Cloak-and-Dagger approach to ASD Future?

 

State Organs Documentary: Medical Tourism Thriving More Live Bodies Needed

Smiley High School turned out to be a disaster. It was not this worker's first time at this place but if anything it was just as institutionally oriented as it has ever been. Now they are cramming 9th graders into this HS so it is 9-12th grades at the same place unless the parent opts out or moves across town.

The overwhelming themes at this place appear to be 1) Health Sciences specialization, 2) Law-and-Order, 3) Patriotism, 4) high academic achievement. But the sense of school spirit appears dampened by the fact that the students are virtually monitored, tracked, surveilled, and even analyzed via the SSH app that they are encouraged to download and use on their smart phones. Imagine that being able to go off campus for lunch is a reward for doing well on a test, or being given a special pink slip by homeroom teacher, or signing the orange form and being willing to use the app and be timed while off-campus.

There was a time when this educational worker was in high school in this area that any HS student could go off campus virtually any time, or at least that appeared to happen a lot, and there were minimal consequences. My wealthier peers with new cars for graduation would zoom off campus every single lunch time on their own and come back in time for class. They sure didn't have to "sign out." A whole bevy of students would go off campus across the street for donuts in the afternoon, and guys would stand around watching the low-riders pass by with their boom boxes. Security was lax back then.

Today there are security cameras at the traffic stops and at virtually every building corner. The campus security lock the gates so everyone is encouraged to leave by the south gate only and this gate of course has security personnel (black guards?) plus cameras. The students by the 12th grade have become acclimated to being treated as young adults but watched all the time. No wonder they behave so docile---it is nice, clean, safe, and everyone is used to the strange sorts of gaslighting that the teachers use.

With this kind of mind-control conditioning ingrained, what kind of passive-aggressive microaggressions and perverse doctrinaire philosophies will they enact in private? Of course, they don't read any rebel books---the homeroom teacher might be hanging coolish looking Black Panther banners, Che Guevara poster, MLK Jr. poster, and the like---all that is water under the bridge though. Today, he is actually running a snack-club and people who pay in get the best snacks, but people who do not pay had better sit along the edges of the classroom (so they don't have to smell the nice toasted nachos). He passes out the pink slips for rewarding those who have done well on tests to "go off campus for lunch." There is a sense of class consciousness in spite of all that touted "communist poster child stuff." Most likely none of those students can take that seriously and won't bother reading those kinds of forbidden books. If he were really up to date, why doesn't he display the Palestine flag or Cuban flag or local activism notices or free newspapers such as from the Community Alliance? It's all done for show or for...surveillance.

This is why for four days almost this worker was not given hardly any information about the severe autism/severe intelligence disabled student this worker was doing one-to-one work with. And when we requested this information, we experienced a backlash that pretty much resulted in a "perp walk off the campus"---except today's "perp walk" involves even contacting the police so they basically track and follow the worker by helicopter and by cop car. This is the high-mindedness of the VP, who is eager to show off her clout rather than share some educational insight and information with the substitute. 

Here is what a version of what we tried to express about the concerns.........

Dear Staff, 

....I have some concerns to report not because I am fond of reporting but for the benefit of the autism student that I was covering for.  Some of these concerns are also common to what I have observed in other school districts. 

1) The ad for the job number said para-professional substitute needed for  "moderate-severe" when it was really for severe.

2) The teachers at the high school did not furnish me an IEP or any goals worksheet for this student. Nor was I shown any HRES for all the other moderate-severe students in the class.

(They told me to wait outside at the bus bay every morning and I arrived early each morning, but this deprived me of meeting-instruction time with Mrs. S. on how I could better help the student and constructive criticism for what I could do better.)

3) On Day 4, I shared this concern with the Vice-Principal and she became rather stormy and busy about it as if wanting to throw her weight around about the matter. It put me in such a bad position that the other teachers retaliated against me.

4) The IEP for this student is "Severe Intellectual Disability and Severe Autism." If I had known this before Day 4, I would have been able to adjust my expectations accordingly and would not have had to share my concern with the Vice Principal which ended up making it too late for me to continue at this school. 

5) There were at least four other students on the HRES list with tendencies for seizures, tendency to run away, get lost, or other concerns that might require emergency services. In the classroom with Mr. L., Mrs. O., Mr. D., Mrs. S. there were several other severe category students but nearly none as severe as this student and another, V., that I also helped.

6) To my disappointment, there were aides who were either under-informing or mis-informing or assume too much responsibility. For instance, I offered my student a plush toy to help calm him but another aide L. told me that he was not allowed that. Yet I saw another aide J. offer this to help calm him and it was okay. The science teacher engaged in playing Kahoot.it with the students which seemed delightful; however the competition was supposed to be student to student, not involving the aides, yet I saw the aides competing among themselves on behalf of their student (who is not even capable of using a computer) and taking credit. It makes it unfair for the students in the class who are able to engage in Kahoot.it on their laptops completely alone. After seeing the aides actually playing the game while assuming credit for the student, I started following the example and my student was up to "4th place" but after this, seeing the other aide "win" top prize with her student, I felt ashamed. Mr. J. home room may have misdirected me when he told us that we could all go to the gym for Jr. meeting, when in fact, the SE students should have gone to the nearest SE class. This caused my student to have a "run away" episode.

7) The student I was assigned to is a big strapping good-looking Asian 16yo teenager but is still wearing diapers. He brings several in his backpack, and they did not allow me to work with him alone, which was just as well, in the bathroom. He cannot even wipe himself after bowel movements, and because I had not seen his IEP survival skills goals, I expressed my disappointment about this with Mr. D. on Tuesday AM before his arrival. What are his goals? Is he going to graduate and be like a walking vegetable? He cannot read stop or go; he has not been doing any sight words. He barely recognizes his name. He cannot write. They are not training him in even traffic signs, and it does not appear he uses or understands how to use his AAC. 

8) Mr. D. just focused on my use of the word vegetable and pretty much ignored the rest of what I mentioned. Mr. L. also complained that I told him not to stare at me so much during my lunch half hour at the staff work lounge. I am stating here that actually as an adult female, I know what is a good look or bad look. There was another student in the classroom, a teenaged boy C., who was also bothering me asking/sharing with me a lot of personal stuff, and I pretty much had to tell him repeatedly I was busy and did not want to talk about that. So it being that perhaps Mr. L. is a former vet, he would know that female military personnel have to know how to be assertive and I told him not to stare in a very polite succinct manner.

9) With a lack of adequate goal setting for some of these severe autism students, one is left to wonder how will they be taken advantage of when they graduate? There are massive sprawling and booming illegal trafficking networks around the world and in this country. Labor, drug, child, sex, organ-trafficking, and smuggling is taking hold. These networks often require front men, people who participate in grooming of, recruitment, and undermining of the system meant to protect youth and adults. 

10) If the students are not able to fend for themselves, they will easily be entrapped in these labor, sex, and organ-trafficking systems. They will not even be able to spot when they have become entrapped, because it will be too late. Some of these networks will even have live-harvesting of "donor" organs by medical doctors, which is very lucrative. If there is anything like this occurring on campus, enablers will be very pro-active against any educational workers and observers staying long enough in the classroom to notice that teaching may be secondary to producing a later ripe harvest. 

Since this was so late in the school year, I realize that perhaps the environment is very light and loose on Fridays, but the opposite on Tuesday after Memorial Day. Anyway this is my second significant experience at this school, and I had a good impression in general. It is still a campus that seems to heavily emphasize health sciences, law-and-order, patriotism, and high academic achievement. For instance, students are not allowed to go off-campus for lunch without "earning the lunch pass." They are to use the SSH app to check in and out. The female principals are generally reflective of a change in leadership that less emphasizes the "good old boy" and pro-marine and play-hard perspective of the past principal. This could be why when the VP called me in, I was escorted out with a helicopter circling around me overhead.

 

Please note that I tried my best and that Mr. G., Mr. H., Mr. M., Mrs. O., Mrs. S., Mrs. S., Mrs. J., Mr. J. would probably concur that I was also trying my best to help all the students and work conscientiously throughout the day including helping out during the Lunch time for the students and traveling back and forth between classrooms. This was a good learning experience and I will be working on learning more about severe ASD severe Intellectual Disability over the summer. 

..................

We were left with a lot to reflect on but it probably was better that the job was discontinued. Everyone is getting ready to graduate, but this student is in such a daily world of his own that he cannot tell what anything is about, so it is very likely that his parents or his relatives will have to continue to look after him, even though he is a very handsome looking kid. He might have been a Thai Marlon Brando, if he could at least talk a bit and read some lines. Now, best wishes that there will be advocates looking out for him, that he will not be molested by some LPN or such even before he graduates...

