, and verbal and nonverbal communication (Autism Speaks). One of the most

interesting aspects of this disorder is its versatility. Autism is classified on a spectrum of

different severities, meaning that no one with this disorder is the same. My brother,

unfortunately, is an example of someone on the more severe end of the spectrum. Jr is

completely nonverbal, has OCD, and has periods of behavior issues. However, Jr’s

situation is not a complete representation of everyone affected. There are some autistic

people that many would not think would be solely based on how they act. Many

diagnosable traits stay hidden under the surface like social anxiety or the underlying

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. These factors make it hard for many to understand the

affected individuals. Schools are supposed to be places where misunderstood students

are supposed to be understood. This, however, has not been the case for autistic

children.

The public school system has had a detrimental impact on the lives of those on

the Autism spectrum due to the lack of mental understanding of the affected individuals.

Children on the spectrum have been reputably known to be as smart or significantly

more intelligent than many of their peers. Due to the format of public schooling, a

plethora of autistic children have no way of demonstrating their intelligence. A study was

conducted analyzing the relationship in “engagement” with writing assignments and

performance between those with ASD, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),

and those with no diagnosable traits (Zajic, Matthew Carl, et al.). The results showed

that those with ASD “performed text quality, word production, and time spent engaged”

(Zajic, Matthew Carl, et al.). Anyone would just assume that these results prove that
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autistic children are academically inferior to the rest of the unaffected children, but that

assumption would not cover the full picture. The problem with the public school system

is that officials only use scores like the writing assessments above to prove a student’s

intelligence or worth. Schools have never demonstrated a true way of measuring an

autistic child’s giftedness other than the conventional reading or writing tests. Teachers

and school officials have placed a tremendous amount of emphasis on standardized

assessments but fail to understand the other aspects of intellect that many autistic

children possess.

As a result of the lack of understanding of autistic students by the schooling

system, many children have never been able to show their academic prowess. There

have always been concerns regarding public schooling regarding the versatility and

variety of their teaching methods. Many have argued that the teaching methods and

lessons are archaic and no longer fit the students today. This topic is especially

debatable when inserting autistic students into the conversation. In most school

districts, the children have all followed the same style of learning for years with no

differentiation between one another, including the autistic population within the classes.

This has caused a major hindrance in their education. New studies have attempted to

debunk the classic teaching style and replace it with a more individualistic style of

learning for autistic students. Researchers have tested the academic performances of

children with ASD in different learning categories. Students were assigned to either a

“Self-regulated learning” group or an “Activity-based intervention” group and the

academic results were recorded and analyzed (Wan Yunus, Farahiyah, et al.). The

study showed that autistic students in the self-regulated group excelled much further
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than those in the activity-based learning group in their academics. The individualized

style of learning has never been a common practice in the majority of school districts.

All lessons have usually consisted of a unified class activity that places all the students

in the same place. This method has never worked for autistic students and never will

simply due to how differently those with autism think and public schools have never

understood this. It has always been the schooling system’s lack of understanding of

differences that has wrongly set autistic children behind their peers.

The education system not only lacks the mental understanding of children on the

spectrum but also lacks support as a whole for children affected with Autism Spectrum

Disorder. Classrooms usually are supposed to have federal mandates to ensure that

they function according to all of the students’ best interests and needs. The typical

classroom suits the average student but not everyone with developmental disabilities,

like Autism Spectrum Disorder, is accounted for. Some schools lack the resources and

ability to identify or help those with Autism or other disabilities in the classroom. Schools

as early as a preschool are required by law to identify children with potential disabilities

by the Disabilities Education Act, however, the act “is spottily implemented at best”

(McLaughlin). The public school systems have the means to be able to better support

the learning community with disabilities but they fail to do so. The fact that schools are

required to give support but still ignore the legal obligation shows how little the

education system cares for children with Autism or other mental disabilities. The effects

of ignoring the basic requirements for autistic awareness could prove to be long

enduring and detrimental. Without the proper or early diagnosis, children with Autism

might not develop academically or mentally the way they should in their childhood.
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Students on the spectrum would miss out on the chances to seek personalized help

from aides or specialized classrooms that may be offered by the school. In the long run,

students may never learn to manage the social effects that come with Autism Spectrum

Disorder.

The lack of support and stability for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder in

schools can be seen in the insufficiency of specialized education. Special education

requires an excessive amount of effort and dedication to be shown district-wide in order

for mentally challenged children to gain the most out of their education. The structure of

learning vastly varies with each child but the main themes of autistic education are

usually “one-on-one attention from teachers, aides, and therapists” and “tailored” lesson

plans for the student (McLaughlin). The majority of public schools follow this format for

special education, however, this has proven not to be enough for the learning of autistic

children. One of the focal symptoms that emerge with Autism is a deficiency of

communication skills. Regardless of the severity of the Autism Spectrum Disorder one

may be diagnosed with, most are faced with communication issues, whether being

social anxiety or just being completely nonverbal. The wide consensus of behavior

specialists believes that schools are doing enough to support the language and

communication skills that autistic students need. They believe that “nearly all of these

students” need improvement on their skills in “whatever form is appropriate”

(McLaughlin). Autistic children that are nonverbal often leave school without any way of

language or communication since schools do not do a well enough job of providing

these skills. Even learning basic sign language skills would prove to be beneficial as

affected children would be able to at least slightly express their needs when they are in
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public settings. The school system sets autistic children up for failure when they have to

face real-world settings as many will face difficulties in expressing themselves from not

learning an alternative method of communication.

