Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Selecting The WRONG Autism Teacher Can Be Disastrous For Your Autistic Child

If you have an autistic child, then it almost goes without saying that you want the best autism teacher that is possible so that your child is able to learn, can be taught how to learn, and not be left behind as his peers advance and mature. But have you really considered the autism teacher that the school district simple assigns to your child? If not, then perhaps you should as explained in this article.
First of all, you need to remember that your child will be spending 30 or more hours per week in the classroom. All of this time, your child is receiving instruction from their autism teacher. This instruction is much more than just basic learning as would be done for normal children, but much of that time is spent in helping the child learn how to learn, learn how to interact with his peers, learning acceptable behavior, and all done by someone who has an understanding of autistic children and their very specific needs and requirements.
As such, the autistic child will frequently look at his teacher as a role model, someone that they respect, they admire, someone who helps them with seemingly infinite patience, and someone that the child will attempt to emulate because of that relationship and respect. But this is not always a good thing if you have not looked a bit deeper into the selected autism teacher to really determine if that person is really worthy of being your child's role model.
Almost all autism teachers have been trained in autism, cognitive learning disabilities and dealing with emotionally impaired children. Many of them even have a Masters Degree which indicates that they have learned the material required at least once and should be capable of being a good autism teacher. But unfortunately, that is not the end of that story, since "academic smarts" is not all that is required to be an effective autism teacher and to be seen by autistic children as a role model to follow and emulate.
Some of the autism teachers in today's world are not worthy to be viewed as role models. Sure, they have the required "academic smarts" but they are a far cry from being the type of person that you would want your child to emulate or view as a role model for their future lives. Although it is unfortunate, some of these teachers have a character and personality outside of the classroom that is simply, putting it mildly, not the kind of person that you would want ANYONE to emulate, let alone your autistic child who NEEDS a role model to help them determine what is good, bad, right and acceptable within today's society and amongst their peers. In the role of the teacher of autism, some of these people are totally superficial, pretending to be one type of person in the classroom, but outside of the classroom they are an entirely different type of person, many times exhibiting traits of coldness towards others, consistently lying to friends and family, and feeling no remorse about hurting others that they have deceived. Is that the kind of person that you want your autistic child to view as a role model? I don't think so, and you should not think so either.
The choice is yours and much of that choice depends on the value that you place on the instruction that your autistic child receives at school, understanding that when they develop a relationship with their autism teacher, that relationship will inevitably extend into viewing that teacher as role model. I would strongly encourage you to ensure that such a person is indeed worthy to be viewed as such a role model, and you are not required to accept the autism teacher that the school district arbitrarily assigns to you.
If you are serious about getting the best for your autistic child, I would encourage you to do your research into the right Autism Teacher for your child and to do the amount of research necessary to ensure that your autistic child is receiving the maximum benefit for their learning needs. For more insights about Autism and to read a case study of two very real autism teachers, please visit our web site at http://www.autism-explained.com/selecting-the-right-autism-teacher-for-your-child/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Arnold

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