Moving up - 18 Oct 09

In Math, he is moving up fast. Their present lesson is in rounding up numbers. He knows this but I think, he needs to review it. He is good in Math overall but the moment you inject word problems, he gets a little confused especially if it is wordy. Funny thing but true, the moment I do an intensive teaching on him on a particular lesson, he gets it in a wink. Hence, his autism teacher will tell me that he did pretty well. I just do not know how far the school goes to teach him in order for him to absorb the lesson. A good example is the mode, median and range that was initially taught to him last year. In mid-September 2009, the same lesson came up again so I made sure he understands what to do. Indeed, he was able to demonstrate proficiency. His autism teacher told me later that he did not make a mistake at all.

In Reading/Language Arts, he still needs help here. I just hope the autism teacher will focus more on this. He can read well especially when you do syllabication on long words. However, he really needs more comprehension. I believe he can comprehend but not as fast as we want him to spit it out in words. I do not know but the wonders of autism is the fact that words are flying out there in the air and could not grab it to say it orally. This makes me sometimes appreciate that I can talk and communicate anytime I want to as opposed to individuals like my child who sometimes are not able to put what he wants to say into words. In short, many times, he could not verbalize. I hope we can help him more. He needs it especially now that he is growing up.

Overall, he has really made great leaps from saying less than 50 words (or we were just imagining?....say, 20 words) until he was less than 5 1/2 years old. From 5 1/2 years old and onwards, he demonstrated that he can read, he can solve simple Math word problems, answer some specific questions and do multiplication faster than the mainstream kids. Still, the moment you inject the why and how, he gets lost. He needs help there badly. He is eating on his own using his utensils, he goes to the bathroom, he removes his clothing, he brings his backpack/lunch box, he walks on his own without running or not being aware that a car might hit him, he uses the computer especially the youtube.com website to see different videos/songs/dances that he fancies, he puts his glasses on and returns them back after use, he removes his socks/shoes, he sleeps on time (actually, we never really have problems with this; there are few times he wakes up at dawn), he wakes up properly because he has to go to school, he knows how to remove his dirt on his nose, he knows how to say, "it hurts" when he gets hurt, he know when to stop liking a movie or only have to watch them if he feels like it (before, he used to watch it over and over and over).

Trained to shoot to kill

I know there is a so called trained to shoot to kill but lo and behold, to shoot another individual 5 times amidst a scuffle and you are an officer, there must be something that went wrong. Shooting 5 times means the person with a gun does not know how to aim to his target in motion even though he was trained for this. Indeed, the community or the outside world feels sympathy for the dead victim but what if that is your very own child? Will you accept a trained to shoot to kill reasoning? What if the dead victim is your own child (an elementary student) with a knife and you are a parent and an officer, and since you are trained to shoot, you will kill your child? I am just expressing my opinion about the news of a fully functioning teenager with autism who was shot five times by a school resource police officer. I feel bad because a fully functioning teenager with autism means he had gone through a lot to be in his current state and will just be killed in school just like that and by an officer for that matter. There will never be a recovery for the parents of the boy.

On the other hand, am not saying, I detest what the officer did. Based from the news story, he left the hospital on the same day he was admitted, perhaps just couple or less hours. It only means, his wounds are shallow and these could just be knife scratches. And these are not life-threatening to counter his five times shot against his opponent (or there might be more shots released in the air in trying to aim a good shot). The officer must have a taser, why did he not use the taser? As for the knife, who owns the knife? How big is it that his so called stabbed wounds only warrant a couple or less hours of stay in the hospital? Do we believe the officer who claimed the student has a knife? Who inflicted the wounds, the officer or the student with autism? There are many lingering questions here as the outcome was not positive. The officer may not mean to kill the student with autism but he did not use his judgment here. He killed an individual and that is a fact.

I know the police organization in general. I had been there.

Teenager with Autism Killed by a Police

Trevor Varinecz, 16-Year-Old Autistic Student, Killed by Officer After Stabbing Him With a Knife

Written by JJ on Oct-16-09 5:27pm

Trevor Varinecz, 16, was shot and killed Friday after he attacked a high school police officer with a knife at Carolina Forest High School in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The 11th-grader had asked to speak with the officer, who he stabbed after the 2 had entered an office, Teal Britton, spokeswoman for Horry County Schools, said.

