JULY 16, 2000 —z1 Bright Lights met Celebrations ra Classifieds Spegt. Fashion Renshaw Daytrippers p22 Special feature full of ide for your next day trip The Voice of North and West Vancouver since 1969 Autistic boy’s parents say system at fault Jan-Christian Sorensen Contributing Writer DEBORAH Pugt says she had too much faith in a school system that let her nine-year-old autistic son down. Adam Elsharkawi attended Grade 2 at Ridgeway elemen- tary school in North Vancouver this past school ar, where he and his family share of problems regarding the. quality of care Adam while under the ¢ (SEA) there. When the school vear fist began in September, Pugh was assured by the school principal thar Adam's SEA would have a level of training that would pair him pertectly with her son In the spring, however, Pagh discovered that was not enorely true. While the SEA did take a training course, Pugh — who is the program director with Aunsm Society of B.C. — i ed more toward dren. DEBORAH Pugh joins her director with the Autism Society of B.C. Her family has had some trouble in the North Vancouver public schooi system. dent Paul Killeen, now maintained that the SEA was properly trained. “He had other training. J guess it’s not the training (Adam's family) wanted, but he was tained,” said Killeen. School districts throughout the Lower Mainland re to have a high school diploma with additional special education courses completed either through the Provincial Education Program or through qualitied courses such as Capilano, Douglas, Langara or Kwantlen. Killeen said that standards a elsewhere. He said the district is currently developing an education pro- gram geared specifically toward autistic children. There are about three dozen autistic students in the school district. the same in North Vancouver as x TRY US & COMPARE: 1 Orientation Session, 1 Wellness Session Session, 1 Body Comp. Test, 1 Tanning Bed Session PLUS a FREE T-SHIRT Cruising north to Alaska on the Universe Explorer Travel p24 FREE eee) NEWS photo Julle Iverson e-year-old autistic son Adam Elsharkawi as they work through his communication book. Pugh is a program “L think night now that the parents of the (autistic) children are more or less working together to ensure that the school district provides good service to the kids,” he said. While Adam went to school willingly at the beginning of the year, Pugh — and Adam's father, Karim Elsharkawi — began to a sharp regression in his behaviour as winter turned to began biting, screaming and engaging in acts of self abuse, which he hadn't done since a small child. “There was such a backsliding in his behaviour that we were back to dealing with him as though he were in preschool,” said Elsharkawi. Since Adam began school, the family has mapped out and recorded his behaviour on a daily basis. Volumes of binders line the shelves of pwo large bookcases in their dining room. While Pugh suspected something was amiss at school, her wake-up call came at the close of the strike-extended spring break. “I said to Adam that he had to go back to school tomorrow and he threw himself on the ground and began kicking and screaming and saying “Don’t hurt my son. Don’t hurt my son’,” related Pugh. “He was telling us not to send him back to school.” Adam will often prompt his parents to act with phrases such as “Did somebody say McDonalds?” Three years ago Pugh and Elsharkawi unearthed their “Rosetta Stone” in establishing a consistent, successful pattern of two-way See Parents page & ‘ , 1 Personal Training alimited time offer, #125-949 West. 3rd St.North Van. ‘offapilano Mall).