A year and a half ago, I posted a story about an autistic boy named Alex Barton, whose teacher had asked the other students to vote him out of his kindergarten class. Periodically, people write and ask what's up with Alex and how he's doing now. Well, word has it Alex is at a new school, where, thanks to a supportive staff, he is very happy and has even made the honor roll.

My son had behavioral problems in first grade, but did spectacularly well in second grade. Did all those phone calls home and disciplinary measures in first grade do their job?  Nope.  The difference? His teachers.  Having a teacher who is compassionate, willing to work in partnership with parents and students, and above all, properly trained and experienced in working with autistic students can make all the difference in the world.

It's been a while since I've posted an update about the case of Alex Barton. Alex, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's (a form of autism), was voted out of his kindergarten class last spring after his teacher, Wendy Portillo, became frustrated with his behavior. She decided to discipline him by asking his classmates to state what they didn't like about him and then took a vote on whether or not Alex should be allowed in their classroom. Alex was voted out 14-2. The St. Lucie school board suspended Ms. Portillo for one year without pay, suspended her teaching license and revoked her tenure status. She is currently in the process of appealing this decision.

As for Alex and his family, they are grateful for the support they received and are currently keeping busy forming a chain of connection to other kids on the autism spectrum through The Tie Dye Project.

Alex has tie dyed five shirts and is mailing them out to other children with ASD and related needs. When a child receives a his or her shirt, that child will then make five shirts of their own to send to five other children with autism.

The project still need participants. Teachers are encouraged to take part in this effort as well. If you would like to participate in the Tie Dye Project email your contact information to Melissa Barton at mommyofalex@justiceforalexbarton.com or visit Alex's blog at http://blog.justiceforalexbarton.com/ for more details.

Last week, the TC Palm reported that the case was still under investigation by the district and that teacher Wendy Portillo was still on temporary administrative assignment away from children until the investigation is completed. The district says the investigation has been slowed by the presence of lawyers on both sides. The Barton family has retained a lawyer and filed notice of intent to sue, but no lawsuit is currently in progress. (Presumably, they are awaiting the outcome of the investigation.) One can only hope that Alex is in an educational setting with appropriate supports for him this year, but I suspect that, given the level of scrutiny his treatment has received, he is indeed in a better situation.

On a related note, Alex's treatment has created ripples in the Florida educational system. The state Attorney General's office is currently investigating over 100 new claims of mistreatment since beginning their investigation into the treatment of autistic children in Florida schools. Officials state that they are attempting to arrange a meeting with families, but scheduling has been complicated due to the number of complaints. If you are the parent or guardian of an autistic child in Florida who has experienced abuse or mistreatment in public schools, please call the Attorney General's office at (866) 966-7226.

I also read that the school board elections in St. Lucie County (where Alex resides) were close, with incumbents squeaking out a narrow win. There has been speculation that the uproar of Alex Barton's situation contributed to dissatisfaction with the current members of the board.

I (skeptic that I am) hope that this isn't just a PR move to soothe angry voices of protest, but a genuine attempt by the state of Florida to improve conditions for its students. And assuming (giver of the benefit of the doubt that I am) that it is, I applaud the state of Florida. You go, Florida. Better late than never!

Update: If you live in the state of Florida and have a concern about the way your special needs child has been treated in the classroom, you can contact the Attorney General's office by phone, toll free, at (866) 966-7226. Additional contact information can be found on their website.

Photo credit: Image by bloomsberries on Flickr

This is another quick update on Alex Barton, an autistic kindergartener who was voted out of his class. Barbara at Mommy Life sent her last care package to the Barton family filled with good wishes from folks around the world. In Melissa Barton's thank you message, she says "We are taking the case to federal court and I expect that this will be a landmark case for autism."

One of the most recent news reports I saw said the Bartons' lawyer "put the district on notice they intend to sue" and quoted him as saying, "If they [the school district] do that ["investigate the claim, and come to us with a possible resolution"] then we can it's a realistic possibility we can work things out with them and we won't have to file a lawsuit."

I'm not familiar enough with the way the legal system works to know if we can read anything into those two combined statements to get a sense of how the investigation is going. It may be that the federal Melissa Barton mentions is separate from any lawsuit seeking damages or one of the outcomes she desires: having teacher Wendy Portillo dismissed.

• TCPalm News reports that Alex was interviewed by the school district on June 17 as part of their ongoing investigation. The school also plans to interview his former classmates.
• CBS 12 quotes the Barton's lawyer as saying they will not file a lawsuit if the district is able to resolve the matter satisfactorily. Melissa Barton is pushing to have Wendy Portillo fired and says she is seeking autism awareness and training for district employees.

Also, I've updated my links in my the original post with blog posts and news stories I've found through Google Alerts or through you kind readers. If I missed you, let me know.

Way back in the days when Mark was still my boyfriend and not yet my husband, we were having a discussion about change over lunch with friends. And Mark and I were disagreeing. He contended that, to change behavior, all that was necessary was to decide one wanted to change and put a wholehearted effort into it. After all, his mother had just stopped smoking, cold turkey, after forty years, proving that it was possible to make dramatic changes, given sufficient motivation. I said changing behavior was a difficult and complicated thing and that one person's ability to quit smoking cold turkey didn't make it universally possible for everyone. So much of our behavior is ingrained, unconscious, reflexive or just who we are that willpower and determination could only get you so far.

