Handcuffed at School
Published January 14, 2009 @ 02:00AM PT
On an 8-year-old girl with Asperger's Syndrome because she wanted to attend a Christmas party wearing a cow sweatshirt? From yesterday's KXLY.com in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, about Evelyn Towry, a third grader at Kootenai Elementary:
"She wanted to attend a Christmas party in her cow sweatshirt and they told her she couldn't that she would have to tuck the tail in and put ears down and she dug her heels in the way she does quite often and said she wouldn't take it off," Evelyn's mom Spring said.
Spring says that when Evelyn tried to leave anyway two teachers restrained her, which is when Evelyn began kicking, pinching and spitting on the teachers.
"Well, I kicked because I was upset they were holding me down and I got thumb bruises on me," Evelyn said.
School officials then called the police and Evelyn's mom. When Spring got to school to pick her daughter up police were already escorting Evelyn in handcuffs out of the building and into a police cruiser. Police then took her to a local juvenile detention center where she stayed for an hour, after which she was allowed to go home.
Some school district needs a wake-up fast.........
Photo by And-rey.
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Comments (17)
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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I'd say handcuffing was a bit extreme for an 8-year-old. However, I do believe she needs to be punished for kicking, pinching, and spitting on the teachers when being restrained.
Posted by Neal Tody on 01/14/2009 @ 05:21AM PT
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As one who has spent 27 years as a teacher of an autistic population that were teenagers when I began working and now are all approacking or have hit age 50, I am concerned with the treatment of this autistic person.
But most people do not realize that in the late 1970s and early 80s, tieing the autistic clients hands behind them with soft cloth called "poseys" and locking them in "time out closets" for 20 minutes, checked, and if their behavior had not improved, another 20 monutes....
In essence, these seemingly Draconian practices where the norm ony 20-25 years ago. Today much more humane ways are used to control their violence toward other clients and staff and most importantly to themselves, SIB, has made it harder and much more expensive to care for these people.
I work with some clients that need a minimum of 2 staff to work exclusively with them; some 3 or 4 staff. I have 27 scars from human bites as well as hundreds of injuries from punches, kicks and objects being thrown at me.
I love these people like family and can not understand why after 3 years, our salaries top off. We did not even get a 2% cost of living increase last year. I make 1 dollar an hour more than I did in 1987! Most of our full time workers like myself are on some sort of state relief because our pay falls below the national poverty level. If I did not get my home heating oil paid by the state and recieved food vouchers from the city, I would not be able to sustain the lower income life I live.
The quality of worker has gone downhill due to this and this, of course endangers the autistic clients. The government needs to address this before large state institutions again become the norm rather than the group home system that allows our clients much more care and love and integrates the families of our clients into their daily routines.
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Posted by Tom Romano on 01/14/2009 @ 05:30AM PT
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Personnel at the school demonstrated a clear lack of understanding of this child, and escalated an inconsequential situation into a major issue. After the school personnel caused the situation to escalate, the child was blamed. This is wrong. Anyone familiar with ASD knows that it is a bad idea to set up a power struggle, and that is exactly what these people did - for no reason.
It really shouldn't have mattered what shirt she was wearing, and if it did, the issue should not have been brought up just before she was expected to respond to it - that gave her no time to adjust to the new (and to her, negative) demands. She would have needed to have time to process this demand, possibly have a social story gone through, told when she could have her shirt back ... Refusing to take off a shirt is certainly not a reason to restrain a child! She was not causing any injury to herself or anyone else by refusing to remove her shirt - it was only after they were restraining her, and BECAUSE they were restraining her, that she became somewhat violent. For the school to cause the violent outburst and then to call the police because of it is so wrong, and such a violation for this child. If I were her parent, I would be afraid to leave her in their care, ever. They are clearly happy to provoke her and punish her for her responses. That is cruel and could cause long term damage to the child.
Posted by Judy T on 01/14/2009 @ 06:27AM PT
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Arresting her seems completely unnecessary, I think.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/national_world&id=6603633
And the teachers and school staff need to have much more training about how to address such a situation-----Judy, thank you for the suggestions.
A hooded sweatshirt is an essential part of my son's wardrode. He likes the hood pulled over his head; along with the material, I think it provides a kind of "protection" and security for him amid all the sensory stimuli in the world. Having it taken off of him, and too quickly off of him, could be very upsetting.
Posted by Kristina Chew on 01/14/2009 @ 12:01PM PT
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This is a terrible situation that is unfortunately, not uncommon. Autistic children are being held to a different standard for their behavior. This entire situation could have been avoided if they let the girl wear her cow costume. I mean seriously, were they just embarrassed that she was wearing a cow sweatshirt? These people need to have some tolerance for autistic expression instead trying to make them like all the other kids.
Posted by Dana Commandatore on 01/14/2009 @ 02:28PM PT
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If the school allowed the child to go to school with the cow shirt, then basically what they did was to say she was allowed to do ANYTHING at the school with the cow shirt. It's a legal term called condonation. If they hadn't let her in the door with it on, they'd have a leg to stand on. But they didn't. So now they are basically guilty of child abuse. Sucks to be them.
