Driver Kicks Autistic Girl Off Schoolbus, Literally | Care2 Causes

Driver Kicks Autistic Girl Off Schoolbus, Literally | Care2 Causes

A Florida school bus driver, Stephanie Wilkerson, has been arrested for literally kicking an autistic girl off her bus.

Yes, the driver actually used her foot to apply force to an 8-year-old student as she was going down the bus’s stairs. The child fell and fractured her ankle. The incident, which was recorded in a surveillance camera, occurred on September 28 after the bus pulled up at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School.

As the Tampa Bay Times says, before the incident, the child was trying to get off the bus and Wilkerson told her to wait her turn. The child reportedly slapped and pushed the driver.

As school district spokesperson Scott Hegarty emphasizes, “It doesn’t matter what preceded [Wilkerson kicking the child]. That kind of behavior is not acceptable.”

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/driver-kicks-autistic-girl-off-schoolbus-literally.html#ixzz2B03wi310

Pathetic: 3 Year-Old Autistic Boy, Soiled, Hungry and Traumatized After 5-Hour Bus Ride Home From School (Bergen Beach, Brooklyn)

Three-Year-Old Autistic Boy, Soiled, Hungry and Traumatized After 5-Hour Bus Ride Home From School | Strollerderby

Last week on the first day of school, three-year-old Levi Vidal from Bergen Beach, Brooklyn who suffers from autism had to endure a five-hour ride home from his school in Manhattan and finally arrived home distraught in a soiled diaper. His mother Serena, was naturally irate, reports the NY Daily News: 

More @ http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2012/09/11/three-year-old-autistic-boy-soiled-hungry-and-traumatized-after-5-hour-bus-ride-home-from-school/

Autistic boy fatally struck on U.S. 60 - News from The Arizona Republic

Autistic boy fatally struck on U.S. 60 - News from The Arizona Republic:

'via Blog this'

Officer urges autism training for first responders | The Columbus Dispatch

Officer urges autism training for first responders | The Columbus Dispatch

Akron Police Sgt. Mark Farrar knows the facts of autism in his head and the pain of autism in his heart. 

With the incidence of autism rising rapidly — 1 in 88 children (and 1 in 54 boys) are born with some form of it — law-enforcement agencies are being affected because, Farrar says, the autistic are seven times as likely as others to come into contact with first responders such as police, fire and paramedics. They also are more likely to be crime victims. 

“We talk about autism in kids as if they mysteriously disappear when they become adults,” Farrar said yesterday at Attorney General Mike DeWine’s “Two Days in May” crime-victims conference in the Hyatt Regency. “Those kids are growing up, becoming adults, living in our communities. We can’t assume first responders know how to deal with them on their own.”

Autism Abuse: Sign Human Rights Petition - Cherry Hill School District: Fire Kelly Altenburg | Change.org

Human Rights Petition: Cherry Hill School District: Fire Kelly Altenburg | Change.org

When Stuart Chaifetz sent his 10-year-old son to New Jersey's Horace Mann Elementary School wearing a hidden audio recorder, he couldn't have predicted what he would uncover.
Akian, who has Autism, returned with a tape containing hours of apparent verbal and emotional abuse from his classroom aide and teacher -- whom Chaifetz identifies as "Jodi" and "Kelly" -- a recording which his father later published on YouTube. 

WATCH VIDEO HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfkscHt96R0 

At various points in the audio recording, you hear the 10-year-old, almost fully non-communicative autistic boy being told to "shut your mouth" and that he "is such a bastard."
And as if that weren't bad enough, his teachers also talk about drinking wine and tell Akian Chaifetz that he won't be seeing his father anytime soon, to which the youngster responds by sounding as if he is going to burst into tears with disappointment and fear.
After Stuart Chaifetz showed the audio recording to school administrators, one aide was fired, but at least two other adults can be heard on the tape, and that is why Chaifetz is taking his case public. He has stated ""To this end, I seek a full and public apology from all those adults who were in my son's class for what they did to him," writes on his website. "It is also far past time that these issues are allowed to be hidden from public view."
**************************************************************************************
No teacher who bullies a child, especially one with special needs, should be allowed to keep their job in the field. With all the evidence against Kelly Altenburg, this petition seeks either her resignment or the termination of any position at Cherry Hill Schools.
**************************************************************************************
Contact Cherry Hill Schools here:
http://www.cherryhill.k12.nj.us/contact/

SIGN PETITION HERE!!!

School Doesn't Fire Accused Autism Abuser

Per earlier post Stuart Chaifetz, Father, Puts Wire On Son With Autism, Records Verbal Abuse From Teachers , contact this school and express your opinion of them keeping accused autism abusing teacher caught on tape ...

