ASD teacher accused of abusing autistic student

[Steerpike]

[link:http://www.ktva.com/story/38965096/asd-teacher-accused-of-abusing-autistic-student|

An Anchorage School District (ASD) teacher is accused of abusing an autistic child at Ptarmigan Elementary School in May.

According to a public criminal complaint document, Lynn Sherwood, 53, is charged with one misdemeanor count of child abuse for an incident in which she allegedly pushed an 8-year-old boy back into a doorway

Parents Nicholas and Katherine Armon identified that student as their son, now 9-year-old Austin Armon, who they describe as a high functioning autistic student attending classes in an integrated classroom.

[Steerpike]

1. A very difficult position to be put in...

What were the options for this poor teacher? My special needs daughter has been punched in the face twice in the last few years by out of control boys. When the actions reach the level of concern for the safety of other kids even the autistic need to be shut down.
Seems like she did the best she could...

[marble falls]

3. Did you read this part of the story?

That's when Katherine says surveillance video shows Sherwood stepping in.

"At that point, she just walks up and grabs him by the shoulder of his hoodie and yanks him out of line, pushes him up against the wall, at that point he's hitting her and kicking her, trying to get her to let go of him," said Katherine.

She says the video shows Sherwood pulling Austin down the hallway as his meltdown continues to escalate, then just before the questionable action takes place, Sherwood steps away from Austin and appears to be trying to call for help.

"At that point, she turns around and charges him into a corner where the door jam ended up bruising the back of his head and his back," said Katherine, demonstrating a pushing motion with both hands, later adding. "When she charges him into that corner, I mean you can see him drop to the floor."

According to the charging document, Austin was too upset to be examined by the school nurse but was later seen by a doctor at Alaska Pediatric Night Clinic.

"[The pediatrician] described the injuries to [Austin] as Bruising along his T9-T12 Vertebrae and Bruising on the occipital portion of his head. [...] [The pediatrician] reported that the injuries would make sense with an adult pushing [Austin] against the wall," Anchorage Police Officer Frey wrote in the charging document.

"The principal called him into the office to tell her what happened while we were sitting there and our initial thought was, 'There's no way this happened,' but it wasn't until the principal looked at the camera video and she called me and said, 'He was right,' and we actually had to apologize to him because we didn't initially believe him," said Katherine.

[Steerpike]

4. as i said

My daughter attends asd as a special needs child and has been assaulted twice by out of control kids...my daughter is not a punching bag for out of control little boys...that's all i'm saying...also this teacher is widely known to be a caring and gentle person. I live here...

[kimbutgar]

2. I have an autistic son and work in an elementary class with kids on the spectrum

Sometimes they get so aggressive and destructive you have to restrain them. The meltdowns continue on. One kids was asked to scoot over because another child was touching him. The person said it in a calm voice and this little guy went off on a one hour meltdown over being told to scoot over. We had to remove him and he kept it up for quite some time. Finally he calmed down because he got tired.

My son used to and still does at times have major meltdowns where you have to get physical with him to stop. I think the child in Alaska was having one of those meltdowns and the teacher overreacted.