The fact that the SPED staff were doing so much to effectively impede any inclusion on my part tells me that their belief in Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (the DEI policy is still good in California despite the feds) is superficial at best. I could also plead the 5th amendment with regard to my rights to my not having to claim I have children. The gal, L., made a point of scoffing at me when I said I have relatives to take care of. "Oh! So no children! Too bad for you!" she stated with her clipped Chinese accent. I stated, "Well, I think I am lucky to have friends and relatives!" She didn't hear me say that of course. 

This suspicious character works two jobs and is very inordinately proud of that. LPN at the school and LPN at a local hospital, and her daughters, she pointed out proudly, are both MDs, and a third daughter is working to get into medicine, while her ex-husband works at the hospital also. How is that for "class conscious better-than-thou" attitude? I didn't ask her about anything personal or mention religious ambitions in life or whether she has time to do anything at home besides cook for her live-in daughters. 

But yes, it is very strange what people will do sometimes to support the American Dream of living in the right neighborhood, next to the Jones, in the right kind of house, with the right kind of networking and many shopping opportunities among the A-listers of Valley city. Is there any ulterior motive as well? What about perhaps some sinister lucrative connections to possible future organ donor victims? A pipeline of unwitting organ donors from classroom to hospital with lucrative contracts or payoffs....

That isn't purely speculative based on the State Organs documentary and the fact that organ donor and organ trafficking is pretty loosely regulated in the United States. You nab traffickers if they are trafficking labor, children, sex, drugs, but not directly for trafficking of organs...A connection to the robust China organ harvesting and medical tourism industry would be valuable for those on both continents. 

Whether it is the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Catholic Church, or concerned citizen watchdogs, people must become more vigilant over how ASD/Disabled students are easily taken advantage of can can be hoodwinked into using drugs, becoming addicts, being exploited for labor or sex work, and as mentioned above, becoming organ trafficking victims, since our society from the top-down is becoming so very corrupt and there are so few consequences for the out-and-out crimes---especially crimes against humanity---that our nation's top leaders are committing daily.  

Teacher Appreciation Day at "A" School Elementary

LA Olympics 2028

Teacher Appreciation Day at "A" School Elementary

This is a suburban elementary school in SE Valley city located near the heart of old "Smiley" upper-middle income neighborhoods. 

Smiley High School is just across the street and there is no lack of inspiration for academic learning as "The Bears" will eventually transition into "The Tigers" or other mascot at the Middle School (also only a mile away). Nearby are nicer newer home neighborhoods where the suburban moms enjoy taking their dog out for a walk, jogging around the nearby park, and getting some fresh air. The appearance is generally that this is a peaceful, comfortable, ideal all-American neighborhood for rearing one's family. 

"A" School is cleverly laid out since it is a more recently built facility. There are modular octagonal layouts with internal hallways linking classrooms to major central nodes such as the Library or Study Area. Outside are the playgrounds with at least eight basketball options, 4-6 handball courts, courts for rubber ball, hopscotch, tetherball, and grassy field areas accentuated with solar-paneled picnic areas. There are bungalow rows for children in higher grades as well as for contained Special Education classrooms. 

At this school there are also pre-School, pre-K, transition-Kindergarten classrooms so that a child can experience a full early childhood development from K-6 amongst permanent teachers, helpers, staff, and administration with even an anticipation for which classroom and teacher he or she might expect in the coming years. The Pre-K have their own separate playground close to the entrance where the parents will be able to pick up or walk their stroller to school. 

The principal and other staff are outside greeting the students and throughout the day are periodically visibly helping coordinate orderliness along with their security staff.  

This sense of cohesion is very helpful for students and teachers because it supports building bridges between and among the learning communities including with parents and nonprofit organizations. In fact, on the school website are survey reports (eg. CCSPP) on how well the school appears to be reaching out to the neighborhood and communities. One way it has done this creatively, perhaps in conjunction with the high school across the street, for instance, is sponsor community resource fairs whereby community stakeholders can share their input and exchange ideas.

These kinds of community bridge-building are important for an area as diverse as SE Valley city with its minority populations of Hmong, Hispanic, and African-American as well as ethnic heritage of Armenians and Italians. Many are from the area's working farm families, who often try to pool their resources so they can support large growing families as other family members may migrate to another state for work.

In particular, many newer immigrants often are infused with high expectations and ambition of achieving the American Dream and for this reason had opted to settle in California. This is visible in their eagerness to do well in school and participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.

On this date Observer "C" had come to fill in for a paraeducator, however, it appeared unknown exactly which classroom she worked in. This required "C" to be assigned at first to the pre-S-pre-K-T-K classroom called "ops." It was also nearby a Special Education classroom for early autism. A Mrs. M. was very helpful in trying to acclimate "C" as a newcomer and telling her about the classroom with Mrs. G., whose assistants T. and J. had arrived early. The reception area for the students is in front of the Pre-K playing area. 

Shortly thereafter, security staff  C. informed C. while in the cafeteria that the actual classroom for the day was a 3-4th grade Special Education classroom with Mr. V. and Ms. D. As they had taken the students to restroom as part of Circle Time, it was not difficult to locate them. They also held PE both inside and outside the class which allowed C to become familiar with the ten students, many of who are low to moderate ASD. For instance, although early in the day it was not visible, by afternoon, from restlessness, many of the boys became not just fidgety but self-stimulative engaging in rocking, body-contorting, distractive gazing, or verbal repetitions. 

The early morning exercise and strolling outside had a therapeutic effect, however, because they were able to sit through the next hour-and-a-half of English Language Acquisition, including working and completing their spelling and sentence packet, testing, self-correcting; and another session with reading comprehension, testing, and self-correcting. All the students, with the exception of one, were able to use pencil, paper, pen; and evidence of their Earth Day science project artwork is visible on the cabinets. 

Mr. V. and his assistants has rehearsed them well in the protocols of the classroom and for this number of ASD students, the level of orderliness was quite awesome. There is also a quiet pride in how the students go about their tasks, for instance, one child, C. is assigned the seat-stacking job; another R. is assigned the supply person job (handing out pencils); and actually each person in the room has an assigned "classroom job" whether it is "door holder," "caboose," "greeter," or "desk washing." C. actually unstacked chairs for the work center area where this para-educator was to sit, and he stacked all the chairs for the work centers up at the end of the day.

This was a very good opportunity to observe some optimal level ASD well-functioning and academic potential and skillful teaching methods at work. It confirms that there is no "set ASD" stereotype under which the students operate for certain. For instance, one child, E. who is a large amusing fellow who likes to wear a cowboy hat and handkerchief, can actually recite whole verses from Dr. Seuss and create his own similar rhyming poems. He can recite them so loudly that it would make an audience laugh. Also, after a half hour of review and practice of their latest spelling words, most of the students did surprisingly well; at least half of the class attained a "9" or "10" on their spelling test. They could not only spell but also recognize the word and understand its meaning, although most of them did not or were not able to compose a sentence with the spelling word.

One higher functioning ASD student did write out sentences with the spelling words, but only when he was provided sample sentences which he copied word for word. A mark of achievement for the students and staff is that many of the students are able to exhibit neat handwriting, keeping within the lines of the paper and recognizable letters. The higher functioning ones again are copying the word legibly and exactly as would appear in a 3rd to 4th grade level book.

As for reading comprehension, it is a bit lower for the ASD students and remarkably so if compared to grade-level. This relates to over half of them having verbal communication deficits. For instance, although one boy, G., can understand instructions and does relatively well in class, he cannot do speech communication and this probably influences or affects somewhat his reading and listening comprehension. Actually in this case he also does rather well in reading comprehension, but many do not. Even though the reading comprehension was accompanied by an engaging video including demonstrations of what the thematic memes and questions entail, then followed by Mr. V. reading the question and providing the worksheets for the students to circle the right answer, the students found the one-page six-question illustrated reading comprehension exercise confusing. 

Reading comprehension is admittedly challenging even for at-grade students because it requires the students making inferences, using analogy, and being able to trust their own judgment. When there is a sense of learned helplessness or an oppressive home environment, that kind of self-reliance can become hampered. But it can also be simply a trait of the ASD itself, and observing Mr. V. and his assistant, there is no evidence that they are being hampered or oppressed. On the contrary, Mr. V. and his assistant are doing everything they can to encourage the students to, within classroom order limits, do well and participate actively and without gossip, denigrating comments or casting judgment.