And I said I could prove he was wrong. I made him a little wager to act as an incentive. I bet him that he could not go a day, just one day, without using his favorite exclamation: "D'oh!"

He scoffed at me. "One day? I could go a week! I could go a month! I could stop forever, if I wanted to and just put my mind to it." So, deciding that a single day was beneath him, that he and his willpower would so surely win, we settled on a week. Having shaken hands on the deal, he got up, walked into the next room, and leaned over to pick something up. His glasses fell off, and clear as day, not a minute after he swore to go a week without saying it, I heard the word "d'oh!" echo through the house. And then, when he realized what he'd done: "D'oh." And peals of laughter rang out from all of us.

In the end, that funny little demonstration didn't really (go figure) change his deeply held beliefs. He continued to go on believing that he could stop his own compulsive sexual behavior if he just tried really, really hard. Now, he wouldn't have bet that he could take off his glasses and will himself to read the clock across the room, but he still believed he could change deep behavioral and neurological differences. It took him a long time to realize that he had to more than try hard, he had to try hard in the right ways; he needed help and tools, just the same way that he needs eye exams and glasses.

But who can blame him for thinking that behavior is easy to change? It's a common belief in our society. In fact, in spite of my own professed beliefs that change was hard, and in spite of proving that changing something as little as saying "d'oh" was hard, I somehow believed, just like Mark did, that changing something as big as his social and sexual behavior would be easy, "if he really loved me."

And this same assumption, that changing behavior depends largely on willpower, is what teacher Wendy Portillo was acting on when she staged a kindergarten cross between Survivor and Intervention to get Alex Barton. She assumed that Alex was (because all children are, right?) capable of instantly performing as desired, if only the right carrots and (perhaps more importantly) sticks are present. She assumed, as so many of us do, that to effect change all one really needs to do is provide sufficient motivation. Prove to Alex that change is really important and then, voilà, he will exert the necessary effort and all will be right with the world. And this comes with the twin assumption: making people realize just how poorly they've done or how much they've hurt people is an excellent way to provide that needed motivation, be it in the form of shame, guilt or even empathy.

The sad truth I've seen played out in my life, from that small "d'oh" to addiction to autism to my own issues with anxiety and codependency, is that change is hard, and that different things are difficult for different people. Something that is as easy for me (with my 20/20 vision) as reading the clock across the room can be unbelievably difficult, or even impossible, for others. While something that's as difficult for me (with my migraines) as reading a page of white text on black background isn't noticeable at all for someone else. And that trying to solve interpersonal problems by telling people they ought to try harder to change is a recipe for frustration and resentment.

In Wendy Portillo's classroom, mistaken beliefs about change meant that something that may not have been intended as cruel, was. Over and over again, Wendy Portillo was saying, "Alex, it's really important to all of us that you behave the same way the rest of us do. You must not be trying, because if you were, you could do it." And over and over again, Alex was saying, "I can't. I know that for other kids, it's easy, but as hard as I try. I just have no idea how to do that or even where to start." But she didn't believe him.

She was frustrated by the behavioral equivalent of having a child in her class with vision problems and no corrective lenses. And she handled it by telling the child to work harder at trying to see better. And that child was probably left wondering why the world looked blurry, why he was so weak willed that he couldn't do the hard work the others must be doing to make things clear.

And that's eliciting a lot of exclamations much stronger than "d'oh," bringing more tears than laughter and causing everyone involved to lose a lot more than a playful bet.

Photo credit: Photo by Pikaluk on Flickr

A little over a week ago, I posted about Alex Barton, an autistic kindergartener who was voted out of his class. Since then further reports have painted a more detailed picture of what happened in the classroom and Alex's teacher, Wendy Portillo, has spoken out to defend her actions.

On the morning of the incident, Alex was disrupting the class by lying under a table and pushing it up with his feet (a behavior my son's teachers and I are familiar with as well, although, needless to say, I at least, handle it differently). Alex was removed from the room and sent to the principal's office (and not for the first time that day). The "voting out" incident took place when he returned to the classroom. According to a report by the St. Lucie police, "Portillo said she did this as she felt that 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."

In other words, this wasn't supposed to be an episode of Survivor, it was supposed to function more like an intervention.

Does understanding her intention change things? Not for me. I posted about the story only after, as I said, looking for compassion for her and trying to imagine some well-intentioned reasons why she might have done what she did. Yet, I couldn't think of anything that would mitigate my opinion that her attempt to use shame as a teaching tool -- however well intentioned or misguided -- had the effect of being cruel. And not just cruel to Alex, but cruel to the very children she was trying to help.

Ms. Portillo wanted to teach Alex to respect the needs of the other children, but in doing so, she was reinforcing several common societal misconceptions: about the nature of behavioral change, communication and yes, about respect for others.

Unfortunately, since each deserves a separate post, and I'm still recovering from both my trip and my virus, I'll save those thoughts until tomorrow...

Photo credit: Photo by Kazze on Flickr

Angela at Memoirs of a Chaotic Mommy gave me a little heads up yesterday (Before Google Alerts or I caught it! Go Angela!) that my blog was quoted in a Palm Beach Post article on Alex Barton, the kindergartener who was voted out of his class.

There have been some updates in that case, and once I have my head back together after my recent wedding trip, I'll share.