Autistic 10 year old jailed for kicking para professional

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I don't approve of persecuting children, unless it can be proven without a doubt they acted criminally whilst knowingly. Like if a 10 year old could be proven to have murdered someone in cold blood for instance. But an autistic kid kicking a social worker or whatever hardly qualifies as such an offense. Not to mention any social worker type person working with autistic children should expect they may be difficult and might lash out if getting too overwhelmed. If you cant deal with that don't volunteer to work with autistic children or children with other difficulties. If your thought is 'report child to police if they ever act out and do anything physical' you probably should not be working with special needs kids.

The idea is to help them, not ensure they have a criminal record by age 10. So yeah if you think they should jail 10 year olds for this i disagree with you.

He stabbed another kid with a pencil and it punctured the skin, no broken bones.

Although it sounds cliched this seems to be the fault of most involved. This is a chronic and severe discipline problem probably exacerbated by autism that was allowed to fester and should never have become a criminal matter. The parents seemed to have ignored all efforts to help the kid. Was it denial, some sort of religious belief, dislike of ABA? The paraprofessional who did this to get the kid help choose to use the legal system why? Ignorence or as mentioned earlier in this thread criminalizing special problems they do not want to handle or pay for is what a lot of school districts do.

The court did the best they could dealing with a situation that they are not designed to deal with.

This is nothing to do with autism. This is just a bad kid. He sharpened the pencil before stabbing the other student with it. Someone having a meltdown does not sharpen their pencil to make it a more effective weapon. And stomping on the woman's same toes that he had already broken? No remorse. Kid sounds like he may be a psychopath.

whoops

Last edited by EzraS on 13 May 2017, 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah that's not meltdown behavior whatsoever.

Now for me personally, I would have had a huge meltdown getting arrested.

He actually handled it pretty well I think.



I thought 3 broken toes counted as broken bones.

Last edited by EzraS on 13 May 2017, 6:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

OMG, We just agreed on something. Cool.

The article said that he will not have a criminal record. I've known of kids getting picked up by the cops and put in juvie until a parent picked them up, just for playing hooky. It's really not that huge of a deal imo.

This kid after a rampage of assaulting people, was put into a police car and he spent the night in juvie - which hopefully scared him straight. I say better to shake him up now, than an actual years long prison sentence and a permanent criminal record later on.

If there was forethought (i.e., sharpening a pencil to use it as a weapon), then this wasn't a "meltdown" in an autistic sense.

I am on the fence as to whether the kid should have been arrested. In my day, unless a kid actually robbed someone or something, a 10-year-old never would have been arrested. But, here, there was too much forethought for him to not deserve some sort of punishment.

I think there is too much police presence in schools these days.

Here's hoping he didn't learn how to be a good criminal in Juvie.

Why did he stab the other kid with the pencil though? I mean i can sure remember a number of times being the unpopular kid that people would purposely aggravate to get in trouble. Like they'd keep picking and picking at me till finally I reacted and then play up how horrible I was to them to get me in trouble so I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that. I mean the kid might need some counseling or help but probably not jail time. But yeah I remember one time when I was 10 this kid kept telling me to hit them with a toy I had brought to school, so I finally did because he wouldn't stop and then he went and tattled so the teacher confiscated it.(I did sneak up and take it back actually when I had a brief moment the teacher wasn't in the room and the teacher never confronted me about that, but I imagine she knew). I can't imagine if the cops had been involved, that would have been terrifying...

I don't entirely blame the whole court system and the woman cop seemed like she was trying to make it go as smooth as possible, but I still think they owed the mother more explanation and certainly should have allowed her to accompany the child. In my state I don't think this would happen because anyone 10 and under cannot be criminally persecuted....Either way this should have never been a legal matter is the problem. There is too much law enforcement involvement in public schooling I think.

Or he feels everyone is constantly against him and acts out...I just don't see how arrest or jail is going to help him improve these behaviors. I mean I was not aware it was all that severe I admit, but still he's 10 not necessarily a lost cause, he needs help with his issues, if the parents refuse to get him some treatment to help him than maybe the state should mandate it...but it should be psychological help not being tossed into the legal system.

I mean what is the history here, does he have any friends....does he get constantly bullied, to teachers kind of just let it happen? I mean sure if this kid just randomly attacks people and threatens all the time for no reason then I could see seeing him as just a 'bad kid' but not so sure that is what is going on.

I really identify with the childhood experiences you relate. And I wonder if today there might be a way to get you (and me!) some help.