A good example of this was the neat Science-Math lesson that Mr. V taught after recess. After snack, C. had asked whether or not Mr. V. would do "Mac-and-Cheese" again. At first, this paraeducator thought this was a special game, however, it became apparent that indeed, Mr. V.'s science lesson is a demonstration on how to use fractionated portions to measure things out for cooking. The real cooking is done by the microwave oven, but even this, Mr. V. has a student pressing the right time and button. Everyone was excited about being chosen to measure something out (water, milk, salt, noodles, cooking time, cheese) and it appeared to be invigorating especially as other science videos were being shown "Gigi's House," "Laundry Day" etc. 

However the students attention span seemed to wane about midway through the cooking because it involved several cycles of heating and stirring of the noodles before adding ingredients, then after adding all the rest of the ingredients. Nevertheless they were all eager to try a bit of the microwaved cooked "Mac-and-Cheese." Interestingly, a characteristic of these type of students, probably connected to their muted ability to emotionally respond or communicate, very few of these students know how to say "Thank You." Maybe it had not been programmed in and evidently, the teachers do not take it personally, that nobody seems to know how to say thank you.

A critical routine that thankfully the pre-K and early grade Special Ed emphasizes at this school is "potty training" which is literally teaching the students how to bathroom. In other schools, this critical routine may not be mastered even at the second grade for ASD students. However C. noted while on break and lunch that Mrs. M. takes the student into the "Unisex" water-closet separately and literally instructs and times them on what to do and when. There is even a step-by-step laminated card chart showing pull-pants down, sitting on toilet, toilet paper, stand up, pull-pants up, wash hands, etc. The itemized steps show the students what they need to do even if they cannot read or write.

Special Ed teachers are famous for being able to create the kind of visual and nonverbal cues and hand-signs and one-word expressions that enable brief effective commands. Mr. V. did embed his teaching time with "teachable moments" for reprimanding students, reminding them, and emphasizing the importance of appropriate behaviors. Some students, such as D. or L., are minimally able to attend to classroom activities. Several others require frequent reminders. One outside lunchroom monitor, a sixth grader, stopped by during lunch and told Ms. D. that D. had pushed him or made aggressive moves towards him in the bathroom. As D. was lying face-down on the lunch bench, the sixth grader could not directly address him, and as D. is unable to verbalize much at all, nobody could really tell if it was D. who had actually done this or not.

In fact, partly because of these kinds of concerns, after lunch, Mr. V's class plays at the pre-K playground near the street. This would be to avoid any possible altercations or fits of upset by or among the ASD students and the rest of the grades. The students seem to not mind this kind of segregation as some of them leave as soon as lunch is over, since on Fridays they have a shorter-day or relaxed-day schedule. Sandwiched between the administrative building and K-3 building and street, this area also feels safe under the shade of two large oak trees which have been preserved from even before the school was constructed. Several boys like to try to climb the tree or scratch figures in the dirt below the tree. 

On this date, several district maintenance trucks were parked inside the school adjacent to the bungalows near the playground most of the day. One of the trucks had arrived mid-day and was parked outside. One fellow was working inside closet attached to the K-3 bungalow which was crowded with school equipment; however this is also adjacent to the inside restroom, so it is a minor concern if this restroom is adequately secure. The maintenance were there all morning and it was unknown why they had to park their trucks in the playground area. This worker did notice that the janitor was using his smartphone while Mr. V.'s class was in the lunchroom. It was a minor concern because the janitor held his camera in a near vertical position which would allow video or photographing of the students. 

This paraeducator also asked Mrs. D later is she wanted to take a picture of C's artwork scratching in the sand, but she declined. Apparently she enjoys her lunchtime recess quietly scrolling on her smartphone a little bit, but she does so holding the phone level on her lap, and is not inclined to take pictures of anyone or anything. 

Due to the high poverty rate and rising unemployment nationwide due to various economic and war-time and artificial intelligence factors, there is a probably a growing attraction toward internet crime, including the connections to human trafficking and pornography rings, which operate covertly, invasively, and collectively over time. This is why, accompanied by the fact that these schools mixed upper income neighborhoods, there may be specific interests in traffickers studying and identifying sensitive groups.

Overall, this was a very good day for observation and the educator is grateful for the opportunity to work and contribute in a very small way for the very nicely run school team. 

School L - Model Resources Classroom in Dual Immersion Neighborhood

 

An ongoing work in progress -- urban patch garden

Model Resources Classroom in Dual Immersion Neighborhood

I don't generally like to glom onto a school that I think is pretty good school, but this is another hidden gem of an elementary school in SE Valley City to brag about.

School "L" is a traditional school in the school district. The layout is pretty modular, but thanks to construction improvements and add-ons undertaken under city measures, there were additional bungalow style buildings added in 2000s. These don't feel like old-fashioned bungalows, separated as they were in the past. Instead, they are quite modernized with full HVAC units, higher ceilings, shielded florescent lighting, sturdy insulation and materials, and they nestle up to one another like schooners parked to protect different sections of the school: preschool-kindergarten; upper elementary grades; and younger to mid-grades. 

To compensate for recent cutbacks to security personnel, the VP and the janitor and other staff are all pulling double-duty sharing the recess monitor, lunch monitor, and after-school. There are additional traffic guards, but they generally are not on campus for very long. The traffic guards were friendly and helpful for visitors.

It is easy to reach this school by city or school bus, since it is off a major transportation corridor into downtown Valley City. Children know that they will likely transition into KC Jr. High School, and quite a few will have their siblings trot along to school with them while dropping off at the Jr. High or High School.

Mrs. M. was warm and eager to allow this substitute to assist today. There was no holding back on offering directions, and she is a very practical, collected, experienced teacher of special education. She did not describe her classroom as such though; rather, it is a "Resources" classroom for the middle-grades for those who need more assisted learning. It did not feel as if there were students who were confined to a "Special education" class all day long. Instead they are sent in for short periods by their teachers.

This freedom of movement and opportunity to spend the majority of time with age-grade level students definitely fosters more inclusion and less stigma for the students visiting the Resources room. They are offered small group instruction to nurture learning growth in reading, writing, and math. The independence of the students is visible in how responsible they are for transporting their learning devices (eg. such as laptops) from the home classroom to Resources. 

This observer was impressed with how assimilated and confident and well-functioning the students appeared. There was no fighting, quarreling, time-off-task power struggles taking place between teaching staff and students. They know that they are only there for an hour at a time and it is a welcome in-depth reinforcement. There might have been several borderline autistic students but they all appeared to have reasonably good self-management skills. One gal did seem to have a very hard time focusing on her tasks, but she was also cooperative when it came time to clean up, pack up, and other routine procedures including on her computer. 

Nobody exhibited any "tantrum" problems. The transition between classrooms did not appear to create any problems related to ditching class, truancy, or wandering around. The teacher even has a volunteer 5th grader H. who likes to help make phone calls to help remind students to come in for their class time. 

The extent to which Mrs. M. decorates the class speaks well for her teaching philosophy. There is room for five full centers in the Resources Room plus an extra table for work alone or possible extra center. Each center has at least four chairs meaning the classroom can accommodate up to 20 students or several different grades, primarily third and fourth grades. Learning centers emphasize practice in reading, phonetics, math, and writing. The walls display family and community, special project such as introduction, essays about goals for 2026, art project using crayola, and leadership essays from a fieldtrip to the Central Coast.

From her years in teaching, Mrs. M. has tons of books stored in her closet of scholastic materials that emphasize caring community, learning engagement, bilingual, and stories to stimulate the imagination for boys and girls or in-between. There are levels of at-grade progress learning in reading and math via paperback texts and workbooks. The variety of students visiting her class also have their IEP folders filed away in crates, plus Mrs. M.'s charts and progress planning on her laptop. All the instructional assistants are furnished similar progress learning laptops.

Today the students were required to undergo standardized testing, and this substitute plus another were required to fill out a form on non-disclosure. However all the students are now taking their standardized tests via laptop. At the end of the testing period, they can save and close their test. After one section of testing, Resources students were allowed to quietly snack and read books. The standardized test rules were posted on the board: no talking, focus, and raise hand for question. The principal came on the intercom and encouraged everyone to do their best. Even students came on and issued cheerful phrases.

Those who are not testing at least today were gathered into the Resources Counseling Assistant room with Mrs. I. As this substitute was there briefly, I was able to assist with some students who were struggling with their homework. The VP took the substitutes on a brief campus tour to locate the test non-disclosure forms. We visited the main office, or walked through the pre-K area where there were a number of assistants working in center tables encouraging their students to participate in phonetics practice.

