I recently came across a very interesting article about the first person actually diagnosed with Autism. His name is Donald Triplet, he is 77 years old, and lives in Forest, Mississippi. It was a very fascinating article and it got me thinking about all my students and where they will go once they are out of the school system's hands. Will the be prepared for the adventures ahead? Will they be able to live a normal life? Who will they live with? What happens if their parents/guardians die before them? All of the children we teach in our special needs classrooms will be adults one day and it is our jobs to prepare them for adulthood. However, as a classroom teacher I find it very hard to do this when academics are being pushed down our throats. It is also very hard when, after reading this article, I read the following:
"This leads to the question of where they will live. As it is, 85 percent of adults with autism still live with parents, siblings, or other relatives. But what happens when that is no longer an option? Large-scale warehousing is gone—and good riddance, most say. An obvious alternative is residential arrangements offering multiple spaces to people with autism, who can share support services under one roof in a setting that really is a home. At present, however, given both start-up costs and resistance from neighbors, the number of spaces in such homes is limited, and landing a spot can be extremely difficult: nationally, more than 88,000 adults are already on waiting lists."
WOW! 88,00 adults are on waiting lists for residential facilities. If we can teach our students the life skills they need to live independently and provide them with the community experiences needed to practice these skills, then the waiting lists will decrease. We need to look at the bigger picture for our student. After all isn't that what schools want for EVERY student is to be successful in the future? We have a duty to our students to teach them what really matters and what really will help them to be successful and independent.
I encourage all of you to click on the link below and read Donald's story and keep in mind that we have and will continue to have a lot of Donald's out there that need us to begin teaching, plannig, and caring for their futures.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/10/autism-8217-s-first-child/8227/
Until we meet again,
Mallory Watkins
Mike's niece has a Down Syndrome child. Not knowing the details, but they made legal arrangments long ago for care for him after he is grown. Advance planning is a must, even if things don't work out as they have directed, at least they have a working plan.
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