978-1572305441

Ernest 159
stitution, whether it’s a preschool, a high school, a recreation center, or
a camp. Suspension makes vengeance a legitimate strategy of dealing
with those who, because of their biological destiny, cannot follow the
rules of the institutions we employ to socialize our children. Aggression
is a serious problem, that is true, but to meet violence with suspension
is simply to be aggressive in return. It turns having a disability into a
moral issue, the educational equivalent of sin, of being “cast out.”
Maybe Ernest was right to be disruptive in that classroom setting. It
served to warn us that institutions sometimes lack a theory of mind as
well, and that these same institutions have to build bridges to families
and children with ASD, not expect them to cross the river unaided.