During recess many of the students went out despite the windy cool day and played in one of the two large playground sets or practices kickball or played tag. This substitute was glad she got to visit Mrs. I's room as she was able to prevent one lad from being bullied by a couple of others. It was not serious, because the lad seemed to enjoy ground contact. This kind of physical contact and busyness is especially appealing to students with, for instance, learning disability or low ASD traits. 

Mrs. M. stated that this campus is a dual-immersion campus, so the students have the option to study and speak and learn in both Spanish and English. Since the predominant majority of students are Hispanic, and Cinco de May is tomorrow, there is a lot of local enthusiasm for learning about one's cultural heritage; in fact, the feeder campuses even have Folkloric training and prepare for  arts festivals events. These would include Mariachi band practice, Mexican-American folk dancing, photography, and video production.

It appears that because of the strong lines of communication and care fostered among the staff plus the fact that many children stay in this school from K-6, there is much opportunity to blend essential ingredients for holistic and civic type of growth. There is a sense of friendship and community care throughout the school and it feels like a "safe place" for staff, students, parents, even visitors. 

Mrs. M's experience, including attending Pacific University, even demonstrates her "pacific" approach to skillfully blending the CHAMPS or Five Pillars philosophies. However instead of rote learning and drilling about these principles, something which graduates from CSU might tend to do, emphasizing rule-learning and law-and-order, instead, she more invites this kind of positive conditioning and behavior. She creates the habitat for engagement, making a positive effort, measurable growth, and civil behaviors. This is evident from the curricula and books and toys chosen, to kinds of computer games that she allows. 

Much of this would also be due to being able to transit back to the main classroom, and dialoguing and similar philosophies shared by the Home Room teachers. For instance, they are not emphasizing outside commercialized types of non-productive or non-civic games (such as Minecraft or watching YouTube). No student appeared to have access to their phones while school is in session because nobody carried nor used their phone at any time. When the teacher asked the students to do typing, they obeyed. They also had other options of course such as drawing or reading a book after the main task was completed.

The school and indeed area-wide philosophy around the use of or incorporating artificial-intelligence is being developed at the school board level. Since this paraeducator is mostly working in the lower-grades it is difficult to tell how it will be incorporated. However one thing is clear, that at least at this school, all students, even those attending the Resources classrooms know how to use pencil, paper, crayon at least to some extent. The essays displayed were impressive and indicated much thoughtfulness and originality. 

Perhaps the teacher offered the structure for these essays and they had done some brainstorming together, nevertheless, reading the essays, especially the leadership essays from the fieldtrip to the coast, it as evident that these students are writing with their own voice, unimpeded by mandates to "succeed" "excel" "compete" or other afflictions of being reared in an oppressive environment. The pacific philosophy allows correction but very gently, such as conducted by Ms. Q or other assistants, and not emphasizing "red marks." 

In fact, the mark of originality appears to allow for sounding out unknown words and phonetic "sounding out" type of misspellings. AI would not allow this, were it to be heavily incorporated, and the children would even be typing rather than handwriting their essays. Being able to view their handwriting also provides observers especially teaching staff, possible clues about their state of mind, thinking processes, interests, any kind of language dysphoria, or organizational challenges. Again, the question is would AI allow humans to actually develop and create their own essays or would we only be able to offer the computer ideas to create our essays for us, thus limiting our authentic cognitive growth. How would this affect overall human development and artistic creativity? Will it reduce and breakdown the bonds between teaching staff and learners? 

It is evident that School "L" is productively emphasizing and engaging in all types of learning modalities and involving a wide variety of staff, community, parents, and helpers, which is inspiring. 

How Autism Came to Be...the Spiritual Dimension

 

Can Autism be a form of Spirit-Possession?

Here is a question that I pose to Master Li Hongzhi of Falun Dafa after reading some articles at PureInsight.org this morning and also Lecture 3, the section on animal or spirit possession. Of course in light of today's scientific world, there is a scientific explanation for everything, and to even hint at a spiritual cause is to invite all kinds of attacks of superstition. Nevertheless I want to explore this possible connection and how to deal with it with an open mind.

Question for Master

Master has a fair explanation on "How Humans Came to Be" at Pureinsight.org. 

One question arising with me lately as an educator is, what about those who have mental disorders? 

We are seeing an over 200% rise in autism cases over the past 20 years in United States. Some believe there is a correlation with the schedule of over 80 vaccination shots that babies in the USA receive. Their baby was normal at birth, then at about 1.5 years, they began to develop autism. 

Being in a classroom with over half the children (ie. 10-12 autism) students is very difficult. They are taxing emotionally, psychologically, and socially. They cannot understand simple logic. 

When you leave at the end of the day, at night, you have very strange dreams. Some will seem to even project an intelligent para-consciousness that is communicating using words and utterances that are predictive, prophetic. It is as if in another dimension they are trying to take over you, and have you fix them, because their para-consciousness recognizes that they are not normal, but they want to be cured.

Master has said that for those with serious health issues, they cannot be fixed. However those who put their mind and effort into learning cultivation will naturally have their health improved. 

Well, I am not sure they can be taught to cultivate, 

In the United States, I doubt they will allow me to teach Falun Gong meditation especially in public school. Can and should they be taught to cultivate? If they cannot do this or practice Christianity, what will become of they? Are they destined to, if not already, "animal-possessed"? 

I am not sure, but for a few, unfortunately, I do think so. The reason is because their defectiveness makes it easier for them to be prone to or controlled only by the basest of instincts, like animals. 

Sadly, some Special Ed teachers even able and abet this, thinking they are offering support and encouragement by giving them lots of junk food to eat. If they are given a handful of Skittles and Cheeto balls in the middle of the classwork even when nothing has been done and they are ignoring any instruction, what does that do? 

My observation is that those already prone to hyperactive ASD will be much more excited by the stimulants presented them than in any schoolwork. But it is not just the teacher. Parents send their children lunchboxes that contain nothing except bags of chips and cookies. The students become addicted to eating only junk food even for lunch. 

Adult Animal Possession

Another concern is that parents and teachers are animal or spirit possessed. They are at least eighty pounds overweight, they exhibit ravenous appetites, and they even take the leftovers from school lunches back to the classroom to eat for lunch or later on. 

If the teacher herself is sort of animal-possessed, or if the teacher assistant is spiteful and predatory, won't that eventually cause the students to become even more prone to animal and spirit-possession?

(The advantage of Dafa is that one can often sense when people are not as sincere as they appear to be, for instance, they sing sweetly because they are incentivized mostly by name-fame-gain rather than sincere love for the children.)  

What should I do to protect myself from these threatening Selves and Sub-selves emerging during day or at night under altered consciousness? 

According to Master, if one cultivates with mind-and-body, practicing the Falun Law (Truth, Compassion, Forbearance) and doing the exercises, one can progress and the Law Wheel will protect one from harm. The condition also is that one must make a good effort and improve one's character and xinxing (heart fate). Theoretically, the Law Wheel guides you but also protects you from the worst kinds of harm. Even if you have to pay your karma all at once, it will have been paid for by your virtue.

Karma Test 

Since I have been doing cultivation for a long time, I should be able to come to some conclusions.

Maybe I will even improve on those answers once I open my mind and heart to their hope for change. 

By cultivating Dafa, even with this karmic test of suffering a bad cold because one of the students coughed in my face, and another "wished me dead," and the teacher had a lack of strict behavioral consequences, I can try to recover my health. 

Even if I doubt these students can cultivate now or maybe ever, they are there to learn pro-social skills, and I did model pro-social and cognitive learning skills. Even if the TA and the teacher were instilling some cognitive dissonance or mixed messages, that should not dissuade me from the primary purposes for attending school. If this were School A conditions, the students would learn more self-control, classroom integration, and ultimately more inclusionary opportunities. 

In the Chinese cultural sense, they can learn about and gain "De" or "Virtue." By gaining and storing up De over time, they will evolve into a better character. In their next reincarnation, they will live a wholesome and fortunate life with many blessings. 

This is the classic Buddhist explanation for why people are born misfortunate and what can be done when you cannot help them personally. They are paying for karma from a past life, but if they improve by the end of this life, their next life will be better. 

Conclusion

Is it prejudice to say that ASD is the result of karma? 

In my humble opinion, it is somebody's karma whether the medical system, the parents, the newborn fetus, or their past lives. 

And for all of us who are in the industry of teaching, empowering, and cultivating these children, of course it is a struggle of philosophies. I routinely run into adults who sincerely believe that "over-coddling the youngster" is the best way to cure all issues. 

I don't think so. I told a librarian the other day about a young student sitting in the adult computers section and standing in his chair, why he can't go to the empty children's computer section (where the height of the tables are lower). She told me he could do whatever he wanted. The youngster simpered at me and made a face while peering and looking at what I was doing on my computer. 

