Is this a 'cage'

[Miss Chicken]

This is a photo of part of the playground at my local school. This section has been fenced off for the use of the school's special needs children most of whom are autistic.

EDITED TO EXPLAIN - most of the children at this school are not special needs children and have their own playground which is separate from the special needs children's playground.

Some parents are complaining because their autistic children are being separated from the non-disabled children at recess and lunch time.

The shed is used for shelter and has a sandpit and toys inside it. 10 children use this play area.

The school is on a busy main road and also backs on to the river.

Some people are calling this area a cage and are saying putting the children in it is inhumane and discriminatory.

What do you people think?

 

[Cheapjack]

It's not too bad. It's got grass in it, and that's better than grey concrete.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I'm assuming the school is on the opposite side of the fence of where this person in the photo stands, right? What's on the other side?

I guess the fence could be made looking nicer, but if its purpose is to prevent the kids from walking out onto the street or something I don't see where the problem is. "Special needs" or not "special needs" you can't expect the teachers to look out all the time what a bunch of children are doing.
If there's a playground for "normal" children on the other side, I could see where the problem is.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The special needs playground is on the other side of the fence from where the man stands.

There is a much larger playground for the other children but I am not sure where it is in relationship to this playground.

 

[stueyross]

Schools often need protection from both roads and the people outside the schools. Most of the good schools I know have 6 foot tall protective iron fences to keep out unwanted persons and keep their children safe.

I wouldnt worry about it, theyre in there to expand their minds, not their areas of wandering

 

[Goliath]

Some people are calling this area a cage and are saying putting the children in it is inhumane and discriminatory.

What do you people think?

I think that, no matter what you do, no matter how good your intentions, and no matter how positive the results, somebody somewhere will misunderstand it, criticize it, and oppose it.

 

[wissaboo]

they should be playing with the other kids. And all the children should be fenced off from the road and the river.

 

[Snaploud]

I know one school that had a special needs kid who had an overwhelming urge to run into traffic. A fence would have been helpful.

 

[propita]

And if someone's little darling wandered out into the street or was beat up by a supposedely "normal" kid, that parent would scream bloody murder that his/her special needs kid wasn't "kept safe."

There's no winning.

And it doesn't resemble a cage at all, but an area dedicated to these children for playtime.

 

[Snaploud]

Plenty of playgrounds have boundaries much worse than what is seen in that picture, so I don't think the "cage" argument holds much weight. The more interesting argument is whether special needs students should be separated from "normal" kids, and I would say that depends largely upon the nature of the individual disabilities.

 

[FordSVT]

they should be playing with the other kids. And all the children should be fenced off from the road and the river.

And what if they have an area the size of a football field to play in? How are the teachers and aides responsible for the kids supposed to be able to respond at any moment to any one of their needs if at any point in time one of them might take off to the other side of the playground? Put them on a leash? And when one of them climbs too high and gets disoriented and falls, are you going to pick up the tab for the inevitable lawsuit against the school?

I know one school that had a special needs kid who had an overwhelming urge to run into traffic. A fence would have been helpful.

The autistic child my sister used to take care of for a couple of hours after school occasionally hit her in the face without warning.

I'm not saying kids with special needs should be completely segregated, and I'm well aware that they all have different needs and levels of ability, but let's be realistic here about what the schools need to be able to do in order to have some of those children there at all. For example, one child might be able to sit quietly in a history class full of "regular" kids while another might not be able to go 10 minutes without throwing a disruptive tantrum. Should that kid's right to mix with his peers trump their right to learn? Some place in between there are lines that have to be drawn out of practical necessity and it is unfortunate that some children will be impacted negatively. "Inhumane?" That's more outdoor space than a lot of city day-cares have, and no one has a problem putting their kids in one of those.

In an ideal world, every single special needs kid would have their own full-time helper at school, and they'd be free to explore their limits both in class and on the playground, but that just isn't going to happen with the way budgets are.

 

[wissaboo]

they should be playing with the other kids. And all the children should be fenced off from the road and the river.

And what if they have an area the size of a football field to play in? How are the teachers and aides responsible for the kids supposed to be able to respond at any moment to any one of their needs if at any point in time one of them might take off to the other side of the playground? Put them on a leash? And when one of them climbs too high and gets disoriented and falls, are you going to pick up the tab for the inevitable lawsuit against the school?


I see you are canadian too. My end of the country special needs children usually have a full time aide worker that should be within a few arms reach at any given time.

 

[FordSVT]

They used to here, but it's only half a day now, and for a while it wasn't even 5 days a week.

But in a lot of places in the US they are much worse off than we are.

 

[RoJoHen]

I think it depends on how severe the disability is. Are they throwing the BD kids in there too?

 

[TerokNor]

*scratches head* What is unusal about fences? Here every school and nursery has fences or walls or hedges around, that the children cannot climb over...and not only for special-need children.
However that they put the fence there for special-need children, especially children with autistic disorder I find not in any way disturbing really. I know some autistic children and many of them were "runners"... without a fence they would have had to be contantly on someones hand. Those children were not traffic-secure, they would just run on the busiest street without realizing there is danger. Better a fence, than a dead child on the street.

