[Cherry Christmas]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Having an autistic daughter myself; I'm in two minds about this and would want to hear the school's reasoning. Yes, on the surface of it, "othering" is wrong BUT if the kid, like my daughter, has poor danger awareness (wandering off, roads etc.) and can be hard to keep track of then I understand why they might do it. If wearing a high vis vest let's staff keep an eye on him safely from a distance so that he can play independently with his peers, rather than always "helicoptering" around him as he plays, then I can see why it might have been thought to be a good idea. I know my daughter wouldn't care an out wearing a vest (actually would probably love it) and would much rather play freely with the other kids with a vest on, than constantly be followed closely by an adult.

Really it should come down to whether or not the child himself feels weird or embarrassed to be wearing it and if he does then it shouldn't have been done. If the problem is other kids picking on him or singling him out then THAT is the problem that needs to be tackled.

Thats a good post about it, sometime schools can be too protective of kids with special needs and just go down the wrong path, I suppose the first point of contact here though should have been Mum to see if she agreed