No Autistics Allowed? (the story of Alex Barton)

Everyone has already heard this unbelievable story – a teacher in a kindergarten classroom “led” her pupils “to vote […] out of class” a five-year-old being evaluated for Asperger Syndrome.

The first coverage of this story (or one of the first) appeared on TCPalm.com (May 23, 2008 “St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class” by Colleen Wixon).

As the newspaper reports “each classmate was allowed to say what they didn’t like about […] Alex” and “by a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class.” Alex’s classmates said that he was “disgusting” and “annoying.” “The teacher then allegedly asked the boy where he would go now that the class doesn’t like him the boy replied, ‘to the office?’ the teacher returned with ‘they do not want you there’ then the 5 year old said ‘home’ the teacher said your mom is at work you can’t go home. He finally said that he would go to the nurse and the teacher sent him out of the classroom to the office where he stayed for the remainder of the day.” (treasurecoast.com, Friday, May 23 “Austistic 5 year old allegedly physically, mentally abused by Port St. Lucie School Teacher”)

Melissa Barton, Alex’s mom was interviewed by CBS and the “raw video” of this thirteen-minute interview is available online.

Wendy Portillo, Alex’s Teacher, has been “reassigned” to another position while the school board is investigating the incident to decide what to do next. She has not commented on the incident to the media, per the advice or order of the school officials, as I understand.

TCPalm.com has a page with links to all articles on their site covering this story, including editorials, some in defense of Wendy Portillo.

The May 29, 2008 article “Police report reveals teacher’s side of incident in which boy ‘voted’ out of Port St. Lucie class”, by Coleen Wixon has a link to a pdf file of the narrative portion of the police incident report which so far is the only place where one can read Wendy Portillo’s side of the story.

What surprised me from this report is that she filled out a discipline referral for Alex for “pushing up the table with his feet.” His classmates’ work was sliding off the table as a result, and for that he was sent to the principal’s office.

I am also floored by Portillo’s statements in her testimony that “the students in class were all her priority and she would protect them like ‘a bear defending her cubs’” that “she would not let them hurt anyone and she would not let anyone hurt them.” It is quite obvious she did not consider Alex as one of the cubs. I bet Alex will remember for the rest of his life the way she hurt him and humiliated him in front of his classmates. (Just as I still remember my second grade math teacher hitting me and my classmates on the palm with a ruler, or my first grade PE teacher calling me antisocial in front of the whole class, and that was a really long time ago.)

Portillo also claimed “she felt if [Alex] heard from his classmates how his behavior affected them that it would make a bigger difference to him, rather than just hearing it from adults.” That’s why she “polled the class to see how [Alex’s] peers felt about his return.” And that comes from a teacher who supposedly is trained and certified to teach special needs children.

I don’t know who trained Wendy Portillo in teaching special needs children and what special needs were covered in her training but she sure doesn’t know squat about autism.

I am shocked that discrimination like this comes from a person who is a minority and I’m pretty sure has been discriminated against herself and should know what it feels like to be criticized for just being who you are and for something you have no control over.

Alex’s classmates telling him what they don’t like about his behavior will not change his behavior because he has no control over it, just as she has no control over the color of her skin. How would she feel like if her peers told her they don’t want her as part of the teaching faculty because of her race? I’m sure she’d be outraged, as she well should be. Luckily, even though there’s still plenty of “below the surface” racial discrimination in this country (which people feel very uncomfortable talking or writing about) such open racial discrimination is illegal in the U.S.

Unfortunately, it seems there’s still a long way to go to combat the legal discrimination on the basis of a neuropsychological disability. I’m sure it would not even occur to Portillo (or at least she would not dare) to put a minority child or a child in a wheelchair or an overweight one through a “vote” like this.

I also could not believe some of the comments left by readers in response to the news reports about Alex. And as much as I’d like to think that the comments against Alex and supporting Portillo and the exclusion of children on IEPs from regular classrooms were written by “trolls” – people who post inflammatory remarks just to stir up people and make them angry – I’m afraid that a lot of those comments truly are what people who wrote them think and believe and that’s what they teach their children.

One of Alex’s classmates, Jessica Moore, cried when Mrs. Portillo was removed from the classroom. She was among those who voted Alex out of the classroom and sees the incident as a “non-event.” Her father, Terrence Moore, of course doesn’t see anything wrong with that picture and calls Portillo a “very caring teacher.” (TCPalm.com, May 29, 2008 “Police report reveals teacher’s side of incident in which boy ‘voted’ out of Port St. Lucie class”)

I am terrified to think whether any of parents of my son’s classmates would want him removed from the classroom. Some of the behaviors that made Alex’s peers vote against him were humming or eating paper. My son doesn’t hum or eat odd things anymore, at least not in school, but he used to. He stopped doing that because he received a lot of accommodations and behavioral interventions at his integrated preschool. If he had a teacher like Wendy Portillo, I’m sure he’d be voted out sooner or later as well.

Everyone who has or worked with an autistic child knows that even with the high functioning kids the symptoms are quite noticeable right away. I’m floored by the fact that Alex has been in school since September and for the past nine months the school has done nothing to help him when it is widely documented that for autistic children intervention and support at this age is crucial and can make a lot of positive difference in the future.

There has been tremendous coverage of Alex’s story on blogosphere. I especially like the post “Wendy Portillo’s Psychological Mob Lynching of a 5 Year Old” on Thinking in Metaphors (I like too many parts of this post to quote it, I’d have to quote the whole thing)

and “Alex Barton” on Life with Joey where the author writes

“Not only was Alex Barton emotionally abused, but so was his entire class. […]This was an assault on an entire classroom of children, with Alex Barton as the focus.” (the entry also includes links to other blogs discussing Alex’s story)

Another blogger on MOM – Not Otherwise Specified (I love the title!) makes a very good point for inclusive education in her post “The tribe has spoken”

“In the midst of a difficult, troubling year, Alex Barton’s teacher called his village together and rallied them against him. Bud {the blogger’s son} also had a difficult, troubling year and, interestingly, his teacher also called his village together for a tribal meeting. Unlike Alex, Bud was not there for the meeting. And the agenda for Bud’s tribe’s meeting was distinctly different: one of the special ed team members came in to talk to Bud’s class and help them understand Bud a little better – help them understand the things that are difficult for him, the things that are easy for him, and the things they could do to support him through the challenging times. Like Alex’s village, Bud’s village came together. But Bud was embraced instead of exiled.”

And finally, I found very interesting the entry “Why I am closing the comments on two posts” on Asperger Square 8, where the author writes

“Around the web, you can find comments stating that she did the right thing, that children must be made to behave through any means available. You will also find people saying she should be harmed emotionally and/or physically for her crime. I’ve heard that she is undeserving of life. This is not acceptable to me. […] I know that if my worst moments were shown to the world, were discussed on numerous sites, some with nearly a thousand comments now, I would not want to continue living. Yet I believe in redemption (not in a passive sense, but through hard work toward change) and I hope that others, including Portillo, do too.
When people start coming to my blog and talking about revenge and sending people to hell, it is time to take a break. […] For the sake of the other Alexes, those whose names are not in the spotlight, it is time to turn our attention toward the larger societal problems, those which allow bullying to occur, not just in one school in Florida, but throughout this nation.”

I agree – even though I’m afraid the war on discrimination will never be won completely, we cannot stop trying. That’s why I’m planning to request putting in my son’s IEP “educating the school staff about autism and ADHD and the types of accommodations and interventions required” – a suggestion I picked from A Parent’s Guide to Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed, by Linda Wilmhurst and Alan W. Brue, published by AMACOM in 2005.