Tasha Kheiriddin's article, concerning autism and sex education , which appeared in your paper today, filled me with both hope and disappointment.
'Hope' that so much can be done for autistic kids - as evidenced by how Ms. Kheirriddin worked with her own child to successfully overcome so many of its negative aspects.
But also 'disappointment', with her blatant attempt to lump her success with the Ontario Liberal Government's distorted sex education plan. That is to say, some of the exercises used by Ms. Kheirriddin such as 'reading faces' is to be incorporated into sex ed and she is quite okay with that.
Well I am not.
Some background:
Our family has personal experience with this tough diagnosis and the numbers affected do appear to be growing and affecting boys more than girls.
Dalton McGuinty, when first elected Premier, campaigned on providing greater help for these kids but it was one of the first promises he conveniently jettisoned.
What autistic children need is the type of intervention that Tasha Kheiriddin employed with her daughter and yet currently there is no concerted effort on the part of educators to see this done.
It does not mean though that all children are in need of this type of intervention which indeed Kheiriddin readily admits in her piece.
Nor does not mean that 'reading faces' is needed by either young autistic / non-autistic children as part of Big Brothers efforts to sexually educate them.
As I see it.
K.D. Galagher
Note: I was and remain quite annoyed that this woman would use the plight of autistic children in a bid to support the Ontario Liberal Government’s plan to introduce sex education to children as early as grade one. This should await biology classes in later years and only then in reference to heterosexuals since this is and will remain the norm despite efforts of the politically correct to the contrary. If parents believe their children need to learn about alternate life styles – that is up to them and not up to the State to teach.
As I see it – K.D. G.
