Latrell
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Latrell is an eight-year-old autistic boy.
He told the Royal Commission, ‘School is very unfair for autistic kids.’
These are his reasons.
Firstly, teachers don’t understand autism.
‘For example, autistic kids might get distracted and teachers will think they don’t want to do their work. But that won’t be true.’
Secondly, he says teachers don’t help autistic kids so autistic kids don’t get their work done.
‘This makes autistic kids feel worried.’
Thirdly, some autistic kids have trouble processing the teacher’s voice.
‘This is a problem because they don’t know what to do,’ Latrell said. ‘The neurotypical kids will think autistic kids are bad for not listening to the teacher.’
Latrell believes all teachers need to learn about autism.
Again, he has three reasons.
Firstly, teachers need to understand that autistic kids’ brains work differently to neurotypical kids’ brains.
Secondly, if teachers learn about brains they will know how to help autistic kids.
‘It will be a lot easier to do the work at school.’
Lastly, if teachers learn about autism they might get interested and want to learn about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
‘If teachers learn about autistic brains and ADHD brains then everyone will get their help.’
Latrell hopes the people who make decisions agree with his ideas.
‘We don’t want autistic kids getting into trouble. We want school to be easier for autistic kids. We definitely want autistic kids to get their help. We also want ADHD kids to get all of that teaching.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.