*Disturbing* : Trouble for teachers

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This is troubling and happening more. Children with autism are being seen as "behavioral" rather that impaired neurologically/sensory. All need to be trained in autism! Also...their "reasons" for autism will probably raise your blood pressure quite a bit! http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2006/05/02/news/news2.txt Trouble for teachersBehavior problems on rise in Mat-Su schoolsMay 2, 2006By JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporterMAT-SU - Students who kick, bite, self mutilate, and pose safety threats to teachers and fellow classmates are rapidly increasing in the Mat-Su Borough School District. Answers to why these student populations are expanding, however, are difficult to come by.According to school district officials,

total school enrollment in the Mat-Su Borough increased by 22 percent over the last 10 years. During that same time frame, however, students with autism rose by 1,233 percent, while kids with emotional handicaps more than doubled. Other health-impaired students rose by 653 percent.Students with related problems are only expected to increase next year, as the district welcomes back 50 troubled youth who were previously housed in residential treatment centers in the Lower 48. Those students are returning as part of a statewide initiative to bring home and provide treatment services for these youth in their home state.According to a recent school district report, the dramatic rise in students who pose health and safety risks has led to increasing reports of staff injuries as teachers struggle to deal with a host of behavior

problems.“I'm not sure why our district is seeing this increase,” said Safe School Coordinator Koechlein. “What we are trying to do now is provide some skills for teachers and parents to prevent these problems.”In an effort to equip teachers for these new realities, the Mat-Su School Board recently approved a contract with Communities in Schools, a national organization that focuses on helping troubled youth succeed in school. Communities in Schools- Alaska agreed to give the district $25,000 a year for the next two years to help train teachers in how to deal with classroom disturbances.Dennis Boyer currently works part time with Mat-Su teachers to provide Mandt training, a technique that focuses on de-escalating volatile situations, so they don't turn violent or abusive.Boyer provides Mandt training for an average of 200 teachers and school staff personnel each year. The training, however, is administered outside actual class situations, which means teachers do not receive much hands-on training. With the new contract, Boyer will begin visiting individual classrooms to evaluate problems as they arise.In volatile situations everyone tends to get defensive and prepare for battle, Boyer explained last month. The challenge is to respond to aggression as calmly and respectfully as possible.“We have some students who actually have to be dealt with very carefully because they are very volatile,” Boyer said. “They may get emotionally or physically aggressive, but we want to keep them from escalating.”The very last line of defense is to physically restrain student through techniques that Boyer also teaches.“The prime focus is to never get to the point of physical restraint,” he said. “We would like to believe that if we get to the point of physical restraint, our treatment has

failed.”Pam Fenstamaker is the director of special education for the Mat-Su School District. She confessed to being perplexed as to why so many students exhibit behavioral and emotional disorders.“There is a lot of speculation as to why,” she said. “We don't really know why.”Autism is one of the fastest growing disorders, both locally and nationwide. Its causes, however, remain a mystery. Possible reasons for increased autism cases have ranged from childhood immunizations and computer screen usage, to environmental factors and poor parenting. Other explanations include increased awareness of the disorder as well as possible overdiagnosing of actual cases.According to the Alaska Autism Resource Center, no definitive cause is identified for autism or the spectrum of autistic disorders. Autism Spectrum Disorder produces a wide variety of symptoms or characteristics,

ranging from very mild to severe. Symptoms can include impaired communication skills, inability to regulate one's behavior, and many other social disorders.Often, the school district will contact the Juvenile Assessment Center in Wasilla to help troubled students and their parents find treatment and counseling services. In fiscal year 2005, JAC received 182 referrals from high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools. These students suffered from a host of ills, including family crisis, aggressive behavior, anger problems, depression, anxiety and others.“We provide free behavioral health assessments for all school-age children,” said Janice Stormer, who works as an administrative support staff at JAC. “Everyone here is stretched to the max. Regular counseling appointments are sometimes backed up a month or two - it's been that way for a long time.”Finding root causes for these problems is key, Boyer said, but much of

his energy is focused on simply helping teachers deal with issues as they surface.“What causes these problems is separate from what to do with it once we got it,” he said. “I don't know what's causing them, but I do know that having a relationship with someone who cares gives a kid the best chance.”Laurine Domke, the Mat-Su district's director of federal programs, works on securing funding sources for programs like the Mandt training. The Mandt training will help, but ultimately she said the solution involves much more than a single grant.“We are only talking about one person providing more training,” she said. “The problems go way beyond that.”Contact son at352-2266 or joel.davidsonfrontiersman.

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