If you haven't already heard about this story, you can read in on CNN by clicking here.
After reading the article about John Haygood, a 10 year old little boy with Autism, being arrested for assaulting his teacher, I was at a loss for words. As a father of three boys with Autism, my gut reaction is one of anger.
Based on the article, it seems that John had been experiencing behavioral problems of varying degrees, not all that uncommon for kids on the Autism Spectrum.
The incident that apparently sparked this entire situation took place last October. John was being disruptive in class, throwing paper balls at classmates, and was asked to go to time out. He refused and it appears the teacher went to physically move him and that's when he lashed out. The teacher was left with marks and scratches, according to the article. There's also reports of John threatening to kill the teacher as well.
That teacher later pressed charges against John and that's the crux of where we are. I encourage you to read the article on CNN and or view the actual police reports by clicking here and downloading the pdf... On the CNN page, there's video of the arrest, taken by his mother and pictures showing his arms being handcuffed behind his back.
Not knowing this family personally and having no knowledge of the schools actual ability to manage kids with special needs, I still have a few thoughts.
First of all, no teacher should be assaulted by their students. No teacher should have their life threatened either. Those are both unexceptable behaviors, regardless of who they come from. I don't want to vilify a teacher for pressing charges against a child who's assaulted and threatened her. She has every right to do that.
At the same time, there are a few things I would like to know:
- Did the school have a behavioral plan?
- Did John have an IEP before being expelled?
- Is this school qualified to educate a child with Autism?
- Is the staff trained to properly interact with a child like John?
- What was the motive behind pressing charges against a 10 year old special needs child?
- How involved are the parents with the school (certainly not blaming the parents).
- If a child is known to react to being touched, what alternatives were in place to avoid making physical contact?
- How many teachers or aides were in the classroom?
- Are the teachers actually accredited special needs educators? (not that this would justify them being injured)
- What's the student to teacher ratio?
- Is this a mainstream classroom or dedicated special education classroom?
- Have the triggers for John's behavior outbursts in the classroom been identified?
These are just a few of the questions I would ask.
I wasn't present and have no first hand knowledge of what went down, but this isn't my first rodeo. Two of my kids with Autism were physically and emotionally abused in the public school setting by their teacher. They were then punished for their outbursts in a manner that was entirely inappropriate. The issue wasn't so much my kids but how the teacher was approaching them. They were not trained to work with Autistic kids and that was the problem.
I know this kind of thing happens. At the same time, there are so many amazing and dedicated teachers out there. The good far outweighs the bad.
What I find odd about this is, if he was so out of control, rather than touching him (serving to only escalate things), why not remove the other students for a few minutes, while the situation was being de-esculated? When my oldest was in grade school, his teachers had to do that on occasion for both my son, and other students as well. It's not ideal but it just might have been the smartest thing to do.
While pressing charges is a personal decision, made by the teacher, I'm not sure I understand the motives. What is there to gain by pressing charges against a 10 year old boy with special needs? He was already expelled.
Maybe she's hoping to teach him a lesson, but I'm can almost assure you that there will be no lesson learned. All that's going to happen by treating this kid as a criminal, is further traumatizing him and very likely creating more problems. I don't get it.
If this was a typical kid, with the cognitive ability to benefit in the long run from an experience like this, that would be one thing. Even then, I'm not sure how I feel about that.
One of the other concerns I have is how law enforcement responded. On what planet is it okay to handcuff a special needs childs arms behind their back, with the cuffs on their upper arms? For a kid who doesn't like to be touched, this approach isn't going to help.
If taking the child to a different location is necessary, why not allow the parents to transport the child. Things will likely go much smoother.
Like I said, I can't really judge because I have no first hand knowledge of what happened. At the same time, this doesn't seem to pass the smell test for me. I'm sure there's more to the story.
I imagine the school isn't without blame and neither is John, but does this appear to be handled correctly?
What good can come from throwing a special needs child into the legal system for something relatively minor? Again, I don't want to downplay the teacher being injured but this doesn't feel right.
I absolutely believe there needs to be accountability for one's actions, but the punishment should fit the crime. We also need to keep in mind the person's developmental level as well.
Please share your thoughts below in the comments... I'd love to hear your opinion.