I told the librarian that I had seen many a high-school student breaking down come graduation time. They were angry, they were frustrated, they knew they were going to be cutoff from their support system, and they had never developed the tools and self-learning skills they needed for the real world. 

They never connected the dots between cause-and-consequence because they were "coddled."

Our system of capitalism loves for everyone to hide in escapism, fantasies, virtual games, and learning about anything other than hard news, finding out the truth about America's new reality, and how we are being beaten down by those who would have us sitting and watching ABC News all night. 

If adults cannot practice personal self-discipline and higher spiritual goals and ambition, what of the children?

Only with the help of cultivation, the truth-finding alter can be honed and one can eventually rediscover the true-self and our real destiny and escape final disintegration. Even if one does not succeed in cultivation and reach the final achievement, there is this, a parallel version with Christianity one might say, that we must try to be charitable and bear our burden while leading others towards the light. 

"Suffering enables one to cultivate; suffering allows one to atone for sins and karma. Amid suffering, if one can still remain kind, be grateful, and be a good person, one is elevating oneself. Furthermore, salvation is a bottom-up process—it must start from the lowest place. Beings suffer in this place; there are interpersonal conflicts over interests, the condition of the natural environment is harsh, and people have to labor their minds and bodies for survival, so on and so forth. All these provide beings with the opportunity to elevate themselves and eliminate karma. Suffering can reduce karma—that is for sure. Amid suffering and conflicts, if humans can still remain kind, they will accumulate merit and virtue, and their lives will be elevated." --- Master Li Hongzhi, "Why There is Mankind"

Artwork by WokandaPix @ https://pixabay.com/photos/rocks-balance-lake-rock-balance-9193209/ 

Juggling Many Tasks School C

 

Students with ASD may feel trapped in their condition 

Understanding Autism Overshadows the Curricula 

At School C, where this observer and educator was at for several days, it became an exhausting experience. It is difficult to tell if, as happens in Special Education, the teacher is not playing the role of enabler or "devil's advocate." They are financially rewarded for having a larger class, and so they consciously do not work as hard to improve inclusionary opportunities. This would include overlooking very combative student behaviors, disruptions, lack of attentiveness, screaming, fits, and so on. The teacher would even hand out treats to students while they were being disruptive, which from my experience and perspective does not make sense. Why would you want the child to persist in their uncooperative behaviors? She spent a lot of time hugging (face-to-face style) and consoling (one at a time) when they were not wanting to engage in their work. These students were alternately criticized by the teacher to her assistant for being combative. Why did she not have any classroom reward system such as a school rewards program or points program set up to professionally encourage holistic student growth? Finally, observer reports that as a result of this imbalance, better students or those who are better disciplined and finish or attempt to finish their work are systematically overlooked. The TA also seemed to openly harbor prejudice against students not of Latino ancestry which can be rather hurtful for the Hmong students and one white female student. As for the Mr. L., suffice it to say that I had never seen a man engage in Jacob and his shadow combat with his student, Z., during the day. Did it chase the bad-angel out of Z.? It didn't look like it, but it did end up exhausting them both...

Because of the atmosphere of self-promotion and institutionalized bias in favor of the white-privilege teacher, it would have been difficult to point out some of the issues noted above without encountering denial and defensiveness. Instead, the observer wrote a letter of general observation.

Letter of Observations

Dear Ms. G., and Ms. P.,

My impressions with Mrs. H. of Room X at V. elementary are mostly positive.

I would like to share my impressions about the school and the classroom so that I do not have to share them publicly elsewhere. I was placed in Mrs. H's room between Tuesday and Friday and there were an average of 15-16 students in the room, all special education in grades 1-3 or ability Kindergarten to 3rd grade.

1) First, the care and concern for the students orderly arrival and departure is impressive. The outdoor security and lunchroom staff are on the ball, so that the children better understand that they deserve and should promote a safe, positive, social environment. It is a plus that both the V.P. and Principal are doing duty in the cafeteria. Both the administrative staff, S. and S. were very helpful and experienced.

Some concerns:

2) Red Nose Day seemed to be well-intentioned but maybe many children didn't understand what this is about. I shared with Mrs D. who was actually outside picking litter (using tongs) that we have at least two children in the class who are in very low income category. Having been there myself, I do fully understand that homelessness can affect the ability of the children to be bathed, have their nails trimmed, and wearing their father's hand-me-down shoes. I did bring this matter up with Mrs. H. about T. and K. being in obvious need (bathing, shoes) but Mrs. H. seemed to take it the wrong way. I was thinking along the lines that maybe the school nurse could have a box set up with toiletry bags for the children in need as is frequently done for the homeless during community outreach. These bags would contain: cleanup cloth, dry bath liquid, nail trimmer, toothbrush, etc.

3) Third, after being in Mrs. H.'s room for 4 days, my impression is that several students can be placed in Inclusion classrooms part-day. This would allow them to mainstream with at-Grade level students and experience a "normal classroom" which would be healthy for them socially and academically as well as psychologically. It seems that the students such as H., M., P., M., for instance, possess the social skills to mainstream even if they are not all performing exactly at grade-level in every subject. Twenty years ago, it seemed as if mainstreaming the students came first, then pulling out for Special Education.

4) Fourth, obviously the problem students absorb a lot of the class-time and available teaching time. With the help of two aides and one TA, it seems to sort of be under control. Z., A., T., and J. seem to be the most difficult, including even tantrums and throwing their computers on the ground. There should be no exception about cleaning up messes left around and under the desk, but J. has a bad habit of tossing his work, his crayons, and books on the floor nearby, so does T. (J. made personal threats against me.)

5) Fifth, it was exhausting for me after only four days working there, even though Mrs. H. thinks I did a good enough job to come back in the future. It's a bit far for me, but I'll think about it. My challenge with my disability is I really don't want to use the water-closet in the main office because it may not flush down everything or even clog it up. The plumbing is old, and there is no plumber's suction cup to push things down should it require. I wanted to use the library staff restroom, but I am worried that the staff might be offended to see me use it. I will bring a can of air-deodorizer to spray if they let me use the bathroom in the future. (The facility is not fully ADA compliant for staff it appears.)

5a) Mrs. H. seemed to be pretty good about reminding us of breaks, but she seems not to take much break herself. The way the class schedule works in her room, and the classroom exigencies that the best extended breaktime is about 10:30am, but I am fearful of taking a full lunchbreak at that time. I am also fearful of entering the staffroom, because they may not want me there. After 11:00am we are focusing on finishing I-Level, then lunch, then recess, and then math, and then by that time, there is almost like no break needed.

Anyway, I have to see if you are willing to allow me a longer lunch at 10:30 am inside the staffroom and to be able to use the bathroom in the library.

6) Sixth, mostly the aides were very nice and easygoing, but Mrs. A. (TA) asked me probing questions a few too many times. On the first day, after school, I already told Mrs. H. about my background and Mr. L. and Mrs. A. were present, so unless they are deaf, I think they heard me describe my qualifications. As a cancer-survivor, my outlook on life is entirely different from 25 years ago at the end of my first career. I have had my opportunities diminished, but I was able to get through my masters degree program. I don't like to talk about my background, so maybe I didn't tell them about the masters degree part. Mrs. A. acts like I am running the gauntlet and prepared to compete and play ball with her. 

No, I am just trying to work and earn a small living. I don't have to talk about whether I have children or not, and I don't need to hear Mrs. A. talk about Mrs. H. and whether she has a family or not. I am not there to compare notes. Suitable topics for conversation for me are: weather, school schedule, life perspectives, teaching philosophy, health, health of the students. My life ambitions are limited to practicing and applying and learning current teaching skills. Of course I do continue to take CEU courses online related to teaching.

My real goal is to get to Heaven and share the need for everyone to try to be less ignorant and greedy and proud, as this, in my humble opinion, is gradually killing our society and causing much grief and desperation all around the world. You may not agree with me, but that is my foremost goal in life, because God gave me a second and third chance in life to live, a life which is to grow in faith and love in service for all of humanity.

Submitted respectfully,

[Author name with some qualifying degrees attached]  

Conclusion

While the teacher is largely successful in implementing basic and individualized curricula there are some persistent behavioral management problems that she has foregone looking in her larger class. She is unable to encourage several combative uncooperative students to pick the stuff off the floor which they routinely throw down. At the end she has just basically given up on that. Meanwhile if anyone else admonishes or advises the student they face threats by the student or unfriendly gestures or defiance. Some students spend their whole day basically dawdling and doodling. However from the appearance, the majority of the students are able to accomplish some work that is exhibited around the room. The overall school atmosphere emphasizes competition rather than centralization and cooperation. 