Gordon Alobwede Jr is a victim of the school systems of the United States’ failure

on children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As previously stated, Jr falls on the more

severely affected end of the Autism Spectrum, meaning he is almost completely

nonverbal and demonstrates mild anxiety. Jr’s experiences in school were relatively

stable until he reached middle school. At the public middle school of his district, Jr came

across many of the struggles previously addressed. The special education class that

held Jr had a large student-to-teacher ratio which did not allow for the individualized

attention that Jr needed. Jr has always been the type of autistic child that thrives on

more attention from aides so this situation was not ideal for him. As a result, Jr would

act out a lot or throw a multitude of temper tantrums to express himself in any way

possible. Teachers and aides of his would later remark that Jr was too out of control and

that the public schools could not do enough to keep him. Jr’s past in his previous public

middle school had also emphasized the insufficient language development in the school

system. Autistic children that are nonverbal usually have been expected to learn at least

a small quantity of basic sign language. This sign language does not even require a

great amount, only the small phrases that allow others to understand people like Jr.

However, Jr’s middle school did not provide him with nearly enough education in sign

language or other methods of communication. Instead Jr was forced to look for

alternative options like speech therapy outside of school. Through professional speech

therapy, Jr has made tremendous progress in his language development. Jr has since
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been approved for a government-approved communication device that allows him to

speak based on a variety of sentences, words, ideas, and objects. Communication with

others had become less of an issue for Jr now that he had a means to talk. The speech

therapy classes outside of school had also given Jr the ability to better comprehend and

understand what others say and ask of him. The Alobwede family had to search for all

of these opportunities due to the public school system’s failures for people like Jr. The

preponderance of the information for Autism support for Jr came from close friends and

family sources. This would have meant that Jr was not the only autistic child that was

affected by the public education system’s shortfall of support for special education. The

issues presented affect a large sum of families who support and care for a loved one

diagnosis on the Autism spectrum.

It can be argued that the public school system has actually proven to be

beneficial to the lives of autistic students by many due to its efforts to integrate separate

special education programs. The public education system has indisputably become

increasingly more tolerant of all types of students. In the 1960’s students with Autism or

other types of special needs were “often neglected and excluded from the public school

system entirely” (Raiti). This era ended after the implementation of government acts in

the seventies and eighties that included more students with mental disabilities in the

public school systems. The term of an “Individualized Education Plan,” or IEP, was

coined as a basis to establish individualized programs for students with Autism or other

special needs or accomodations in public school systems (Raiti). IEP’s included

learning targets and programs that a needy student would be working towards in the
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school year. The ultimate goal of these programs were to include parental guidance in

all aspects of their child’s education.

Although public school systems have incorporated individualized learning

programs into the autistic curriculum, the program will not amount to anything simply

due to the lack of understanding of those with Autism. An aspect of Autism that often is

not talked about enough is the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, that is

diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. OCD, along with many other symptoms of

Autism influence each child differently and educators simply have a hard time

comprehending this idea. The absence of comprehension for those incharge of the

education of autistic students in the specific scenario from an article on a child’s

experiences. The child described was a boy that had severe OCD diagnosed with his

autism and would strictly follow his teacher’s orders. The boy’s teacher could not notice

his pain and uncomfort from refusing to use the restroom without their permission so the

boy would eventually lose control of himself. The child would “[sit] in his own urine for

hours” in his pursuit of upholding his teacher’s expectations (Raiti). Public school

systems have made tremendous progress in the inclusion of neurodivergent students,

but right now, the progress is not enough. Autistic children still suffer in a traditional

school setting mainly because the average teacher is not trained enough to deal with

neurodivergent students like those with Autism. As long as there continues to be

unsympathetic and inexperienced teachers and aides, public schools will continue to fail

autistic children as a whole.

The public education system today has failed students living with Autism as a

whole. The teachers and aides’ lack of mental understanding and support for autistic
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children is the reason for the school systems’ failure. Autistic children have never been

completely understood by society, especially in the public schools. There are many

aspects of Autism that impacts the lives of students in school, like their social anxiety,

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Public

schools today also demostrate a physical deficiency of materials and resources to be

able to educate autistic students to their full potential. Children on the spectrum have

not been given the needed amount of individualized attention by teachers. Autistic

children thrive in environments where they have the full focus of their mentors and

teacher-figures. Public school systems have also failed to address the communication

and language skills of autistic children as a whole. Education for neurodivergent

students in public schools has come a long way from where it started. Children of all

kinds are now being integrated into all schools without discrimination. However, there is

still work that needs to be done to ensure every child has the ability to flourish in school

settings. The work starts with understanding differences and how to accommodate to

different classroom needs. As society builds on its education and awareness of Autistic

children, change will be made in schools.

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Works Cited

“What Is Autism?” Autism Speaks, Autism Speaks Inc., 2022,

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism.

McLaughlin, John. “Why Model Autism Programs Are Rare in Public Schools.”

Spectrum, Spectrum News, 1 Apr. 2019,

https://www.spectrumnews.org/opinion/viewpoint/model-autism-programs-rare-pu

blic-schools/.

Raiti, Christina. “Evolution of Autism in Public Schooling.” Educ 300 Education Reform

Past and Present, WordPress, 4 May 2014,

https://commons.trincoll.edu/edreform/2014/04/evolution-of-autism-in-public-scho

oling/.

“Autism Statistics.” The Autism Community in Action (TACA), The Autism

Community in Action, 28 May 2020, https://tacanow.org/autism-statistics/.

Wan Yunus, Farahiyah, et al. “Self-Regulated Learning versus Activity-Based

Intervention to Reduce Challenging Behaviors and Enhance School-Related

Function for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Randomized Controlled

Trial.” Research in Developmental Disabilities, vol. 114, July 2021. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103986.

Zajic, Matthew Carl, et al. “Task Engagement during Narrative Writing in

School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared to Peers with

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and without Attentional Difficulties.” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol.

76, Aug. 2020. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101590.