My son was denied access at school—now the system that protects him is being gutted

When my son was in third grade, he had a swimming unit at school. One afternoon, as I unpacked his backpack, I noticed his swimsuit and towel were dry. “Didn’t you swim today?” I asked. “I wasn’t allowed to go,” he told me solemnly. “A teacher needs to come with me because I have bad behavior. And today, there wasn’t an extra teacher available.” His words sent a chill up my spine. Related My son has autism: Here are 5 things you can do to help families like ours thrive My son is autistic. He is sweet, gentle, and deeply affectionate. He has encyclopedic knowledge of music and an uncanny ability to remember names, stories, and long stretches of movie dialogue. He has a rich inner world and can immerse himself in imaginative play for hours. Like many autistic people, he can become dysregulated when overwhelmed and may seek sensory input—chewing on objects or asking for tight hugs—to help his body feel calm and safe. These are not “bad behaviors.” They are human responses to sensory overload. These are not “bad behaviors.” They are human responses to sensory overload. So I was shocked—and angry—when he told me he had been excluded. I immediately contacted the principal, who promised to investigate. We soon learned that a swim instructor had deemed my son a “safety risk,” reporting that he had been “unresponsive to instruction” and had an “outburst” on the pool deck the previous week. But what the instructor described as an “outburst” was actually stimming—my son slapping his leg…