When 9-year-old Thomas Teeters begins to throw a tantrum all his
mother Marcella Harris can do is lock herself in another room and
listen to the screams.
Hollister – When 9-year-old Thomas Teeters begins to throw a tantrum all his mother Marcella Harris can do is lock herself in another room and listen to the screams.
“It doesn’t do any good, I’ve learned, to try and comfort him,” the Hollister resident said. “So I have to distance myself from him. And that’s so sad. Your child is having a problem and you can’t help him.”
Waiting through her son’s tantrums is a daily challenge for Harris.
About five years ago Thomas was diagnosed with autism – a lifelong neurological disorder that impairs a person’s ability to communicate and, consequently, form relationships or be a part of society at large.
“Communication is a major problem,” Harris said. “Autistic children don’t have the ability to communicate with others. They have trouble reading people’s emotions.”
In California, new cases of autism nearly doubled between 1998 and 2002, with more than 20,000 people in the state – the majority less than 14-years-old – diagnosed with the disorder in 2002.
The Centers for Disease control estimated one child in every 250 births developed autism in 2003, meaning there are approximately 1.5 million Americans with some form of the disorder though the severity can fluctuate dramatically.
And, like California, the number is climbing based on statistics collected by the Autism Society of America. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education and other governmental agencies, they estimate autism is growing at a rate of 10 to 17 percent a year. At this rate the number of people diagnosed with autism could reach 4 million in the next decade.
San Benito County mirrors the nationwide increase in new cases of autism. There are now more than 30 autistic children enrolled in county schools – most of them in the Hollister School District.
“At one point San Benito County had four to six (students with autism). Those numbers have quadrupled in the last five years,” said Chris Lompa, program specialist with the county’s special education local plan area.
The increase in cases of autism could come from a combination of better methods of diagnosing the disorder and the widening of the category of symptoms doctors use to diagnose it, she said.
For autistic children in county schools, education provides one of many challenges they will face in life. Special education teachers primarily focus on developing communication skills with autistic students.
“If you couldn’t communicate when you had a problem, you might get frustrated. You might get upset and scream,” said Mark Stillwell, who teaches kindergarten through third grade students with autism at Ladd Lane School.
“We work on social skills, and teaching skills needed in order to build relationships,” he said.
To build these skills teachers use situations, either real or contrived, to teach their students how to socialize with others.
For example, teachers might create a scenario in which their students will be expected to share a toy with others. If conflict arises, they work with the students to talk through it, rather than resort to aggression or tantrums.
“The goal is to bring them around to see that other people are valuable,” Stillwell said.
Autistic students also go through the process of “mainstreaming.” Depending on the severity of autism and a student’s development, mainstreaming ranges from mingling with the regular students during recess and lunch breaks to spending time in a traditional classroom setting with other students in their grade.
“Other students don’t bother them (students with autism) if they are off alone,” Stillwell said. “But some (regular education) students are into helping out and getting to know the kids.”
Half of Stillwell’s eight students spend about half of their days in regular education classes.
Harris’ son is enrolled at Gabilan Hills School, where he goes to school four days per week for about two hours a day.
At school, Thomas receives speech therapy and physical therapy to enhance his motor skills.
“He’s being slowly integrated,” she said. “He’s made progress everyday. I try to remember that.”
While schools are making progress teaching students with autism, the districts’ obligation to accommodate special education students no matter what the cost strains a budget already tightened from a lack of funding for rising education costs.
Stillwell’s class, for example, requires six additional staff members to work with just eight students.
“It’s a very, very expensive, very intensive special education program,” San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said.
And the federal government is not honoring its promise to fund 40 percent of special education programs as mandated in the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, he said.
“We get more and more kids, and the pie has not increased. So we have the encroachment of special education into the general fund,” Foley said.
Typically, the federal government funds 12 to 17 percent of special education costs, said Ann Griffin, interim director of special education for HSD. The remaining funding comes from state and local sources, she said.
The challenges posed by autism are many, affecting children, their parents and the communities where they live.
Researchers have little knowledge on the causes of autism aside from the abnormalities in brain structure and function found in autistic patients. They have yet to isolate any hereditary, environmental or other influences that cause the disease to suddenly develop. But there is hope for the children with milder forms of autism, who, over time and with help, can learn to exist in society with the mysterious disorder.
And just as children with autism work to learn the skills they will need for life, their parents must learn hard lessons as well.
“I learned most of all not to think about a cure,” Harris said, “but accept your child for what he is and help him achieve his fullest potential. It is better to realize autism is a special condition, with special gifts and special problems.”
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at
lr****@fr***********.com
