Wow..Dad releases audio of teachers allegedly bullying autistic son

[WhoDat9to12]

Watch this powerful video of a dad describing how his 10-year-old, autistic son was bullied at school -- not by other students, but by aides and teachers. Suspicious about why Akian was acting out, Stuart Chaifetz wired up his son and recorded 6-1/2 hours of classroom audio. He describes what he heard as "disgusting and vile ... an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son."

about a 15 minute video, having trouble embedding it..really commend this dad tho he seems like a strong guy who really loves his son
Dad releases audio of teachers allegedly bullying autistic son

[COsaintsfan]

Dad kept it together really well. Can't say I would have reacted the same.

Good for him.

[HennessyRob]

Why hasn't this been all over the news?

[El Caliente]

My wife taught autistic kids (prior to marriage), and loved those kids in spite of the difficulty of teaching them, and their needs. I learned to appreciate her more, and those kids tremendously. To think some monster could bully a special needs child...somebody should bully the teacher.

[Devildog]

I would so murder that *****.

[Fiyo]

This is so totally and completely unacceptable for any class, but the fact that it's a class for autistic children makes it SO MUCH WORSE ... some kind of charges - cruelty - should be filed by the police

[coldseat]

Originally Posted by Devildog

I would so murder that *****.

This. Those ******* are evil and their souls is black.

[Cosmic201]

I have a couple of comments.

First the aide deserved to be fired simply for the inappropriate conversations they were having.
However.

The subtitles often don't seem to match the audio or at best it might be one possible interpretation of what was said since it was mostly mumbled.
Listen to the audio with your eyes closed instead of reading the subtitles. A good bit of it simply doesn't match.

For example, when he says the teacher called the kid a *******. For the 20 or so seconds of conversation we get before that the teacher seems to be having an engaging discussion with the child. And than out of the blue we hear a mumbled statement that could be any of number of words and we're suppose to believe she's calling the child a ******* for no reason?

Second, he says the only time he child acts out is when the teachers pick on him or bully him.

********.

Autistic children simply don't work that way. They don't need someone to pick on them to be set off. They can simply go from sweet angel to unholy terror for any number of perfectly innocent triggers. It's simply part of being autistic. To make the claim that is child is the exception to that rule is unbelievable.

At one point we hear the child screaming at the top of his lungs and the teachers trying to get him to stop quickly. The man says it happened because the teacher made fun of him, but he doesn't submit that part of the audio.

Could they have been nicer about it? Sure. But remember this is a class full of other autistic children. One screaming could quickly become them all screaming. They are also in a school full of other children trying to learn. A classroom of screaming children simply doesn't help that.



Like I said though, the Aide deserved to be fired. I don't know if she was simply having a bad day or if this was the norm, but there is no excuse for many of her actions in that tape.

[saint-58]

Originally Posted by Cosmic201

I have a couple of comments.

First the aide deserved to be fired simply for the inappropriate conversations they were having.
However.

The subtitles often don't seem to match the audio or at best it might be one possible interpretation of what was said since it was mostly mumbled.
Listen to the audio with your eyes closed instead of reading the subtitles. A good bit of it simply doesn't match.

For example, when he says the teacher called the kid a *******. For the 20 or so seconds of conversation we get before that the teacher seems to be having an engaging discussion with the child. And than out of the blue we hear a mumbled statement that could be any of number of words and we're suppose to believe she's calling the child a ******* for no reason?

Second, he says the only time he child acts out is when the teachers pick on him or bully him.

********.

Autistic children simply don't work that way. They don't need someone to pick on them to be set off. They can simply go from sweet angel to unholy terror for any number of perfectly innocent triggers. It's simply part of being autistic. To make the claim that is child is the exception to that rule is unbelievable.

At one point we hear the child screaming at the top of his lungs and the teachers trying to get him to stop quickly. The man says it happened because the teacher made fun of him, but he doesn't submit that part of the audio.

Could they have been nicer about it? Sure. But remember this is a class full of other autistic children. One screaming could quickly become them all screaming. They are also in a school full of other children trying to learn. A classroom of screaming children simply doesn't help that.



Like I said though, the Aide deserved to be fired. I don't know if she was simply having a bad day or if this was the norm, but there is no excuse for many of her actions in that tape.

