Mankey
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Oct 28, 2011
Posts: 39
Location: Rhode Island
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cooldryplace
Blue Jay
Joined: Mar 19, 2011
Posts: 82
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 Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:05 am Post subject: |
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Well, this video's probably going to get a lot of attention. I was about to come and post it.
Just a heads up, the intro is pretty long and the actual content starts at 3:00. In the intro he just says this, if you want to skip it:
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My name is Stuart Chaifetz, and my son, Akian, is a ten-year old boy who has Autism. Akian has always been a sweet and non-violent child, and that is why it was so distressing when notes started coming home from his school, Horace Mann Elementary in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, saying that he was having violent outbursts, including him hitting his teacher and aide.
I could not understand why this was happening. I had never witnessed Akian hit anyone, nor could I dream of him lashing out as had been described to me. In October, I had a meeting with the IEP team (the teacher, school social worker, occupational therapist and speech teacher) to try to figure out what was going on. From that meeting, a behaviorist was called in who wrote a report. I sat down with the behaviorist on February 8, 2012 to review the findings.
It was pointless; even though the behaviorist was in the classroom a number of times, not only had he never witnessed any violent event, but when he tried to create a scenario that would cause one to happen, he failed.
Something was terribly wrong. I felt I was beginning to lose my son -- that these outbursts were changing his very nature. The teacher and school social worker tried to downplay it, to the point of almost mocking me for my concern. But I knew my son. I knew this wasn't him. And I knew I had to find out what was happening in his class that was having such a dramatic impact on him.
On the morning of Friday, February 17, 2012, I wired my son and sent him to school. That night, when I listened to the audio my life forever changed, for I heard my son being bullied by his teacher and aide.
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FMX
Velociraptor
Joined: Mar 17, 2012
Posts: 480
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:41 am Post subject: |
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Yes, it is disgusting and she totally deserved to get fired and never work as a teacher again.  But I do want to make the point that she probably didn't do this to him because of his autism. She did it because of the type of person she is - it just happened to have much more of an impact on him than it would on your average kid.
My own experience supports this. I've had teachers bully me too and I was in a regular class in a regular school, not recognised as being "special" in any way. The same teachers also bulled other kids, who were very likely NT. The worst example was when I gave an incorrect answer in class and the teacher responded (in front of the whole class): "is your mother an idiot?! has your father not [sexually satisfied] her enough?"  I was about 9-10, so fortunately I didn't understand at the time what the hell she was on about and neither did the rest of the class - but we got the tone of it and understood that it was meant as an insult. That particular teacher was never fired to my knowledge, despite multiple complaints from multiple students and parents. |
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League_Girl
Proud mamma
Joined: Feb 05, 2010
Posts: 13495
Location: My house
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:53 am Post subject: |
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| I think some people like to take advantage of kids disabilities by abusing them knowing they get away with it because the kid can't go home and tell on them. |
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Kinme
Dinosaurlicious
Joined: Apr 14, 2012
Posts: 3223
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| That broke my heart. |
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DVCal
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 05, 2012
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:03 am Post subject: |
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| This video makes me so angry at the teacher, but so sad for that boy. If I met those teachers in real ife not sure if I would be able to control my rage. |
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Cornflake
Rattles when shaken
Joined: Oct 31, 2010
Posts: 30414
Location: Hertfordshire, UK
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:35 am Post subject: |
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[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation]
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Giraffe: a ruminant with a view. |
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dancing_penguin
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Jul 07, 2011
Posts: 177
Location: out of the loop
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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This reminded me of this case with a kid last fall: link
_________________
Beware of geeks bearing gifts. |
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Mankey
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Oct 28, 2011
Posts: 39
Location: Rhode Island
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Cornflake wrote: | | [Moved from General Autism Discussion to Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation] |
Sorry for the misplacement. |
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cooldryplace
Blue Jay
Joined: Mar 19, 2011
Posts: 82
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Thought this thread would have gotten more replies.. At least the video got a lot of views. |
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Ria1989
Deinonychus
Joined: Feb 19, 2011
Posts: 336
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| cooldryplace wrote: | | Thought this thread would have gotten more replies.. At least the video got a lot of views. |
Agreed. I just got down watching this video on another site, and I came on here just to see what people were saying. |
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AspieAshley
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jan 16, 2012
Age: 23
Posts: 174
Location: Bloomington, MN
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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Yes! This dad started a petition! I posted a link to it!
_________________
Letting go is not a skill--it's the lazy way out. The real skill is having the courage to stand up for yourself and demand justice.
I'm not mentally ill--the world is!
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Cyonce
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 24, 2012
Posts: 36
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't know if I should watch the video, just reading the article about it on Yahoo made me so angry I had to get up and walk away from my computer. |
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Bombaloo
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 01, 2010
Posts: 1396
Location: Big Sky Country
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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| This is my worst nightmare. I feel this is the equivalent of the Catholic church and the way they just move the offenders on to someplace else. The thought of children continuing to be exposed to these horrific people makes me seriously ill. |
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AScomposer13413
Complacent Composer
Joined: Feb 02, 2012
Posts: 2048
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| I just received that video from a friend...couldn't sit through it without feeling a wide range of negative emotions. It's disgusting, really. I hope that teacher and the aides do, in fact, come clean and do the right thing...Akian definitely didn't deserve the sort of bullying he received!! |
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