Autistic Student Handcuffed For Singing In Class

“The bottom line he's in phys ed. And all the kids are making noise yelling, screaming and talking and he gets singled out for going 'la-la-la?'”
The parents of an autistic San Jose, California sixth-grader are expressing outrage that their son was put in handcuffs because he would not leave a class. via WLBZ

In a related article, this Gunner Moody's mother reports that she has gotten many negative responses about her son's IEP from his teachers, including this little gem, "I don't do IEPs." She relayed other incidents. "Prior to attending Bret Harte, Gunnar had been a student at Booksin Elementary where Moody felt his problems were misunderstood. She told of incidents that would hamper any child’s development including being locked out of his kindergarten room, being held down by an aide so hard that there were red marks on his body afterwards and at one open house a picture of a dog house with Gunnar’s picture inside. “His counselor, his own behavioral therapist put his picture in there. The principal saw my horrified look and immediately had it removed,” Moody said." (article written by Carol Rosen)

Teachers set the tone. They can make or break a child. Alex had a fabulous kindergarten teacher. She was a speech therapist for the special education department, and after working with these children in bursts as a speech therapist, she decided that she wanted to work with them full-time as a teacher. She had passion. And, she had help. In a classroom of 15 students or less, she had 2 full-time parapros. Alex thrived in her care.

Fast forward to this year, and things changed. On the very first day, someone yelled at Alex. He came home and quoted it verbatim and with the same intensity and emotion: "STOP SHAKING THE TABLE." He couldn't tell me who said this, but it scared him. I will never forget his voice or his face as he told me that. A few weeks later, Alex got in trouble for hitting a 3rd grader on the playground. Two 3rd graders said that they were "helping Alex" when he hit them. I still don't know what happened that day because the school's account of it changed every time I enquired, but I do know that he was again completely frightened. I started to lose my boy.

It is heartbreaking to watch your precious son spiral down into fear and despair. To see his emotionless face emerging from the school bus, silent and deeply unhappy. To cry and to beg to stay home. To get physically ill. To stop interacting with friends and family. I read a lot about childhood depression. I ran across something that made a lot of sense to me. True depression is a chemical imbalance that can be addressed by medicine or therapy, but it rarely strikes children as young as Alex. What he was experiencing was completely situational. When we finally removed him from the situation, he got well.

I digress. This year, in first grade special education, Alex's teacher had 13 students and one aide. It was a cross-categorical classroom that served all disabilities with the exception of the moderately CI children who had a classroom of their own. Thirteen IEPs, one teacher and one sour parapro who never smiled. Alex hid from her. I don't blame Alex's teacher. I think she was doing the best she could with what she had. Every time I saw her though, she would comment on how nice it was for me to stay home and how she wished she could do that or how she also had a 1st grader and wished she had more time with him or with her baby girl.

I don't think anyone is up for this type of challenge. How can one teacher manage the wildly diverse IEPs of that many students? Answer: she can't. Not without casualties like my son. Her style was great for the students with emotional impairments--firm, loud, and direct. To my son, she was a screamer, bullyish, and most of all scary. Yet, this is what our district says is the best placement for any child who needs a modified curriculum. Lumped together, given the exact same curriculum, exact same treatment. I've been told a few IEP meetings that our state has decided that allowing a child to be mainstreamed with an aide is the "most restrictive environment." Again, I cry foul. It might be the most expensive environment, but definitely not the most restrictive. I can't imagine anything short of an institution would be more restrictive than the environment he was in.

There are parts of the country that do right by special education students, but I think they are the exception. Teachers like the ones in Gunnar Moody's school are not adequately prepared or trained to handle situations like his, and the result is devastating to the children. People are naturally scared of the unknown or uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, and at the end of that IEP, this is a CHILD. A real child with real needs, real feelings, and the right to an appropriate education free of discrimination and bias.