The district is toast, and I bet they settle out of court for Big Money.
Posted by Moi Bloggg on 01/14/2009 @ 05:43PM PT
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Will be watching........
Posted by Kristina Chew on 01/14/2009 @ 09:26PM PT
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If that happened to Chris the school and police department had better having some good lawyers... that's rediculous!!!
Posted by Erin Monk on 01/15/2009 @ 01:57PM PT
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If that happened to Chris the school and police department had better have some good lawyers... that's rediculous!!!
Posted by Erin Monk on 01/15/2009 @ 01:58PM PT
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I look forward to finding out how much the district pays to either bribe the parent or the judge to make this go away...
Posted by Marc Rosen on 01/15/2009 @ 02:04PM PT
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The battery charges against Evelyn Towry have been dropped.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/01/16/america/Child-Charges-Dropped.php
Posted by Kristina Chew on 01/15/2009 @ 10:10PM PT
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Wow, I live just an hour away from where this happened and didn't see it covered on the local news...at all. They must be trying to keep it quiet. This is disgraceful. There is no good reason why she couldn't wear that shirt. The teachers were bullying her, and as such, she had the right to defend herself. That's my take on it.
Posted by Jennifer Leaf on 01/16/2009 @ 08:44PM PT
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Please remember in reading this story how one-sided it is, with most of the material provided by an 8-year-old affected by Asperger's. Her perception may not be the exact truth as seen by others.
She was asked to tuck in the tail and ears of her hoodie, (not remove it apparently) which may well have been for safety's sake. What if some other child had pulled it and she fell, cracking her head open on a desk? Many schools have hoodie restrictions for safety reasons (choking etc).
According to other reports the child had already recently been disciplined for throwing snow into another child's face, and the day before the incident, had kicked a teacher. The person who wanted the charges filed was her own special ed teacher. There is definitely more going on than this story tells.
I also have to ask what sort of family splashes their child all over the media such as they did. Every freak on earth now knows her name, where she lives, and what she looks like. There's a reason the media normally doesn't release the names of minors. For their protection. And of course, this will follow her around for a long time. Even if she eventually can be mainstreamed better, goes on to live within society in a relatively autonomous way, any potential employer can google her name and see what a disruption she once was. I hope the attention and potential windfall is worth it.
Posted by Toni Powers on 01/21/2009 @ 06:29PM PT
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If the girl did get in trouble before, then this is probably personal. The school labels her a bad kid, and looks for any reason to punish her. The charges are a joke. An 8 year old against two adults? Please. Anyone with an ounce of competence could have handled the situation. There is no excuse for this violence.
Oh wait, she's autistic. Well, that's alright then.
Posted by Check Mate on 01/22/2009 @ 11:08AM PT
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It's never alright. Did you know that it's a law in most states, that when a physical altercation occurs, the police are to be called? There's definitely something wrong there when 8-year-olds are carted off, especially autistic children. What it says is that there aren't enough resources to help such children. Either that or the parents want their child mainstreamed so much, they ignore the problems. I don't know, nor does the story give any hints. It's quite possible that it was personal at that point, perhaps the school was frustrated, or they're just lousy people. However, it wasn't about a hoodie. That seems obvious. And my point still stands that the poor kid got raked through the press, when her privacy should have been the most important... to everybody.
Posted by Toni Powers on 01/24/2009 @ 12:53PM PT
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There have been other reports of autistic children being handcuffed at school. There are certainly other methods to assist them when things happen to warrant such----here's another story about another child who this happened to.
http://www.autismvox.com/handcuffs-in-middle-school/
Posted by Kristina Chew on 01/24/2009 @ 01:07PM PT
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I'm 35 years old, and I have Aspergers. And I do remember how it feels like at school being labelled "A bad child".
A lot of comments i've read do have arguements from both sides, yet without knowing what it feels like to go through it, you will never understand how the girl felt.
Inside you know you're different, but you try to get along with everyone - but because you don't understand the simple rules of society - you always end up doing something that offends people. You feel bad inside, you get labelled bad. In one word - misunderstood.
Let's look at it from the teachers point of view. A "disruptive" pupil is wearing clothes that you deem "inappropriate", so you tell them to tidy it up and get met with resistance. This is still school, so the pupil should do what they're told.
Yup, Teachers are people too, and sometimes they get it wrong. And in my experience, a LOT of my teachers disliked me - because aside of my "unruly" behaviour, I was smarter than most of the other kids, and the occasional teacher, but I lacked "Focus".
Obviously this poor girl has that label, the teachers did'nt have patience. That is the facts.
Ever had a dream where everyone is against you, and you're constantly trying to survive and run but can't always get away ? Try living that every day because that what it feels like, especially at a young age.
And now, I can imagine the girl feels like a real outcast. Being forcably removed and shackled for wearing a top that gives you that sense of security you need - that's a clear message "Do what you're told or else". I feel bad for the child, because her answer would be like mine "Try it" - and that's a nasty road she's forced to travel. I just hope that someone can reach her and help her to understand that the worlds not always like that before the damage takes it's toll.
Posted by Ewen Gillies on 03/10/2009 @ 05:42AM PT
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