Save Us Obi Wan Kenobi
March 23rd 2010 19:54
We need the “The Force” or something like it. Remember the Los Angeles Times article about Steven Eugene Washington, 27 the autistic young man that was shot in the head by police on Saturday? This will not be the last time we hear about special needs people getting hurt in our community. The police in Los Angeles deal with the many challenges on the streets like: the mentally ill, drug addicts and now special needs people. This does not take into count the daily criminal activities.
The fact of the matter is that there are very few services for special needs autistic young adults in the Los Angeles area. This has been a charge of mine, to provide some kind of services beyond high school. A special needs person can be served by the school district until they are 22 or 23 years old. So, the services after that time are not wrap a round or comprehensive. Wrap a round means the program will encompasses the family and client with support and services to ensure a safe, stable and nurturing growth. The point of wrap a round is to provide a variety of levels of service as needed by the family and client.
The problem is bigger than all of us. As these young people mature without relationship based therapy or coping strategies for the world at large, they are put in a position to fail in our world. Some parents go out of their way to provide these interactions and teach life skills and sensory tolerance to their special needs or autistic child. Take Temple Grandin (www.templegrandin.com) for example, her mother would not let her isolate or go off by herself. Hence, although it was difficult, she learned to interact and make her way within the world. I had a student that did not like little sounds that people made to themselves. She would chase a person to make them stop making the sound. She thought they did it on purpose to hurt her. You can see how this could be a problem in the world, at work, in the grocery store.
According to a Pediatrics National Children’s Health Survey, 1 percent of the population of children in the U.S. ages 3-17, have an autism spectrum disorder. The numbers are increasing and the services are not. So these autistic youth are coming of age and many do not have the life skills or the emotional development needed to matriculate into society at large.
His autism was preventing him from responding or Steven Eugene Washington did not learn how to respond to commands properly. Either way it goes, we need the “Force” or something like it because this Autism Boom is not going away.
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Comment by Joshua_the_samurai
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Comment by Lisa Johnson
It's All Geek To Me
I think reform will come in form of grassroots. Parents and community partners will have to come together. In the meantime, through word of mouth we could get the word out and try to protect these folks.