Georgia autistic student denied a HS diploma

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tcorrielus
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13 May 2012, 9:05 am

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/georgia ... raduating/

This story really angers me. What are your thoughts on this story?



danmac
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13 May 2012, 10:28 am

my nld gave me the same prob.
i could study and learn math(algebra) but at test time everything was a jummbled mess, i just foiled( first, outside, inside, last) everything and got my D


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Daneeka
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13 May 2012, 11:58 am

That article reminds me why I should never read comments.

I feel for the kid, though. Public schools have always pissed me off.



techn0teen
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13 May 2012, 12:44 pm

People without autism cannot pass the math test either. And people without autism that also have a story remarkably similar to his own. Why does the diagnosis of autism get this kid a free pass while the others don't?

Sorry but, to make it fair, he cannot get his diploma. I've known brilliant English based people who have not been able to attend college because they couldn't pass the rudimentary math. But everyone is in the same boat.

I hate institutionalized education though. I hate the one size fits all approach that they force down everyone's throats. The real world doesn't work that way, and I am beginning to hate college because of it.



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13 May 2012, 8:36 pm

While I do feel for the boy, I will also say that I don't think he should be exempted from the test even if he is autistic. Those tests exist for two reasons: 1
) To make sure the students "know their stuff" so to speak and 2) To make sure the teachers are teaching the students. In the 70s/80s it was awfully common to just pass the kids without doing anything to ensure they knew the material, which led to teachers pratically dissing them and not doing their damn job, so standardizes tests were created to help fix that problem. That said, I think two very important questions need to be asked:

1: Was he given extra help in studying the material in the weeks/days leading up to the test?
2: Was there a time limit and, if so, was he gven extra time to complete the test as well as other accomodations (ex: room with very few people and not much noise so he would not become overstimulated, which could affect his ability to concentrate)?

Just my two cents.


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mds_02
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13 May 2012, 8:48 pm

LiberalJustice wrote:
While I do feel for the boy, I will also say that I don't think he should be exempted from the test even if he is autistic. Those tests exist for two reasons: 1
) To make sure the students "know their stuff" so to speak and 2) To make sure the teachers are teaching the students. In the 70s/80s it was awfully common to just pass the kids without doing anything to ensure they knew the material, which led to teachers pratically dissing them and not doing their damn job, so standardizes tests were created to help fix that problem. That said, I think two very important questions need to be asked:

1: Was he given extra help in studying the material in the weeks/days leading up to the test?
2: Was there a time limit and, if so, was he gven extra time to complete the test as well as other accomodations (ex: room with very few people and not much noise so he would not become overstimulated, which could affect his ability to concentrate)?

Just my two cents.


Yeah, with you on this. His autism entitles him to reasonable accomodations, not a free pass.


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techn0teen
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14 May 2012, 12:15 am

mds_02 wrote:
LiberalJustice wrote:
While I do feel for the boy, I will also say that I don't think he should be exempted from the test even if he is autistic. Those tests exist for two reasons: 1
) To make sure the students "know their stuff" so to speak and 2) To make sure the teachers are teaching the students. In the 70s/80s it was awfully common to just pass the kids without doing anything to ensure they knew the material, which led to teachers pratically dissing them and not doing their damn job, so standardizes tests were created to help fix that problem. That said, I think two very important questions need to be asked:

1: Was he given extra help in studying the material in the weeks/days leading up to the test?
2: Was there a time limit and, if so, was he gven extra time to complete the test as well as other accomodations (ex: room with very few people and not much noise so he would not become overstimulated, which could affect his ability to concentrate)?

Just my two cents.


Yeah, with you on this. His autism entitles him to reasonable accomodations, not a free pass.


You two summed it up a lot better than I can. Basically the above.



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16 May 2012, 5:32 am

So long as he was accommodated during the test for autistic issues, then if he failed it, he should not receive a diploma.

Is autism an exemption from knowing information now? Do I get a free PhD if I fail doctorate level tests simply because I'm autistic? I could rack up some serious certificates ;-)

This whole story and the situation it has caused seems silly to me. I don't know, maybe I'm heartless /shrug


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18 May 2012, 4:02 am

I live in Georgia...there is more beneath the surface here. If he was in special ed, his failures were intructional. They teach all the special ed students at the same level because they dont have the staff or the time to teach each kid at their own level. It is so bad that a special ed student will be taught the same material year after year, never advancing to the next grade after about 4th or 5th grade.
I actaully passed the math portion of test by 3 points, not because I knew the material but because I filled in the letter C for every problem that I did not know. I knew to do this because my special ed teacher told me that on standardized tests if you stick with the same letter for each guess, you have better odds of being right than if you picked a random answer. I graduated with a 4th grade math level...went on to college but math is still my weak point there. I love science but do poorly in science classes cause of math. I am thinking about going to GED classes to catch up on what I was not taught.

More than likely this boy was educationally warehoused in special ed and when it came time to graduate, he failed the test, not due to his own intelegence but due to a lack of instruction. He must do what every other person in special ed in Georgia must do which is take GED classes and get his GED. He would have been better off homeschooled. Georgia ranks 49th in the nation in education for those with diasbilities. He has an option though to go to warm springs, Ga where they have an impatient vocational rehab facility where they ship all the special needs kids after high school to get their GED and learn to drive.

However it does suck that taxpayers paid to educate this boy but he was more than likely not taught much beyond multiplication and division, then tax payers have to pay for him to go to warm springs for individualized GED lessons. It would had been cheaper and probably fairer to the boy to let him drop out and then teach him the GED than to go through the hell of public education only to not recieve an education enough to get a diploma.

Sad but true,

Jojo


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