Parents of autistic children are complaining that many schools suspend their children without proposing solutions for their behavioral problems.
In many cases, the children have no record of violent behavior, parents say, whether referring to students at special-education schools or in special-ed classes at regular schools.
“Every day, an hour and a half or two hours after the beginning of school, they call us to pick him up. With my work, it’s hard to impossible,” said H., a mother whose child has been diagnosed with high-functioning pervasive developmental disorder.
The Education Ministry says students are only suspended in extreme cases. But H. says her son, who studies in a special-ed class at a regular school, is sent home every day because he touches staff and other children.
“The alternative for my son for communication is touching. The boy doesn’t touch because he wants to hit or because he’s bad – that’s his way of communicating,” said H. “When the touch isn’t so much to their liking they immediately call us to pick him up. When I complained that this wasn’t okay, the teacher said she preferred that he left.”
When H. complained to the school administration, she was told she was “invited to leave.”
Many schools ask parents to give their children stronger medication to calm them down, said a number of parents with autistic children. “There was a period when we gave it to him and we saw it was bad for him,” said H. “We consulted with a psychiatrist and he told us to stop.”
Mor Brasky, the mother of a 19-year-old with high-functioning PDD and epilepsy, has had a similar experience.