It looks to me like this situation had progressed to the point that something explosive and violent might be imminent. The causes are lost but we can see that the child is violent, others are in danger, the child needs more therapy? I don't know what he needs but staying in that school is not it.

I think the episode with the police was planned to force The System to react. Nothing permanent was planned from the legal side - just a big fuss to put the boy at head of the line of kids who get help. Although it's not guaranteed that the boy can be helped, not with what we offer today.

I wonder about that mother. What possessed her to buy him steel-tipped shoes (with which he stomped on and broke his teacher's toes - twice). She seems devoted to keeping him in the mainstream. I think she needs help too.

When I was ten, I would have been glad to elsewhere, any elsewhere, rather than the mainstream school I had. I guess that influences my thinking about that boy.

i have memories of being bullied into outbursts then the cops carrying me out. i was nearly always scapegoated

as a result i hate all authority

So where is Mama Bear now? Where's her righteous indignation that the TPTB are gunning for her child because he is really just misunderstood 10 year old.

*crickets* Figures. I knew she was full of s**t, because no school district justs calls the police to cuff kids. The district probably had three workmen's comp cases against this kid. They don't want to get sued by their staff.

My B.S. meter hit maxim compacity the first go around with this story. I truly hope she doesn't sign the paperwork. Mama Bear thinks it's all the school's fault that her son is having problems, so why kowtow to the man now?

Unless she signs the paper work and bales after two sessions. I can see her doing this too. Then she can have more poor drama momma click bait for her FB/GoFundMe/Weebly blog.

The two death threats alond would have had him expelled in my school district, even at 10.

This boy needs boat loads of help. Autism is the least of his worries. His mother sounds like a hot mess.

*I have a relative who is acts just like the boy's mom. It's all Mama Bear/BlogWarrior/FightThePower, and never got her kid any true help. The kid (young adult) is doing years in prison for auto theft and assault. The kid's issue was FASD. Mom never got him any real help, and totally denies the FASD.

I remember my husband and I were once talking about kids being arrested including those with disabilities and who have behavior and my husband's response was "if that is the only way to get them help, I approve of it." That makes so much sense to have a child arrested who have behavior because if that is the only way they can get help, play the system. Now I hope it doesn't go on their criminal record. I can't imagine being an adult and having to pay the price for my issues I had as a child which are no longer there.

Yes it's common for parents to blame the school on their kid's problems. If their kid is having a behavior and acting out, it's someone else's fault. Parents always want to see the best in their kids and tend to be bias about them. But sadly it makes it harder for other parents who do actually see reality and there are kids out there who do actually have behavior because of anxiety or because they are being abused in school or because they are not getting the education they need and the kid doesn't have the behavior at home because they are understood and they don't allow bullying in their household and their kids always get a consequence if they are mean to their siblings. I can understand now where my school was coming from when they thought my parents were seeing me with rose colored lens my therapist had to come to my school and she even told them this wasn't a me issue, this was their system issue. Then they pointed out to the video of me shoving a girl in her seat and my therapist said "she was provoked, that girl had been touching her and Beth had been ignoring it and pushing her hand off and that girl still kept at it." So parents out there who are having genuine issues with the school and their kid doesn't have a behavior, have their kid's therapist come to their school because surely they will listen to someone who has a PH D than to a parent. I can understand about the schools being jaded with parents who try to say their kid is only having a behavior because of their school system or because of other kids and trying to tell them how to deal with their child so the kid isn't having a behavior. There are parents out there who will let their kids be the boss and walk all over them because it's easier while the schools would refuse to do that so they would be too jaded to listen to the parents. If the child hadn't been seeing a therapist because the parents felt there was no need to if they can handle it themselves or because they can't afford a therapist, then they would have a problem with the school and trying to get them to understand their child and to have them listen to them.

Blame administration for all the zero tolerance policies implemented over the last 30 years, along with all the funding cuts since the Reagan Administration. It's now a well known fact, that if you need mental health services, get arrested and go to jail.

I agree with the zero tolerance stance most of the time. I don't agree with how needs to be in prison in order to get (most of the time) inadequate mental health care.

Even if you have no respect for the color of authority, the kid is kicking something or someone, without the expectation that they will kick back.

He is supposed to have issues with self-control, but would he kick a longhorn bull or bulldozer, closing in. Does he kick boulders, or run into moving traffic, to kick at the cars.

Or, does he know there will be consequences for his actions.

Has he made a conscious realization that the adult is so civilized, he must show restraint, no matter what the kid does.