MirandaHobbes:Auntie- have you seen the interview with the man who purports to have worked with Adam Lanza as a child? I don't know in what capacity (and I can't even remember what channel/what show it was on- there have been so many)- but he was asked directly if the system "failed" Adam and he said that it couldn't have while he was in school; that the school was small and kept such a watchful eye on him because he was a target for bullys, but that to his knowledge, he wasn't bullied.
Was it the man who ran the tech club at the high school? Who, btw, was the school custodian. Not that I have anything against custodians, but it speaks volumes about a school when the person who most "gets" a vulnerable student isn't even an educator.
Small doesn't always = a good fit for a quirky kid. My DS did better the bigger the school because it had a greater range of ppers with which he might find something in common.
I have no doubt he was watched closely, but adults are seldom as aware of bullying as they should be. For one thing, often kids on spectrum aren't even aware they're being picked on. Or they're so upset by the experience they refuse to talk about it because of the way it brings back the bad feelings.LMAO, I've had some of DS's teachers and administrators insist he wasn't bullied. I have hard copies of facebook videos of kids doing imitations of DS and commenting on his weirdness I have had to share with them. Seriously.
He went on to suggest that the system failed Adam when he was discharged from school and no one was there to keep tabs on him, illustrating what could the "other" "other" side of the problem- what happens when adults with autism age out of the system.
He didn't age out. He was 20; he could have still been a special education student getting transition services to prepare him to be successful in college and the workplace. I pass the school van at the local community college that has students with ASD, EBD and other dxs taking a few classes before returning to the high school to work on whatever transition issues they have.
It seems like his mom pulled him out. Given the high level of supervision he would have required, I'm guessing she was unhappy with his IEP/Section 504. This is all confidential stuff, but I know parents who have done the same because a school wanted to change an IEP classfication to a EBD or place a student in a self-contained classroom where the parents assumed the academics would be watered down. Even if she did home school him, she would have been able to access IEP services if they were offered. I'm guessing the school didn't offer what the mother considered appropriate services.
I am not saying the man's remarks were reliable at all, or that the school system didn't in fact fail his special education needs. Someone in my office was going off in a tirade about how "it's the families fault for not watching their children with mental illness" and I had to walk away. I'm sure you've read the article "I am Adam Lanza's Mother"- it's just heartbreaking.
Gotta love when someone whose never walked the walk weighs in with an opinion. Mental illness is hard. Especially when an adult child develops something later and can refuse treatment. Then what?
There's quite a bit of controversy over the author of "I am Adam Lanza's Mother"- credible sources have called her an AW of the lowest order.
http://gawker.com/5968983/writer-of-i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-blog-post-criticized-as-unfit-mother-with-own-history-of-violent-tendencies-mental-illness