I'm sorry and I don't know you or what experience you have with autistic children and/or adults. I have a 24 year old son who is autistic and have many friends wh have autistic children. Your description of an autistic child becoming a "Holy Terror" does not fit with the people I know. They have reactions and/or sensory oveloads which range from mild to severe when triggered with certain stimuli. To classify a reaction as "Holy Terror" is a dis-service to the person with autism and the parents struggling to raise them in a society which ostricizes anything or anyone out the norm.

[Symbiote]

This stuff happens everywhere, and no one does a thing about it anymore.

Absolute total BS our kids are scared to go to school cause if they aren't being bullied by bigger kids, it's teachers? Now that's really wrong.

[dbrooks55]

Originally Posted by Cosmic201

I have a couple of comments.

First the aide deserved to be fired simply for the inappropriate conversations they were having.
However.

The subtitles often don't seem to match the audio or at best it might be one possible interpretation of what was said since it was mostly mumbled.
Listen to the audio with your eyes closed instead of reading the subtitles. A good bit of it simply doesn't match.

For example, when he says the teacher called the kid a *******. For the 20 or so seconds of conversation we get before that the teacher seems to be having an engaging discussion with the child. And than out of the blue we hear a mumbled statement that could be any of number of words and we're suppose to believe she's calling the child a ******* for no reason?

Second, he says the only time he child acts out is when the teachers pick on him or bully him.

********.

Autistic children simply don't work that way. They don't need someone to pick on them to be set off. They can simply go from sweet angel to unholy terror for any number of perfectly innocent triggers. It's simply part of being autistic. To make the claim that is child is the exception to that rule is unbelievable.

At one point we hear the child screaming at the top of his lungs and the teachers trying to get him to stop quickly. The man says it happened because the teacher made fun of him, but he doesn't submit that part of the audio.

Could they have been nicer about it? Sure. But remember this is a class full of other autistic children. One screaming could quickly become them all screaming. They are also in a school full of other children trying to learn. A classroom of screaming children simply doesn't help that.



Like I said though, the Aide deserved to be fired. I don't know if she was simply having a bad day or if this was the norm, but there is no excuse for many of her actions in that tape.

Wow...you must not know much about autism you are absolutely wrong, it can totally be one thing that sets a kid off, my son is boarder line autistic, seems to be working his way out of most of it. But most his problems were pattern that he would get upset about disrupt the pattern very similar to the child in the audio...luckily most of these things don't bother him anymore or very slightly. He's 5 now and in therapy over 2 years, I also see the worse of it with some kids in the waiting room. But like I said it can be one specific thing...and your wrong one screaming doesn't set the others off...go to a waiting room for these and back that up with experience. There is a kid that comes in screaming each week, and about 10 kids in there and non of them scream or cry because of it. Until you live with it or something close to it everyday...please hold your judgement. I'm extremely close with my family and they didn't even know what we dealt with half the time. Partially cause it exhausts you and you don't even feel like talking about it.

[Cosmic201]

Originally Posted by saint-58

I'm sorry and I don't know you or what experience you have with autistic children and/or adults. I have a 24 year old son who is autistic and have many friends wh have autistic children. Your description of an autistic child becoming a "Holy Terror" does not fit with the people I know. They have reactions and/or sensory oveloads which range from mild to severe when triggered with certain stimuli. To classify a reaction as "Holy Terror" is a dis-service to the person with autism and the parents struggling to raise them in a society which ostricizes anything or anyone out the norm.

Here's the thing.

reactions and/or sensory oveloads which range from mild to severe

To someone who lives with it, it becomes normal, average, not acceptable, but understood.

For people who don't experience this it can very much be what I described. If a normal child was screaming his head off and turning violent from 'certain' stimuli they would be classified as being a "holy terror".

It doesn't excuse anything the teacher allegedly did, but it's still true.

[coldseat]

Originally Posted by Cosmic201

Here's the thing.



To someone who lives with it, it becomes normal, average, not acceptable, but understood.

For people who don't experience this it can very much be what I described. If a normal child was screaming his head off and turning violent from 'certain' stimuli they would be classified as being a "holy terror".

It doesn't excuse anything the teacher allegedly did, but it's still true.

