Young Autistic Arrested At School

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.

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Replies

  • Good summary and you started the week very good replying but then stopped.

  • No, i think this whole things is super stupid. He has some mental issues and cant completely control what he does. I would be furious at this whole situation. I highly doubt this kid would hurt anyone.

  • I don't think that the teacher should've pressed charges. Young kids usually say things and don't really mean what they say. He also couldn't control what he was saying. If I was the boy's mother I would be very disappointed with the school. It seems like they are treating him differently because he has autism. I think that John needs a little more support at school and things like this wouldn't happen.

  • No, they should not be able to expel children that have a disabilities. They can't help that they have it and sometimes they can't control what they are doing. It is just wrong to do something like that. If I were the kids mother I would be out-raged and I defiantly wouldn't make him go back to that school.

  • No - not at all! Children and people with disabilities can't help having that specific disability. So by this boy being autistic, he can't help that, so when he threatened the teacher and hit her, he couldn't help that. They should know that because most of the time, a 10 year old in a classroom that's "normal" usually won't physically hurt or threaten a person. I would feel like they sent him into the school to arrest him not "test" him.

  • I think that the teacher should have taken into consideration that the boy had autism and a lot of the times he isn't able to control what he is feeling. I think that the school shouldn't be allowed to expelled the child but I do think that he needed to have some form of punishment so he can start to understand that what he did was wrong. If I was his mother I would have been very upset. John cannot control how he is going to react to something and there is no reason why this should have happened. If they did bring him in for "testing" so they could arrest him, why didn't they just go to his house. They didn't need to make it such a public thing for everyone to see. 

  • Even though the child has a mental disability, I think they should have punished him a little for him to learn from what he did wrong but not any extreme punishment. If he was in that bad of a condition I don't believe he should be in a public school in the first place. Instead he should be put in a school specifically for mental illnesses that are suitable for him. 

  • I do not think they should be allowed to expel the students because of their actions they did not mean to do. The students will need to be taught anyways so the best thing is to keep them in school to make them learn more. I would be kind of humiliated but not worries because the kid has disabilities and still needs help.

  • Yes and no because if he does assault another person because of his disability he should get another chance. I feel her son was discriminated against for have a disability and being unable to control it. And for that she should fight for something her son cant control an tell the court that her son not a monster.

  • I think that if the kid was really violent with the teacher and showed violence more than once in the classroom, the teacher could have pressed charges, but if this was a one time thing, I don't think that she should have because he's still just a kid who might not have been able to control himself. But I don't think he should have been expelled. If I was John's mom I would have been really upset with the school and would have tried to find my son the help that he really needs.

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