Kicking segregation

Gerry Klein has been waiting for the day when his son would look him in the eye.

“I was about as depressed as I have ever been when I found out my son’s diagnosis,” Klein said.

Klein’s 4-year-old son is autistic. The boy’s behavior was aggressive, and he couldn’t focus.

But that’s all changed now, and Klein gives a lot of that credit to a program run through the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

On Wednesday afternoons, on the field at Harper Preschool, Kathy Murphy leads a team of teachers who give children a chance they normally wouldn’t have — the opportunity to play sports.

It is a preschool inter-campus sports league that is for autistic children from schools in the district that have preschool programs — Harper, Adams Elementary, Killybrooke Elementary and Harbor View Elementary.

“We have kids that score goals that don’t use words,” said Murphy, a speech language pathologist for the district.

Each team has 24 players, with about 16 autistic children on each team.

The other members are typical children, also preschool aged, who are from the same neighborhoods as the autistic children.

The mixing of the children at this age is vital, Murphy said.

Those who work in the field agree.

“Segregation isn’t necessarily the way to go,” said Hedy Hansen, the support and education program manager at For OC Kids, a neuro-developmental center that works with autistic children and their families. “This program models what we want for our children for life — which is an integrated life.”

Visiting a classroom for autistic children at Harper, one sees a different style of teaching than in an ordinary preschool classroom.

There are extra teaching assistants, smaller classes, but the real difference is in the curriculum. It’s not just alphabets and numbers, but they also teach social skills and interaction.

A teacher holds a doll, hugs it, talks to it, takes care of it, demonstrating the proper behavior.

This type of social education is exhibited on the playing field. Rules are taught to the children — staying inside the lines, shooting at the appropriate goal. But social actions, like high fives, team celebrations, camaraderie and playfulness are taught as well, Murphy said.

The typical children function as social role models. The autistic children observe their behavior and imitate it so they can acquire the skills to assimilate when they move onto kindergarten, according to Murphy.

“What a lonely place it would be if you couldn’t function in a social world,” Murphy said.

The program isn’t a cure for autism, officials stress. But it can help social development for children diagnosed and provides a positive environment for them to enjoy, as well as their families.

“Most programs try to make the children the best autistic kid they can be,” Klein said. “Here they are making them into typical kids and succeeding.”

The program started with an idea from Murphy and was recently put into action. The organizers have not been able to collect significant data to see how the program has affected the children after preschool, but comments from local experts are positive.

“It is important for them to be able to model,” said Dr. Joseph Donnelly, an autism specialist in pediatrics, who also stressed the importance of integrating the typical children. “If we teach typical children about children that are different from them then they learn tolerance and the ability to play together across differences.”

The Koegel Autism Center at the University of California in Santa Barbara has done research on the area of development for children with autism, and while they can’t attest to Newport-Mesa’s program without viewing it, they do support the concept of integration.

“There are many studies attesting the benefits of inclusion , which often cite the importance of typical children as models,” Clinic Coordinator Whitney J. Smith said. “Many programs that use incidental teaching, motivation, and naturalistic techniques increase the probability of a successful outcome.”

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DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.