Horace Mann Elementary School

Principal: Shilpa Dalal (sdalal@chclc.org)
150 Walt Whitman 
 Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 
 Ph: (856) 428-1144 
 Fax: (856) 428-7168


Kelly Altenburg looks to have been removed from the school's website faculty and staff page, but here's an archived copy from archive.org from last November.   

Ark. police say sibling shooting not accidental - Wire National News - The Sacramento Bee

Ark. police say sibling shooting not accidental - Wire National News - The Sacramento Bee

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Police said Wednesday that a 9-year-old girl pulled the trigger in the fatal shooting of her 7-year-old brother while their parents were briefly away from their Arkansasapartment.
The shooting on Monday afternoon was not an accident, Little Rock Police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said, but he declined to comment any further. Hastings' remarks come a day after a police spokeswoman said the girl shot her brother and then backtracked to say only that the girl was responsible for the shooting.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/14/4337221/ark-police-say-sibling-shooting.html#storylink=cpy
More @ http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/14/4337221/ark-police-say-sibling-shooting.html

video released of missing boy with autism creek rescue

Footage released of missing boy's creek rescue

When the Nine News crew spotted Ryan Pham he was naked and shivering as he waded through some reeds on the opposite side of a fast-flowing creek, apparently about to attempt a crossing.

"Ryan, just wait there, mate," cameraman Glenn Edwards called out.

"It's alright buddy, we're getting your mum."

But the autistic seven-year-old boy, who had been missing since the previous night, appeared not to heed the message — so Edwards dived into the muddy creek and swam across to his rescue.

Full footage of the heroics, which unfolded this morning at the Kororoit Creek in the Melbourne suburb of Albanvale, can be seen above.

Edwards and a news crew were driving down a dirt track around 11am (AEST) when they spotted the boy, about 2km from his Springvale home.

"He was so cold he was nearly blue," Mr Edwards said.

More @ http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8426490/footage-released-of-missing-boys-creek-rescue

Disabled Boy Falls Down Garbage Chute, Dies In Gold Coast « CBS Chicago

Disabled Boy Falls Down Garbage Chute, Dies In Gold Coast « CBS Chicago: "Manley’s family first discovered he was missing when an alarm system at their home indicated a door was ajar, the Sun-Times Media Wire reported.

The family called police, and Manley was eventually found inside the building’s trash compactor. Police believe he fell down the garbage chute 46 floors."

'via Blog this'

Boy with autism, 15, shot to death by police

Family: Boy, 15, shot to death after attacking police had autism disorder - chicagotribune.com

A 15-year-old boy who suffered from an autism disorder was shot and killed by police in his Calumet City home after he threatened officers and cut one of them with a knife, police and the boy's family said.

Missing autistic teenager found in good spirits - Alamogordo Daily News

Missing autistic teenager found in good spirits - Alamogordo Daily News

An autistic 15-year-old El Paso boy is back home safe Monday with his family after he went missing from his family members at White Sands National Monument while they were sledding on the sand dunes Sunday.

Monument spokeswoman Becky Wiles said Angelo Baca was found walking around 10:15 a.m. in the sand dune field carrying his round pink sled by an Air Force Black Hawk helicopter out of Kirtland Air Force Base. Baca had been missing for about 19 hours.

"He was found in good health and spirits," Wiles said. "He was walking in the dunes approximately six miles from the point he was last seen. He was flown to the command post and reunited with his family. He was waving friendly to the helicopter. He was hungry and thirsty."

Mother remembers autistic child killed after running into traffic - Bakersfield.com

Mother remembers autistic child killed after running into traffic - Bakersfield.com

There was a time about eight years ago when doctors weren't sure if David DeSantiago would ever learn how to communicate with others or perform simple functions after he was diagnosed as autistic.

But David thrived under therapy and ended up interacting well with family, played sports and even made a couple of friends -- something that is often difficult for autistic children to do.

"He was so full of love," said David's mother, Lorie Stewart.

David, 11, was killed Jan. 6 after he was struck by a pickup while crossing Brundage Lane. He was hit in the No. 2 westbound lane, Bakersfield police reported. The case remains under investigation.

Stewart said at her south Bakersfield home Thursday that she and David had just parked at the Society for Disabled Children and she was getting two of her other kids out of her vehicle. She thought David, as usual, had run inside the building.

She said she had no idea he had instead run across Brundage. David was crossing back over when he was hit, she said.

Stewart heard the impact. She heard a man yell "It's a kid, it's a kid!" and she called 911, not knowing it was her own child lying in the street.

She walked over to see if she could help.

"The worst frickin' nightmare of my life," Stewart said. "It was David."

more @ http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1275887702/Mother-remembers-autistic-child-killed-after-running-into-traffic