The Bully Action Guide

My heart broke when I heard the account of 10-year-old Akian, a child with autism who was bullied by his teachers in New Jersey. Who wouldn’t feel the pain of Akian’s father when he heard his son’s special education teachers tell Akian to “shut your mouth” and talk about vomiting from drinking too much the night before? You would expect a special education teacher who is supposed to understand disabilities to be compassionate toward our most vulnerable kids.

A similar incident happened a few years ago with my granddaughter, Victoria, who has Down syndrome. One day, on the way to the bus, the teacher thought Victoria was not listening and took her to a “time-out” room. During a call to Victoria’s mother, the teacher said, “If she doesn’t listen, you’ll have to pick her up from school. She won’t be allowed to take the bus.

“Oh, and, by the way, when she was in the isolation room, she took off all her clothes and was screaming and banging on the wall.”

An isolation room?

Victoria isn’t able to speak clearly because of an expressive language disorder. She wasn’t able to tell her mom that the teacher had put her in a 6-by-6-foot cinder-block room at least four times recently for “fooling around.” Victoria’s inability to communicate clearly frustrated the teacher, who in turn bullied Victoria. In the same way that Akian — who also does not have the ability to report such an abuse of power — became more combative in his behavior, Victoria compensated for her inability to talk about the isolation room by acting out.

One of the cases I am working on as an expert witness also involves a special education teacher who physically and emotionally abused her autistic students. She hit them with a yardstick, a brush, even her own fist and palm. One of the teacher aides told the court she saw the teacher force-feeding, punching, scratching, and insulting the children. These victims, who also have difficulties speaking, were 6 and 7 years old when the abuse took place. The teacher is on trial on felony charges of child abuse and neglect. [Continue reading…]