Here is a mind-boggling story if I ever saw one. Having formerly been an elementary special education teacher (now working in a high school), I couldn't help but feel appalled. Furthermore, being the parent of 10-year-old who has a very similar condition as the child in the news story brought it painfully close to home. I sympathize with the child's parents.
The mother of an 8-year-old autistic girl who was arrested after a scuffle with her teachers said it was horrifying to watch her daughter be led away in handcuffs from her northern Idaho elementary school.
Police in Bonner County, Idaho, charged the girl, Evelyn Towry, with battery after the arrest Friday at Kootenai Elementary School.
Even though prosecutors dismissed the case Tuesday, the family is considering legal action against the school. They say their daughter was physically restrained to the point of causing bruises and is now tormented by memories of the incident.
Spring Towry said she got to the school Friday just in time to see 54-pound Evelyn -- who was diagnosed at age 5 with Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of autism -- being walked to a police car with two officers at her side.
"She started screaming 'Mommy, I don't want to go! What are batteries? What are batteries?'" Towry said. "She didn't even know what she was arrested for."
Towry, who lives in Ponderay, said Evelyn told her that she had been refused entry into a school Christmas party that had been delayed until after the holidays because of a string of snow days, because she refused to take off her beloved "cow costume" -- a hoodie with cow ears and a tail.
From the viewpoint of being both a parent and a teacher I can't begin see how things got so far out of hand that the police had to be called. Typically school officials--both administrators and special education teachers--are required to undergo a yearly training to learn the warning signs of, and responses to, behavior that's about to get out of control. Typically also, there would be a crisis team or perhaps several individuals trained in non-violent means of addressing such behavior.
Often kids with an autism spectrum disorder will grow strongly attached to objects. It was likely that this was the case with the girl's cow costume (it sounds like it may have only been a jacket). Taking something away from a child with autism can amount to taking away something as important as a body part in the estimation of the child. It's difficult to understand why there wasn't awareness of this.
I know that it's easy to sit back and say what could have been or should have been done, and I know well the difficulties that educators face in working with children who have cognitive and neurological disabilities. However, I also know that when there are students who are prone to acting out their behavior, whether it's because of communication difficulties or something else, there must be a plan in place to address it, and I've never even remotely heard of the police having to be called to handle an 8-year-old who has a mental disability.
I find it hard to believe that no one knew the student well enough to have such a plan in place and to realize that the student's response to an either/or ultimatum would not be the same as it would with a neurotypical child.
Perhaps what bothers me most is that somewhere there is someone--someone in authority--who believes that the correct response to the disability-related behavior of a second or maybe third grader is to have her arrested for it and charged with a crime.
A very shocking story indeed - made worse by the fact that it happened in the 'haven' of school. It's incomprehensible and totally unacceptable.
Posted by: Ann | January 20, 2009 at 12:46 PM
I enjoyed reading your blog.....
God's peace to you.
Deacon Pat
Posted by: Deacon Pat Kearns | January 20, 2009 at 10:32 PM
Thanks Pat--you have a very nice blog as well. I've actually know about it since before your ordination. I especially like the music and your approach to evangelization.
Posted by: Dan Wright | January 20, 2009 at 10:39 PM
It's perhaps the new overreaction of a police state. Long ago, my father held folks hostage whenever he felt like it. I remember the night he was armorially ready for the whole P.D. to come; he promised to go beserk. Nowadays we see a S.W.A.T. going in for a guy threatening to shoot himself! Part of the problem is, most people need to spend more time in physical expenditure preferably outdoors. We all have too much energy to be inside 4 walls all day without our ending up thinking too much.
Anyway, yes, it was a completely stupid reaction. I think I would find the teacher who arranged this treatment for my child, and sit him or her down with spouse and self and principal and make sure all present understood the breadth of such stupidity.
Posted by: Carol | January 22, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Just awful. I find stories like this so disturbing.
Posted by: Pia | January 23, 2009 at 10:25 AM
I agree, Pia. I also find litigation (as an answer) being unnecessary and utterly mercenary. How does that salve any victim? It's just one more if benign form of violence against mankind.
Posted by: Carol | January 23, 2009 at 10:59 AM
I think that too often litigation is seen as the only way to proceed, especially in the US, where it seems to have become customary. I agree with you Carol. I think it should be enough that the story came out and has been made known, so that social awareness to these issues can be promoted. However, there are some situations in which the damage needs to be quantified and there needs to be a mediation between the parts, in particular with reference to the child, who may need to be helped professionally to overcome fears or difficulties springing from a traumatic episode. That costs money and above all, anquish for the families, unfortunately.
Posted by: Pia | January 24, 2009 at 04:16 AM
Carol and Pia, I hear what you're saying about litigation, but please understand that more often than not litigation proceedings in education are not necessarily about getting money. Rather it's an unfortunate fact that in many cases parents feel forced to resort to litigation to insure that their children receive the services they are entitled to by right under laws such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
As a teacher I know the importance of good communication with parents and responsiveness to student needs (as well well as to parent wishes). Schools and teachers must also understand disability and be accepting and tolerant of individual differences. As a parent of a disabled child I know the power of due process.
Posted by: Dan Wright | January 24, 2009 at 02:28 PM