They were in a class specifically designed for autistic children. There is absolutely no excuse for the teachers and assistants behavior. They should know each child individually and know their triggers and have designed and education plan and had the appropriate structure to help the child succeed, eliminate stress and provide the most positive environment for the child's development. If they weren't properly trained to teach autistic children, then that is their fault and the schools fault. They should not have been in that class.

The school where I have my child is not geared towards autistic children and yet the teachers and staff have always worked closely with us to help provide the best environment for my son. His teachers have done an amazing job with him and are quickly in contact with us should any issue arise so that we can help them fine an appropriate solution. He has flourished there and I can't say enough good things about his teacher or the school. None of them are specifically trained to teach autistic children. But they care and they have a heart and they're willing to listen to us and learn and that helps them, my son and his whole class.

There is absolutely no excusing these teachers behavior.

[primadox]

Originally Posted by coldseat

They were in a class specifically designed for autistic children. There is absolutely no excuse for the teachers and assistants behavior. They should know each child individually and know their triggers and have designed and education plan and had the appropriate structure to help the child succeed, eliminate stress and provide the most positive environment for the child's development. If they weren't properly trained to teach autistic children, then that is there fault and the schools fault. They should not have been in that class.

The school where I have my child is not geared towards autistic children and yet the teachers and staff have always worked closely with us to help provide the best environment for my son. His teachers have done an amazing job with him and are quickly in contact with us should any issue arise so that we can help them fine an appropriate solution. He has flourished there and I can't say enough good things about his teacher or the school. None of them are specifically trained to teach autistic children. But they care and they have a heart and they're willing to listen to us and learn and that helps them, my son and his whole class.

There is absolutely no excusing these teachers behavior.

Ditto. Their job is to know the triggers, and the fact that they answered "no" to the child's question about seeing his father, KNOWING that this was an upsetting transition for him each week and a potential trigger for undesireable behavior, tells me that they did not want to be bothered to work around this child's specific triggers. The easy way out is to say "no". The tough part is to spend time with the child, laying out the events of the weekend, so that he knows, yes you will see your dad, but after you've visited with your mom. Going over a visual schedule for the next few days, which is THE NORM with these types of kids according to most IEPs, would have been the appropriate thing to do; not dismiss him with a cruel "no". Their jobs are to help and teach the child to deal with these triggers, not instigate them and make it worse, which is EXACTLY what happened in that specific situation. Combine that with the other comments they made in the classroom between themselves and to the children, and I see a sad picture of teachers/aides who don't care about the job they're doing.

Yes, a special needs classroom can be a stressful place, especially when multiple kids are having meltdowns for whatever reason. But you deal with them lovingly and according to the educational plan that was put in place and that LEGALLY needs to be followed, and I can guarantee that nowhere in that IEP is the phrase "shut up" an appropriate response to a stressed out child.

All involved need to be fired, or at least suspended out of the classroom until an investigation is conducted. They have no business teaching any kids, IMO.

[Saint Tillage]

Originally Posted by primadox

Ditto. Their job is to know the triggers, and the fact that they answered "no" to the child's question about seeing his father, KNOWING that this was an upsetting transition for him each week and a potential trigger for undesireable behavior, tells me that they did not want to be bothered to work around this child's specific triggers. The easy way out is to say "no". The tough part is to spend time with the child, laying out the events of the weekend, so that he knows, yes you will see your dad, but after you've visited with your mom. Going over a visual schedule for the next few days, which is THE NORM with these types of kids according to most IEPs, would have been the appropriate thing to do; not dismiss him with a cruel "no". Their jobs are to help and teach the child to deal with these triggers, not instigate them and make it worse, which is EXACTLY what happened in that specific situation. Combine that with the other comments they made in the classroom between themselves and to the children, and I see a sad picture of teachers/aides who don't care about the job they're doing.

Yes, a special needs classroom can be a stressful place, especially when multiple kids are having meltdowns for whatever reason. But you deal with them lovingly and according to the educational plan that was put in place and that LEGALLY needs to be followed, and I can guarantee that nowhere in that IEP is the phrase "shut up" an appropriate response to a stressed out child.

All involved need to be fired, or at least suspended out of the classroom until an investigation is conducted. They have no business teaching any kids, IMO.