Also, even I am all for inclusive education, I think if the autistic children are for a bit off the day for themselves is alright too (as long as they are not totally seperated the whole day, each day), because the other children also may need a bit of rest, as it can be exausting for them as well, but for the autistic children it might be nice as well, to be in a smaller group with lesser sound and such. However it should be individuel still..not like, he is autistic so he has to go to that group...I mean there are different kinds of autism, milder and stronger and different behaviours. One should look at that.
However when I think especially about one of the kids I know it would not be fair to the other kids to have her always with them, because her behaviour IS very, very exausting (hitting other children, jumping on them, touching them all the time, taking their things away, eating everything she found, be it the other kids food or not eatable things,biting, tandrums, running away and so on). I really liked her and all, but also I was glad for a bit of rest without her and the same right have the other children, haven´t they? With her around is was really hard for them to play undisturbed.
I think it is important to look at everyones need and to everyones security as well.

TerokNor

 

[Mary Ann]

Miss Chicken, is there not a fence surrounding the entire school property? Any child could run into traffic, not just the special needs ones. Please, please tell me that there is secure fencing around the entire school.

This topic is difficult for me because I have an autistic child in a mainstream school. I'll try not to be too soapboxy.

There is no doubt that, for higher-functioning autistic kids like my son, integration into a mainstream school is beneficial not just for him, but for his classmates, who know him as a full classmate and not just a special needs kid. My son benefits from learning to integrate into mainstream society, and his classmates learn that people with special needs are not scary animals who should be locked up. He has an almost-full-time one-to-one learning assistant who, if necessary, removes him from the class if things become to stressful for him. He has no specific supervision at lunchtimes but, if he becomes overwhelmed, he's allowed to go into the library for some quiet time. The school has done similar things with other special needs kids, catering for them individually and treating them as the individuals who they are. And this last point is why the special needs playground being fenced off from the mainstream playground in Miss Chicken's photo makes my blood boil. Unless I'm mistaken, all the special needs children are lumped together into this playground. Seeing as the autistic spectrum is incredibly wide and varied it is unlikely that every autistic child in that school is incapable of integrating on the mainstream playground. My son, for example, is short-tempered but is never physically violent, so he is not a danger to other children, and many other autistic kids are not violent, either. So is this a "one rule for all" scenario, where the varying capabilities of the individual children are ignored? If this is the case, then this is definitely a case of discrimination. The children should be having their individual needs met. If, due to the mainstream playground not being fully fenced off, a few of the special needs children do need to be contained to be kept safe, then that is fine. However, as I have already said, if all the special needs kids are dumped in that fenced-off playground regardless of their abilities, that is wrong. Very, very wrong.

Gah, I'm all wound up now.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I believe that there is a fence for the infant school (K to grade 2) playground. The preschool is next door to the school but separate.

The school looked at fencing of that part of the school that borders the river and found out it would cost $200,000. To fence the school completely with child-proof fences it would probably cost about $500,000. Here is a photo showing the school and its grounds.

The mother of one autistic child is saying that she welcomes the fence. He son was being bullied in the playground and had started to dislike school because he found lunchtimes so stressful. No that he is in a small group he is coping with school again. She reckons that he get enough chance to interact with the non-disabled children during class.

I would also like to mention that this school has many more disabled children than most other schools. Not far from this school is a special needs school. Children are sent to this school from the special needs school in an attempt to mainstream them.

My best friend son's (Tristan) was at the special school until grade 4. During grade 4 he was sent for some lessons at the primary school. In grade 5 and 6 he was enrolled in the primary school full time. At lunch time he mainly hung around with one other autistic boy (also called Tristan). They were both teased to some extent. I think that both boys would have been happier in a fence off area such as this.

 

[Mary Ann]

^I understand about the bullying thing, because my son has been bullied as well. This is one of the reasons why he is allowed to go to the library if he feels the need to do so. IOW he can choose whether or not he wants to be on the playground with the mainstream kids. However I still feel that his social skills have benefitted from being in a mainstream school.

I find it hard to believe that the school grounds run down to the stream. I've worked at my son's school and I can think of several older mainstream children whom I wouldn't trust to stay away from the stream! In this case, as I mentioned above, I can understand keeping some children safe behind the special playground fence. I just hope that no child is kept there against his or her will.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Some people are calling this area a cage and are saying putting the children in it is inhumane and discriminatory.

What do you people think?

I think that, no matter what you do, no matter how good your intentions, and no matter how positive the results, somebody somewhere will misunderstand it, criticize it, and oppose it.

I agree. People should learn to not worry about what other people think about things. It makes life so much easier.

 

[Teelie]

Special needs children are literally by definition not the same as other children. They require special needs. It's obvious that keeping them in a safer environment is better for them, the teachers, the parents, the other children, everyone. If they did not have a disability, they would not be seperated for safety.

As someone else said if they were in with the other children they'd be bullied or wander off and possibly hurt, then the same parents who complain about "cages" would demand something be done, and likely this is a result of that at least in part of those very things happening before.

It's not a cage. No one is keeping them as a pet or cattle.

I do wonder though, how many of these same parents who complain have their own yards or outdoor areas fenced in for their children to play in at home?