Last week, Elementary kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo held a vote in her classroom in which kindergarten students “voted out” 5-year-old Alex Barton, who was in the process of being tested for Asperger’s Disorder, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex’s mother, Melissa Barton, said the vote was taken after classmates were allowed to tell Alex what they didn’t like about him.

The class voted Alex out of the room, by a 14 to 2 margin.

As of This morning, Alex had officially been diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. He is not in school, but misses the one friend he made in the classroom his mom said. I think that this teacher should have helped the class understand that Alex was different because of the disorder he was born with.

When a student with special needs is placed in a class, a specialized teacher should help the other students understand that the child may be disruptive, but that they can’t control their behavior.

This could go a long way to preparing the other kids for what is in store for them rather than have them just not like that person.

It makes me sad to think that this little boy had to listen to his classmates list off the things they didn’t like about him. No one should ever have to go through that, especially a kindergartner!

SOURCE VIA PARENTDISH.COM

The Baby Lab project studies up to 20 children at a time, examining what is going on inside their heads as they are shown a variety of different objects or colours.

128 probes are attached to the child’s scalp, monitoring electromagnetic brain activity. Scientists gather information they hope could lead to a breakthrough in the understanding of autism.

Initially the probes were too heavy and uncomfortable for the babies, but engineers-have now created a lightweight net of foam-covered sensors which makes the experience much more palatable.

One of the key areas of study is eyesight, which changes dramatically from the first few weeks when a baby cannot focus on objects further than eight to 15 inches away, to being able to track objects such as a toy at greater distances.

It is amazing to me that a child this small would allow this many probes to be placed on their head.

I once saw a newborn undergo a brain study while my son was in the NICU and it was heartbreaking to hear her cry hysterically because there was so much stuff on her head.

Both the parents and the children deserve a lot of respect for having the patience to participate in this study.

I hope the findings are able to help scientists better understand the changes and functions of the brain.

For more information on the study please visit the article written by the Daily Mail and for more information on the Autism please visit the Autism Society website.