Artwork by Mimzy @ https://pixabay.com/illustrations/autism-awareness-autism-spectrum-8489742/

Hiding behind facades: School A vs School B in ASD Achievement Training

Obey or else is the favorite matrix of f-institutional control 

Why is there an achievement gap in ASD? 

Here are some notes from observation at two different schools in the district where I spent a few days each in ASD classrooms.

School A

School A is in a moderate mixed income class neighborhood in south city. However, one can believe upon stepping into the campus that this is in north city. That is there is a high achievement mindset embedded throughout the campus from the security to the maintenance. Everyone arrives early and there is a can-do attitude with thoughtful arrangement of campus classrooms outside to allow ASD students to safely circumambulate the school corridors during time-out.

There were seven ASD students in one classroom grades K-3, however mostly the emphasis is on a curricula designed around grade 1-2, since at least four students have speech-communication challenges. The classroom took a day or two to get used to, but one gradually notices the extent of relative effort and accomplishment on display throughout the classroom. There is artwork from Christmas strung creatively from a ceiling string. There are compositions emphasizing a recent unit on zoo animals. There is an anticipatory board with displays about the current transportation through history unit. In the front of the class below the large-wide-flat-screen display is a display of the sign language alphabet. The sides of the room also include cabinets for storage boxes for math-learning toys, books for reading, and sensory manipulatives. 

The day was well-structured in intervals of 15 minutes to half an hour, so there was limited idleness and encouragement of students to appreciate school activities. When students arrive, they have an option for breakfast and then bins. All of the students are brought to campus by their parents, which allows face-time with the teacher. All of them are bringing lunchboxes with snacks if not lunch and snacks. The students have a homework and student folder for turning in to the teacher. The student folder is for taking notes from behavior and progress. The students are capable of sedentary (voice controlled) play and comprehend basic directions and rules for the classroom. 

The morning includes circle time (daily review, calendar, reciting, anticipation for end of week field trip). This is followed by work station time or sensory time. This is repeated twice before recess. Following recess is a snack time with educational videos. The videos are well-chosen, for instance, clean-up time video, scholastic videos accompanying an educational unit, and after recess or before lunch a quiet soothing time video. The videos encourage focus particularly as Ms. F. will halt the video for review and questions or to complete a screen fact sheet. There are designated times for independent learning because there is space for individual desks facing the front screen. 

Throughout the morning and afternoon the speech communication therapist would come in and pull students out for sessions. Having a permanent, experienced consistent therapist such as Ms. S. was extremely helpful as she would also come in for observation and take notes. Several other people came in for observation and notes, and in fact, Ms. F. was very welcoming of these observers and encouraging of their passive involvement. 

During lunch the aides assist with lunchtime and recess. The students are included in the recess with grade-level recess classes. They are also included in the same hours that normal grades have lunch in the cafeteria. 

Afternoons are times dedicated for intensive workgroup or independent computerized math learning. The students have their own tablet and computer to perform individualized curricula based on their current level of math, plus compensatory techniques to compensate for speech communication styles and tactile learning preference. For instance several students have multiple choice style math games, click-and-match, click-and-drag, or animated puzzles. Ms. F. is also encouraging them to use the whiteboard for practice drawing letters and numbers. Almost every student can use a pencil properly, use an eraser, and color with crayons, and print their name legibly on their worksheets. Math class is reinforced with a final lesson in completing a math class worksheet. The teacher writes in the answers for those students who only understand counting. Every student is capable of counting to at least 10, and recognizing those numbers.

Although there were several on and off "crisis management" incidents, the goal appears to be to help the student transition away from that and try to prevent such incidents from absorbing and wasting classroom learning time. When such incidents occurred there was an emphasis on learning from as an example, while not overly shaming the student; the teachers tried to allow teaching moments to manage such incidents to coincide with in-class break time. 

Teacher had familiarity enough with each parent to feel comfortable calling them if necessary during the middle of the day and also additional face time with them at the end of each school day. Parents were even invited inside to sit their child at the desk in the morning if they want to. It was not an issue insofar as campus security; there is parent sign-in. 

The final half hour is usually bin time just as during the morning session at the start of the class. The students often like to play with the same toys they did before, but some are capable of assembling jigsaw puzzles even up to a twenty piece puzzle set. Because of anticipatory lessons and training, all the students were excited and engaged about the upcoming zoo trip. One thing is Ms. F. does not spend much time debriefing this observer, but this is okay for the most part. The other thing is that several teachers referred to this classroom as "the crazy classroom" and had this attitude that seemed stigmatizing. Ms. F. deserves more encouragement and support for her hard work. 

As far as this observer's interactions with the teachers, staff, and administrators on this campus they were helpful and pleasant in a genuine kind of way. The office manager is very helpful and capable. The staff have a love of plants and this is obvious in the decor of the staff lunch room even, and the campus is a welcoming place for parent-teacher meetings. The teachers in room 16 were also warm and welcoming and did not press this observer for too many details or appear overly preoccupied with shoptalk or grapevine news. 

School B

In contrast, School B was a bit of a disappointment. Mrs. V., the substitute principal, was warm and welcoming, but most of the office staff were also substitutes, so there was an appearance of not being so well-versed in protocols. The campus is older and the classroom size of approximately 20 x 30 was insufficient for 12 active ASD students. The security was not very friendly, and the neighborhood did not feel that safe, as this observer noted several cars lingering on the northern fence line of the school. 

The tone of the school, which is supposed to center around warriors and progression towards high school and beyond, appears dominated by an urban-ghettoized atmosphere. It is almost as if this is an assertively blue-collar dominated workforce with an emphasis on maintaining workforce turf by fostering a lower achievement standard environment. 

Mrs. C. led me to believe that this is what she like to be called and it was not till later that I realized everyone else called her Mrs. A. Mrs. R., her teaching assistant, insisted and persistently called me "teacher" in what sounded quite sarcastic. I reminded her several times that I wanted to be called by my first name or Ms. C but she persistently ignored this. To make matters worse, Mrs. R., who told me that she had recently transitioned from being an office administrator to becoming a teacher or teaching assistant, appeared to enjoy using her smartphone quite a bit during the class times. She said that she was creating a "yearbook" on the students by taking photos of them with her private phone. She called a student, A., her "mimi" and "baby" and asked me if I didn't agree that he was like a big cute baby. During workgroup time, she was thumbing through her smartphone reading district notices and news, and throughout the days, she appeared to enjoy talking about grapevine workplace news and job openings and her opportunities or past interviews here and there, and what she thought about this school or that school, and the payrates offered at those locations. She did not appear to have much formal certificated teacher training or understanding of pedagogic theory. 

Twice she also attempted to misdirect this worker as the contract at this school was 1-to-1 with a certain ASD student whose mother came to drop her off and pick her up. Instead she told me that I should bring this boy and that boy to the bus stop, and twice, these boys were extremely difficult to handle. This was after another boy had already bit and scratched this worker during a work centers session. Ms. A. led this worker to believe that all these students were in kindergarten, when age-wise they were between 5-8 years old at least. This would be based on physical size and the appearance of mostly adult-teeth on at least 5 of the boys and 1 of the girls. 

The classroom curricula was also extremely lax and this appeared quite intentional. For instance, students arrived by bus or brought by their parents after 8 am, and there was breakfast time until at least 8:45 am, and so this left the students sitting for quite a long time at the breakfast table in the back of the classroom near the sink. The students would lose interest in eating and start playing with their food, standing up, and or try to wander away. This would create "behavioral" crisis encounters with the teacher and the teacher aides, which the teacher would document in great detail in her log, what the student did, how he or she misbehaved, how resistant they were, etc. 

This kind of behavioral "crisis management" occurred throughout the day with various students. On one level, these distractions gave the class something to focus on, and emphasized the importance of staying seated. On the other hand, there was a lack of curricula or structure. There was a lot of video viewing with rather unchoice videos from YouTube. For instance, mornings and afternoons, the teacher liked to put on "Danny Go" videos, featuring a strange man and his team acting out their learning adventures. These thematic videos have a very helter-skelter plot, and Danny Go and his team also like to jump, climb, run, and dance a lot. Obviously with the ASD students it really tends to trigger their hyperactivity, and it makes it almost impossible for them to stay seated. So it depends whom the teacher and assistants want to focus on for "being out of their seat." Very little academic learning is taking place because these videos are not prime learning material; they are learning entertainment or secondary reinforcement material.