Despite the tragic events, students were not sent home and were not told what happened. After the confrontation, both Trevor Varinecz and the officer were taken to a hospital. Varinecz was pronounced dead at 9:34 AM and the officer was released in good condition at 12:30 PM.

Trevor Varinecz was an autistic student at the school. According to witness accounts recounted at wafb.com, teachers heard shouting in the office and when they entered, they saw Varinecz stabbing the officer with a large knife. He was shot moments later. Though the officer's identity has not yet been confirmed, the school's only school resource officer is Marcus Rhodes.

This isn't the first time the high school has been the site of a violent attack. In June, 2006, 18-year-old Natalia Holmes was stabbed to death in the school's parking lot. Her ex-boyfriend, Edwin Cornelius Brown, was convicted of the murder and is currently serving life in prison.
(Source: http://www.zimbio.com/Trevor+Varinecz/articles/qYdiLsPGDpo/Trevor+Varinecz+16+Year+Old+Autistic+Student)

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After reading the story about this fully functioning teenager with autism, I doubt it if the police officer's wounds are enough to let him pull the trigger five times. The officer was able to leave the hospital on the same day that he was brought together with the teenager with autism who later died. The police officer's wounds are too shallow to warrant him to shoot the teenager five times. It is very suspicious. The boy may have brought the knife to school, which is bad/violation but to be shot five times vs the shallow wounds inflicted on the officer brings the case to a homicide. You can shoot the boy's legs and/or arms but not in areas where the victim eventually succumbed to death. There should be more facts or even videos to see that the police officer's actions are not self-defense.

Second Incident of Hand Marks - 5 Oct 09

The school said that they never touched AX if there is a behavior problem. Indeed, they did and the hand marks on his upper left arm is a proof that can not be denied. This second incident occurred on 5 Oct 09 and it was really frustrating since we just had a brief meeting with the principal regarding this. He was held so tightly again that finger/hand marks were left on his upper left arm. The ESE specialist and the autism teacher said it could be the big pole in the playground that caused this. It is real bullshit to have this kind of reasoning, right?

Interim IEP Meeting - 1 October 2009

An interim IEP meeting was conducted on 1 October 2009; 2:10PM EST. It was attended by the 2nd grade and 3rd grade Language Arts teachers, speech therapist, autism teacher and the ESE specialist. The purpose of the meeting was to incorporate the Language Arts as part AX's mainstreaming. According to the IEP, he has 75% removed from the autism cluster or that he only spends 25% in the autism cluster and the 75% of the time, he is in the mainstream. However, I really do not know if that is being followed but I sure do hope it is. I hope that behavior does not impede him from being with the regular class or students. I mentioned this because today (2 October 2009), a mainstreaming behavior log was initiated by the school without our knowledge. AX had been with the autism cluster since he was in pre-K and did not gain anything until we pushed for more school work. These are the sad events of his life. Imagine, a student with autism goes to school without learning something?

I do not know that much that transpired in the IEP meeting because I had to assist AX in the bathroom. It turned out he was having tummy problems so he could not be still.

I will post the addendum of the interim IEP later in the day or tomorrow.

Hand Marks on the Right Arm - 30 Sept 2009

September 2009 ended with a bang. There were so many things to attend to. It was really hard to bear especially when we escalated our complaint to the school district's area superintendent's office and the ESE. On 30 September 2009, AX had hand/finger marks on his upper right arm/shoulder and lower right arm. It was pretty evident that he was having a struggle. He got physically hurt so physical marks were left on the right arm. I have to state it again, he was physically hurt so physical marks were left on the right arm. I just hope it was not done with intention. I noticed the marks right after he sat on his car seat and asked him to change his shirt as we had an ortho appointment at@ 3:00PM. I flipped. I asked him to come with me and we approached his autism teacher and the ESE specialist. The teacher kept saying he did not know any of it. The ESE specialist acted like it was no big deal. She did not show any concern at all. We left the school grounds and it seemed like we were not attended to.

The next day, 1 October 2009, we went to the principal's office at 1:30PM. The ESE specialist and the principal were present. As usual, wrongdoing was denied. The pictures on the camera were set aside like it was no big deal.

Today, I was told by the autism teacher that they are doing the behavior log for AX. This was written by the person who assists AX in Language Arts mainstreaming and Math mainstreaming. There was no mentioned of 30 Sept 2009 incident.