Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Jess Poirier, the founder of the Vermont Autism Network and a member of Vermont Autism Task Force and its Anti-Bullying and Harassment Committee. This is a letter she sent to the every member of the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont Board of Education.
My name is Jessica Poirier. I am a member of the Vermont Autism Task Force, a member of the Vermont Autism Task Force Anti-Bullying and Harassment Committee and the founder of the Vermont Autism Network, which has a very similar mission to the Vermont Autism Task Force and continues to evolve and grow.
I became involved in the autism community immediately after my own daughter’s autism diagnosis in April of last year. Since that time I’ve worked to be a bridge between my local community and my work in the various organizations.
A case in Bennington came to my attention of an autistic boy being mistreated in school by the aides that work with him. The link to the story is here. I believe that every problem is an opportunity to be used as a catalyst for change. To that end, I am reaching out to you. As both the mother of an autistic child, and an advocate, I have a very simple question: Why does the State of Vermont not require school aides in special needs classrooms to be trained and educated about the challenges of the children they work with? Becoming a teacher’s aide is one of the easiest jobs to obtain; all it takes is a clean background check and urine screen and a high school diploma — and yet these same people are trusted with our most vulnerable population. As we saw in Bennington, this is a recipe for disaster. No child deserves to be treated so inhumanely.
If a teenager is hired at McDonald’s he or she is trained in food safety and how to operate the equipment before they can do their job.
If aides are not trained in these needs, if they do not understand the child’s cues, if they are unable to read sign language, how can we assign them as “one on one” aides to our autistic children who often cannot explicitly ask for what they need?
Let’s put this into context in working with an autistic child for a moment. These children have communication barriers, sensory needs — some are sensitive and some, like my daughter are seekers. They have trouble processing requests which can mean that if you ask an autistic child to do something they will seem to have a delayed response.
The needs that these children have are important to note because if they are not met they can lead to what we call “meltdowns” and what educators sometimes refer to as aggressive or non-compliant behavior when what it is, is the child trying desperately to communicate a need but not knowing how. For instance, if my daughter is not getting her sensory needs met she will act out; she will become emotional and have “tantrums.” The minute I introduce something to her that meets her need for tactile feedback she quickly returns to the sweet, happy, gentle girl I know.
If aides are not trained in these needs, if they do not understand the child’s cues, if they are unable to read sign language, how can we assign them as “one on one” aides to our autistic children who often cannot explicitly ask for what they need? What we are creating is a setup for both the aide and the child. The child will respond to not having his or her needs met, the aide will not know how to respond and thus the child escalates — which quite often is being reported to families as their children causing problems in school. All of this could be mediated with trained staff.
I am sure that budget constraints go into these decisions. But we must ask ourselves as a state, as a community, is it worth saving a penny at the expense of our children? These children will someday be Vermont’s adults. We are slowly creating a mess that we will never be able to clean up — and for what, I ask? Please know that I do love Vermont. I believe that most people here have the best of intentions. It is to that camaraderie that I appeal. We are a small state of many communities; communities that stick together. We need to stick together for our children. Their future is our future.
We cannot let the tragedy in Bennington go unnoticed. We, as a state must rise to the challenge of protecting our most vulnerable children. If we don’t, who will?
