autistic teen beats teacher

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Prison time for Florida teen who beat teacher over Nintendo Switch would be ‘death sentence’: tearful mom

This is heartbreaking.

But also generating so much discussion over on Twitter. People are saying we should have another word for mild forms of autism versus forms of autism this severe. Thoughts?

Are you embarrassed to be associated with this teen because they are autistic?

Why does it matter? almost all people with "mild" autism who can function independently never cross paths with a person with more severe autism who is unable to live on their own.

Autism is a spectrum. There are people with moderate-severe autism who struggle to survive on their own.

Not at all. My reasoning has more to do with the public not realizing it's a spectrum condition and saying stuff like "he's just a sociopath, my autistic cousin would never"

Older autistic people with "mild" autism still refer to themselves as Aspies.

Older adults yeah, but there is a shift happening in the publics cognition regardless.

I'm not personally arguing in favor of renaming the condition either way, more just fishing for thoughts.

You aren't going to ever change some NTs cognitions on these things, but most NTs are aware that autism exists as mild and more severe.

I don't think you need to introduce new names

I hope the teenager doesn't get a death sentence. I think he should be taught how to react in a more peaceful way. Something that the system failed to do.

I hope not too!
From what I've gathered from various sources, his EIP wasn't handled the way it was supposed to be. One of his biggest triggers was disregarded and that's what led to him lashing out.

Actually, my primary thoughts in regards to this whole thing are that it's a shame there are a vocal group of people who deny that autism is a disorder.
I suppose you could make the argument that level 1 autism isn't necessarily a disorder, maybe, though it is still defined medically by the presence of a struggle. I actually do deal with a form of rage caused by my autism in regards to overstimulation, I just have decent control over my impulses I guess.

But lashing out aggressively and/or violently or with severe self harm when overwhelmed is absolutely something that some autistics struggle with. It's very real. I have a friend who is a paraprofessional at a school, and she has been bitten multiple times by an autistic student. Has even had to see the doctor over one of the bites, she said. My pastor's grandson also tends to be aggressive when having a meltdown, and has to have constant supervision at school for it.

I do hope this situation is going to be recognized as the school failing the student with disabilities, rather than locking him away in a jail where he will experience far worse triggers and harm to self.

This happened in the school district that I work in (Flagler County, FL.).

I didn't see if the link you shared had the video, but it was pretty damning. This young man has a previous criminal history. And there was no awkwardness in his ability to deliver a beating. People act like we can't learn proper behavior, and although it may never be perfect, non-violence is very achievable.
When parents follow through with what the schools try and teach, we see great success. The problem is they don't. Often they are overwhelmed and just let the kid do what they want at home, then expect the schools to perform a miracle. Sending the kid to school with a Nintendo Switch would be an example of that. I don't have a bird's eye view into his home, but it's not uncommon for the parent to do whatever it takes to get the kids on the bus. And we have to figure out how to compete with a Nintendo Switch, or the same parents will want to know why their kid is not passing.
That ship sailed a long time ago with this kid, I'm afraid it's about damage control now.

He's tall and like 260 lbs, put him somewhere where he can't hurt anyone else. Mom's probably going to miss his disability check, though.

I dunno..... I mean, I'm not overly familiar with "low functioning" people, so I could be entirely off base. But some people will just.... never be able to learn things beyond a certain level because they just can't. Some people need to be in a controlled environment that is predictable for them to avoid issues.

Of course, I have no idea how much cognition the teen in this case has. So I dunno.

Pretty sure 99.9% of people with autism who end up as murderers or serial killers are high functioning

If you can't control your impulse where you beat someone to near death, you shouldn't be in public and this is why he is facing 30 years behind bars. Plus he has a history of doing 3 other assaults so this isn't the first time and won't be the last.

I heard he lives in a group home.

That's what I read in the article and the group home wanted to put him in a public school.

I missed the part about the 3 other assaults. My reading's not that good.