The other chunk of the morning or afternoon is spent on centers, but these are also of a limited variety curricula. For instance, this observer was responsible for 1 of 3 or 4 centers. At DBB the only activity offered is assembling puzzles or reading books. Since no child in this class is capable of reading yet, when given a book, they would rather hyperactively thumb through all the pages and then toss the book down or throw it aside. If you try to engage a student in a book, they might linger on a page for a space of 3 seconds, and clearly they have not even been shown what a book is for. As for puzzles, most of the students are very good at assembling 5-10 piece puzzles. They have done the same set of about 12 puzzles enough times, that they probably have the pieces memorized. My 1-1 student even was assembling the puzzle pieces face down, assembling them from the backside. 

The teacher did do math center with several students who were capable of or teaching them subtraction, but more often than not, this resulted in the student developing a tantrum and breaking into tears and fits of screaming. The other aide at HRW seemed to do a decent job at teaching them "handwriting." Note since nobody actually used pencils, crayons, paper, or notebook, I was not able to personally ascertain exactly how she was teaching HRW, except that there was no student work on display on any walls. Mrs R., as stated above, was merely mostly scrolling through her phone while attending the students at PRT, which appeared to be a play-time station (grooming a doll, train car set, car set). 

Undoubtedly for a staff of three, the 12 ASD students are a load even during recess and lunchtime. For instance, during recess several students keep throwing wood chips at each other. At least one boy has a fascination for tossing the wood chips up into the air to watch them fall down. He has the same stimulative fascination with playing with paper against the air heater in the classroom. They also will block or sit up against the steps leading to the slide making it hard for other students to use the slide. Several of the students will try to wander off. During lunch time it is similar that they will play with their food, or not eat anything, or interfere with another student trying to eat. None of them appear to understand how to say "thank you" although one child, a gal, has much better interpersonal skills than the rest, and will even greet the janitor. She is only marginally ASD or has some learning, basically math, challenges, so hopefully she may eventually transition out of the ASD program. 

According to Ms. A., however, she is not necessarily encouraging of parental involvement. She told this observer that the white protective gate for the doorway was to "prevent the parents from entering and staying inside the classroom." She does stay afterschool and talks to each and every parent who stops by, but she does not seem to want them actually inside the classroom, maybe because she realizes how small and dingy it can appear to be for outsiders and newcomers at first. She does appear to be capable of using the time wisely for her teaching management tasks, for instance, during morning breakfast, during the hour-long sensory training time with playdough, and while the Danny Go videos are playing, she does manage to get a lot of grading, teacher notebook, and planning type work done, with time to spare to talk with Mrs. R. about her career.

For instance, one good unit plan that she developed was a Lego assembly unit accompanied by Lego videos and she did find two or three Lego videos which encouraged the students to chant the alphabet and rehearse their number counting capability of mostly between 1-10.

Conclusion

In School A, the teacher and her assistant consciously worked on the whole student and created as inclusionary an environment as possible so that those who are in mainstream classrooms understand grade-level work. At-grade materials are adapted so that the students aspire to learn and engage with the world around them. There is adequate time for social and interpersonal growth so ASD students develop better self-awareness. As a result, every student knew how to use pencil, paper, and crayons. This did also created noticeable stress for the teacher and her assistant, however, the parents are more pleased with the overall outcome, and parental involvement with student experience and growth was high. 

Photo by author, DC Prison near Stadium Armory

Rollbacks, extortion, shortages---What do we do?

 

                            Church of the Epiphany has continuously helped those most in need

Rollbacks, Extortion, Shortages----What do we do?

In a time of new frustration and vexation, it's easy to succomb to all kinds of acting out. Maybe that is why the Triad has decided to raise once "settled" issues. Over the past week, we've seen a new "contest" over the right for women to have abortion, and a new cry and hue over Republicans wanting to roll-back Affordable Health Care Act. 

The strange and incomprehensible thing is that this comes amid the Democratic insistence for mandatory COVID-19 screenings, mandatory vaccinations, mandatory Green Passes. The only opt out for people not wanting to take these precautions is mandatory self-quarantine, being fired from work, or being kicked out from school. 

Worse is a new "wokism" agenda that creates very strong pressure (think Title IX funds and other government measures) to adopt the new agendas of inclusionism. It has infuriorated many parents who would rather not subject their pre-school children to sex-education, facing their race-guiltiness, or peering at their genitals.

The extortion end is as I just mentioned---threat of withholding funding. This is happened in churches all over the United States which pretty much marched according to the National and World Council of Churches "wokeness leadership." But this also includes all media as well as many professional organizations. Even the American Society of Civil Engineers has jumped aboard.

Even as an Asian minority advocate, it is shocking to suddenly see the number of ads, number of magazine editorial positions, number of writers, and auxillary staff who are---and not just by quota---now African-American. Given that for many decades, Civil Engineering magazine was one of the most difficult in its acceptance criteria for publishing, very selective on which project or study to accept for display, it is surprising to see the new "wokeness." 

To even things out, a new editorial criteria---probably written into their editor's manual---is a mania for requiring anyone interviewed to affix ALL their certificates titles behind their proper names, meaning someone will have about six abbreviations listed behind him/her/it, which makes for a very uncomfortable reading. The magazine is already incredibly doused dry with a mania for Guinness Book of World Records recitation of impressive facts, figures, dollars, machinery, tons, size, volume, under budget, minimum time, safety record, innovation, savings, profit, technology, corporations, but now, there is heavier emphasis on lots of continuing education, degrees, certificates, and in short, a mania for careerism. In one safe interview, a female-engineer admitted her greatest hobby outside of work was watching the Boston Red Sox. A very safe hobby, indeed, and for which she would never be fired---unlike if she said she were a madhatter poet or novelist. But for the rest, an atmosphere of overly succinct, clipped up provisioning of information ---and brow-beating---reminds one of the word "gaslighting"---sort of how mainstream media also now mostly operates. That is just my opinion, of course.

Of course, homophilia has always been a sort of quiet in-the-closet kind of thing at various engineering and technology firms. This even becomes default where the "man conquers nature" theme predominates in many civil engineering companies. But now LBGTQIA+ is acceptable anywhere. It can even make it difficult if you are "trying to screen people out" on the basis of "sexual orientation" even if only for self-protection. Add in the splashes of color and no wonder that a year or so ago the ASCE national convention was held in Las Vegas, NV----well, maybe they took a trip to Lake Mead to inspect the intakes---more on that later.

Gratefully, I have ceased pretty much to contemplate on that in terms of personal interest for some time, and it is admittedly partially due to becoming post-menopausal after receiving radiation treatment for cancer therapy. One's hormones drop, and with it, gradually, even the hot-flashes have subsided. A sort of fatigue does tend to arise in its place...middle-age makes you rethink life, to be sure.

Even for a mild-tempered person, it is a challenge to navigate and negotiate all the changes internally and externally. In America, it's a given that Red or Blue, the pendulum pretty much will swing pretty far right or pretty far left. Although the same groups are marching in a neoliberal, free-market democracy direction, something that has allowed third and second world nations to rise, stringent measures remain in place in the States, because irregardless of the low unemployment statistics, the truth is quite different----everyone knows this. Some years ago, in another article prepared for APAforProgress, my research indicated that the real unemployment rate, before the Covid crisis, was over 18%, and so if you factor in all the people who are underemployed today, the current rate may as well be about 25% at least. 

As a progressive, I can't say liar outright. I read the Red-side of course, and accept that there is a lot of corruption involved with this war in Ukraine---and that the President and his son had been involved there since 2014. There are even videos that this son purposely produced, perhaps for the sake of exoneration, displaying his addictions. Unlike the average citizen who would be jailed, he is now in a state of permanent rehab, with security or secret service guarding him while he creates "first-rate" art pieces in his new career as an "artist." Whatever.

The most pressing problems are occurring because as even foreign vloggers are pointing out, a rise in gas prices faster than inflationary rises means that many more small businesses may go under. That will quash the recovery from Covid. Catherine Austin-Fitts even goes so far as to speculate that "It's not a turndown, it's a take-down"---what the big-picture is from the world elite standpoint. She essentially says that from the point of the Bilderbergs, taking down the middle-class will be profitable because all that will remain are the megacorporations----Walmart, Amazon, Target, Microsoft, etc.----who can weather the inflationary storms. 

A shrinking middle-class, no matter how the government states it, means fewer jobs, more underemployment, greater competition or cheating or nepotism for what remains, and higher barriers in achievement (except for the Title IX hiring quotas). So what only requires a high-school-degree to actually design a smart weather station network, DIY home appliances, solar farming, or whatever will now "officially encourage a Ph.D. in engineering" for acceptance in peer-reviewed magazines.

