An arrest of a 10 year old boy with autism took place at a Florida elementary school last week. The arrest was for previous charges pressed by a teacher after an incident in October when the young boy hit and kicked her and threatened her life. The boy was expelled from school. The boy was home schooled for the remaining of the school year until he had to return to the school for standardized testing. That is when the officers took him into custody. After being handcuffed the officer asked the young boy if he would like to walk out to the patrol car by himself, then the boy yelled several times at the officer saying, “Don’t touch me. I don’t like to be touched.” which is very common with kids with autism.The school said that they would not intentionally bring the boy to the school just to get him arrested, but his mother seems to think that is the reason the school brought him in for “testing”. He was taken to a juvenile center but was released to his mother the following day. His court day for this incident will be held on May 11th.
Do you think that the school should be able to expel students with disabilities, that can not control there actions?
If you would Johns mother how would you feel about this situation?
My opinion:
I don't think that the teacher should have pressed charges on the young boy if this was the first incident of abuse, but I also see why she did press charges on him, because of what he had done to her. I also don't think that the school should have not expelled him for action that he can not control. I think that the school should offer more support to special needs students and should not be quick to expel them when they act out. If I were Johns mother I would try my best to get my son the help that he needed.
Replies
Well I think because everyone should be treated the same that they should be able to be expelled, but if the punishment was over the top then no. Like kids with disabilities don't really know what's right and what's wrong. I would be extremely mad and probably talk to the school about this issue.
If the student is consistently putting others in danger, then I think the school should discuss alternative options with the kids parents. I don't think they should be able to expel students just for disabilities though. If I were John's mom, I would be enraged. It's quite the coincidence that John would be arrested the one day he was required to go to school. Even setting the autism aside, this is a 10 year old. You shouldn't arrest a 10 year old. He needs help and special services for his situation.
I don't think the boy should be expelled or even put in jail. If he has autism and cant control his actions then that's not his fault. I mean there are ways to lessen the chance of that happening but they cant prevent it completely.
Well its one thing to have a disability, but when you threaten a teacher then yes. The matter is that he can control not to threaten the teacher so yes if the kid is threatening others than yes. Well I would understand I wouldn't want my kid to lash out and try to hurt somebody cause of his disability.
I think this situation is difficult because the kid has autism which explains his actions, but also he should be able to have some control with his behavior. I think John's mother should talk to him and help understand how to behave.
The whole situation is tricky since the kid is still so young. It's hard to tell how much of that behavior is the actual personality of the kid and what part is autism. If there is absolutely no solution for controlling the kid at school and if it actually gets this bad as threatening the teachers life then I think that the school should have the ability to expel the kid. If I would be the mother, I would try everything to get the situation to change its course from bad to good. I would be terrified if my elementary school aged kid had to spend a night at a juvenile center.
I think this is a tough decision because on one hand this boy cannot control some of his actions but on the other hand he can't just get away with being physically abusive and making threats. If I was John's mother, I would do everything I can to help him so he can control his behavior more.
No it should not be right to expel students with disabilities because they may not know what's right or wrong. I would be mad because they took the situation farther than they should have.
If the student had no control over his/her actions the school should not be able to expel them especially when something could have been forced (In this case the teacher might have touched the student on accident which we could see he dose't like). If this were my kid I would be very skeptical of the school board and ask to talk to the teacher myself to see if there were any misunderstandings. After the kid was arrested I would be furious, not only was the cop arresting an autistic child that didn't know better but even removed the kid after the kid told him not to touch him.
Yes and no since the child did do something that would get him expelled, but no since the child has autism which explains why he did and said the things he did, but it's just really had to give a definite answer. I would feel suspicious and quite angry they arrested a child that has autism and when they said he needed to do the standardized testing.
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