Jose Martinez

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Professor Batty
Engl 113B
24 of March 2016
The Key to a Better Future
Education is a fundamental key when it comes to childs future. Without learning, our
technology would not be as advanced and our lives may have hardships like in the past. Some
students may agree that being in a classroom, not all students get the same attention and
everyone goes the pace of the teacher. As a former student of the Los Angeles School District
(LAUSD), I have personally fell behind in classes. Whos to say that others will not fall behind,
especially kids that were diagnosed to be within the autistic spectrum? According to the
University of California, Autism can be defined as a pervasive developmental disorder that
involves abnormal development and function of the brain. People with autism show decreased
social communication skills and restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviors or interests (What is
autism). Although there are schools that have been successful to integrate children with
disability, autistic children would be better off in separate classrooms or a different school
because they could help go their own pace where in regular classrooms they can be at risk for
injuries, the teacher may not give all her attention to the student, and there are programs that can
help the children to learn an efficient way that a public school might not be able to. There is one
school in LAUSD that was able to integrate children with disabilities and make the atmosphere
work, but not all schools will have the same results.

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In everyones life, there are three kinds of injuries that can be experienced: emotional,
physical, and mental. Children can often experience this throughout their years within school.
Kids with multiple disabilities have a greater chance of getting hurt according to the scholarly
article, Disability and risk of school related injury. Children with multiple disabilities had a
70% increased odds of injury (Ramirez, M). Children with any kind of disability can get hurt
while playing, in the classroom, and even when trying to be with other children. In the
classroom, thats where the emotional injury could happen to a child with an autistic disability.
First, when other kids see a child with autism, more specifically with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the kids might make fun of the child. With this disability, the
child has a hard time paying attention and cannot really control their behavior. Kids can make
fun of him/her and the child will feel oppressed by others. The child may be lonely and feel that
he/she does not fit in with the rest because they cannot control their actions as easily as the other
children. Name calling is a result and names or labels on the child can hurt their self-esteem.
Falls (34%) and insults by other students (31%) were the most common external causes.
(Ramirez, M). According to this study, 31% of the injuries that happened within LAUSD were
caused by other kids calling children with disabilities names which potentially hurts the child
because the children reported this emotional abuse.
Secondly, mentally abuse can come from other children insulting who they are. Can be
from calling them names or calling them useless, those things that make the children not feel
welcomed into a community where other kids do not have the same type of living styles. These
makes then more likely to get targeted by others because they lack they lack the social skills to
tell others what is going on. Also, physical abuse can come upon bullying to an extreme, where

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others push and shove the children because they are different. Although bullying happens among
students within out a disability, the students with a disability would probably be much easier to
hit. Much of this is caused because other kids do not understand that some cannot control their
actions.
There are also programs that can help autistic students go at their own pace or to learn
social skills that they may lack. In the LAUSD website there are some of the programs that they
offer at this point like intensive instructional program, 2:1 ratio with no more than 8 students in a
class, or and aid for the student if the child would like to be in a regular class
(http://notebook.lausd.net/) . There are many more programs that children with autism can
benefit to help them learn the way the children can learn more efficiently. For example, Temple
Grandin says explains in her TED talk video, The world needs all kinds of minds, that children
with autism should be taught with things that they are interest with. If the child likes cars, the
math questions should include things about cars within the question. This way the children do
not lose focus and they are interested out in what the subject is about.
Getting equal education means to learn the material at their own speed. Without getting
lost and with having coaching staff to look up to. With this support, the kids are sure to be on
track and another reason is that they get to practice their social skills with the support staff. In
these separate schools or classrooms will give children with autism an opportunity to do classes
that they are most interested in or what they are good at. Unlike a regular school or class, it may
be difficult to pay attention or see and it could be difficult for the children to understand in the
moment.

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There is one school that made the integration of disabled children with non-disabled children and
their test result were positive. Everyone treated the disabled children right, and the disabled
children took part of important parts like student government officers and others were diagnosed
as gifted children (Integrating Disabled Students). This is proof that even disabled children could
be part of a life that they can participate in regular activities and learn the same as the other
children that do not have the hardships that disabled children have. To be able for this to happen,
children have to be taught how to treat others and to be respectful to those that may not have the
same control of their body. A lot of attention has to be put into watching all the children. The
article also says that both non-disabled and disabled benefited from the integration and because
the atmosphere then was much more compassionate.
Although this school proved that integration can be good, not all schools are the same,
some have children that are not responsive with good behavior and many personality factors play
into the decision of the school. The primary goal is for children with autism is to get the most out
of education. It is for them to also be part of helping our country get better and to help be much
more united. Although separate classrooms might seem to break unity in a school, it is just so
that autistic children could get their education to be much easier to comprehend and they could
get more attention than they could not get from an integrated class or school.
Having a separate school or classroom for autistic children can in the long run can help
them to be successful in their learning. It can be much easier and simpler for the autistic children
to learn and the learning could be as fast as child can go. If the child id interested in being in a
regular school or classroom, there is no argument with that since the child probably knows
his/her full potential to learn. Having this option though can help reduce inequality in education,

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that way no one gets behind and all children can get the same amount learning in at an
approachable pace. Thinking about the future means fixing education programs that can help
future generations have education that can be modified for learning the way they can. Autistic
children also should have an option or the opportunity to become somebody important to the rest
of the population.

Works Cited
Autism Support. Autism Support. Los Angeles Unified School District, n.d. web. 5 April 2016.
Integrating Disabled Students. LA Times. LA Times, 9 February 2002. Web. 5 April 2016.
Ramirez, Marizen. Injury Prevention. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, n.d. Web. 5 April 2016
What is autism. Autism Center of Excellence. Regents of the University of California, n.d.
Web. 5 April 2016