In other words, as the Libertarians see it, the 1%'s desire for governmental or world centralization with fewer benefits for the masses necessitates and enables a parallel growth in technocratic surveillance and monitoring to make sure that we all conform. Meanwhile, the shots or RNA-doped fruits and vegetables will ensure that our glasses only see "GREEN" just like the citizens in the Wizard of Oz did.

SO WHAT ARE WE DO DO? WHAT CAN WE DO? 

Voting means nothing. Our voices go unheard. Acting out, unless you are LBGTQIA+ and a person of the right color, will tag you as an insurrectionist. And the society has admittedly become outright heathenish. Whether it is spirit-dinners, pagan festivals, Voo-Doo jewelry, freemasonry tattoos, the city has become a jungle for signifyng trendy tribal stripes. This is the leopard that Dante encounters early in his saga in the Divine Comedy. 

Our society, centered around right vs. wrong, black vs. white, is by design breeding divisiveness with the only centrist theme being consumerism. That is the point of the rollbacks, extortion, and shortages----we will be at one another's throats before thinking to peer into our own American Soul. Is there anything else there besides a black hole? One is reminded of a recent NASA revelation that at the center of our galaxy might very well be evidence of a black-hole. Will the word "black" be contested anywhere it's used? Maybe we need to rename the hole, so it doesn't sound "racist." That kind of shallow, straw-man, vein of thought now derails any scholarly discussion, test-scoring, admissions criteria, last-man-in-space, etc. 

One thing I am consistently reminded of in the middle of all this harmfulness is that of one vignette in the Journey to the West (Monkey) saga. Sanzang and his pilgrims are travelling across the river of pregnant waters, and he and Pig become pregnant. The first principle of Buddhism is Ahimsa, do-no-harm, yet in this tale, Monkey finds and provides the precious mountain water allowing the fetus to be eliminated from his bowels. 

So being from a Catholic background, the first thing we think is why this is allowed? It turns out that although it is not encouraged, it is okay to eliminate the unborn fetus, especially if it will interfere with one's spirituality. Here, Sanzang was on a special mission from Emporer Taizang to fetch Buddhist scriptures from India, scriptures that would enable a full Mass for the Dead----people who died prematurely---in the underworld. To appease those ghosts, to allow them to rest and prepare for the next reincarnation was more important than bearing children.

But even if one is not on such an important mission, the whole ideal of individual rights, of the First Amendment and Declaration of Independence, is freedom to express (and the Word is Action even in the Bible), should preserve for women the right to abort an unwanted fetus. Of course in the age of "wokism" it is now called into question (read Ketanji Jackson Brown, J.D. who famously stated that she cannot tell what a woman is) perhaps, what kind of woman has that right?

No wonder according to identity politics, I can rightly (and some, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren are doing just this) claim to be a part-black, LGBTQIA+ person, to spin the tale that I qualify for a certain Title IX hiring quota or grant. Whether anyone would believe me is another question----rather doubtful as the judging is for the benefit of name, fame, or gain, not actually for gaining entrance, say, to the Woodley Park National Zoo. 

Ahimsa can be applied to oneself to avoid harm for oneself. We are not trained anymore to think in spiritual terms of protecting oneself for spiritual benefit, for promoting individual tolerance, for advancing on the path towards truthfulness. The same values are found among the Maronites---there are beautiful lectures by Walking the Holy Land tour guides, Andre and Tony Moubarak, on Aramaic prayers.

In order to face the difficult trials of the end times---I know the term is debatable---some people would say all older people think in terms of the end times---but I am referencing the transhuman agenda of forcing humans to become dependent upon technology for everything---the very first most important thing is to fortify ourselves spiritually. It is what got me through the most difficult times in life. My brother helped me in a time of horrible transition during the 90s, and I want to thank him, but he won't communicate with me anymore. So has my sister, my mom, my other brother, and even my dad. I want to thank the Church of the Epiphany minister who smiled at me even when I was in tears and waiting to be admitted into Patricia Handy House for homeless women. I want to thank so many other people, even if there were bumpy roads to travel upon----they often wish you weren't there, for instance. 

In a glance back, a flash-back as it were, I often wonder what would have happened if I remained where I was in California. The fact is that the school system was very nice to me---the teachers and teaching system is really by and large very dependable and friendly. I would have or should have tried very hard for a TA position but evidently was not interested enough. Now that system has been decimated by Covid---the rebound will not be enough to allow even 3/4 of the people laid off to return.

But one of the things that kept holding me back, and I must be honest here, was the very fact of my background in civil engineering. It was not as if I had some kind of crime that I committed---no and this is obvious from other records. It was the fact that from various working experiences, the engineering culture was, in my experience, quite repressive and vindictive especially in cultural and conformity expectations. The overriding mission demands that one embrace capitalism to the core or at least be willing to live in the dark and follow orders like a soldier. If the owners of the company are wheeling and dealing, if they are using their small planes to do some "additional work" or if they are cheating or wasting money, nobody should say anything. And everyone is supposed to love company parties.

Even today, once they let you go, once you leave the company, unless it is for a better position, there is an open shaming and blaming which takes place. If it is a large corporation, such as a county government, the bad-mouthing, reasonable or unreasonable, spills over to all kinds of places, to all kinds of people, even the county public library staff. A huge shadow of false-consciousness forces you to look behind, even when you have taken huge strides forward.

When I wrote those tales of survival, of victimhood, to help me move away, I was not imagining, and some would recognize this, but others would try to shrug it off, as if somehow the victim is complicit. Anytime someone is victimized or gaslighted in bully workplaces, it is akin to being raped. I say this now in the 21st century, and it is an acceptable thing to say, otherwise I might not write it out like I can do now. 

The Asian response has always been somewhat along the lines of conform, obey, be decent, work harder, become better qualified. When I try to explain that this does not always work, that one must be assertive, the old-school types will not understand me at all. Then I point out how the other minorities, namely African-Americans, are not afraid to act out, scream, file lawsuits, use mass-action. I mean, they really can be mouthy and loud, and it seems they are even promoted---they do not face the backlash that normal employees would have, and especially Asians.

Here are a few points that I must try and reconsider though. First, ASCE has for many decades made a point of excluding African-Americans. I even pointed that out to the staff at one point for some reason or other, probably in the interest of combatting bigotry and bullying. Second, African-American rise-up is specific to their racial identity. Good or bad, those identity politics do not connote transfer for other minority races. We can hold it against them or not, that the push against the glass ceiling only benefits themselves. Third, no hard feelings. For every one African-American making it in engineering, becoming "successful," there are likely a 9/10 who did not. It's a very competitive field because of the upping of the middle-class ante. ASCE claims there's a shortage, that salaries are higher than ever. But the truth is there has ALWAYS been a shortage in engineers---even before I graduated from college there was that myth of shortage and high pay. 

If you ever notice how plentiful the hiring ads are for mechanical engineers, that may be the real picture. Maybe one mechanical engineer is hired for a small company manufacturing tools. At a larger company, maybe a handful of engineers and the rest technicians. On board a cargo ship probably only one mechanical engineer. The hiring ratio is based on economics, and the more automated our society has become, the less the hiring of professionals. To this add the penchant now for private-public partnerships or contracting out A/E work of all types. Even when that drives up the costs, it presumably saves on the hiring and retention of in-house staff. I have absolutely no doubt that the days of design rooms full of road-design technicians are now numbered---the A/E technocracy is demanding that.

But strangely one has to ask who remains in place? Often the managers themselves are complicit in ensuring that whatever is on the agenda takes place. Thus if the agenda includes several rounds of environmental reviews (benefiting environmental consultants) or long battles of eminent domain (to ensure that millions are doled out to county lawyers fighting for high speed rail) or increased privatization ensuring that the manager has a hatchet job over the engineers, the manager who does what is told will remain in place no matter what.

It's never been easy in engineering. It's why a healthy fraction of civil engineers would rather work in construction, branch out into related technical fields, or drift from project to project. It's why even now, I personally know of several African-American male engineers who opted to teach school instead. Of the African-American female engineers---there was one in my graduating class---everyone was making fun of her for being near term pregnant while taking courses. Turns out maybe what she was doing made sense---it would be easier for her to justify a hiring with a little one she was being forced to care for---especially on her own.

So here is my prayer from the Lead, Kindly Light prayer book from June 25th:

Christ Displayed in Our Life

Consider how great a profession of faith, and yet a profession how unconscious and modest, arises from the mere ordinary manner in which any strict Christian lives. Let this thought be a satisfaction to uneasy minds, which fear lest they are not confessing Christ, yet dread to display.

Your life displays Christ without intending it. You cannot help it. Your words and deeds will show in the long run where your treasure is, and your heart. 

----Profession without Ostentation