School Put A 9 Year Old Autistic Kid In A Duffel Bag For Acting Out

A 9-year-old autistic boy who misbehaved at school was stuffed into a duffel bag and the drawstring pulled tight, according to his mother, who said she found him wiggling inside as a teacher's aide stood by. The mother of fourth-grader Christopher Baker said her son called out to her when she walked up to him in the bag Dec. 14. The case has spurred an online petition calling for the firing of school employees responsible.

"He was treated like trash and thrown in the hallway," Chris' mother, Sandra Baker, said Thursday. She did not know how exactly how long he had been in the bag, but probably not more than 20 minutes.

Chris is a student at Mercer County Intermediate School in Harrodsburg in central Kentucky. The day had barely begun when his family was called to the school because Chris was acting up. He is enrolled in a program for students with special needs. Walking toward his classroom, Baker's mother saw the gym bag. There was a small hole at the top, she said, and she heard a familiar voice. "Momma, is that you?" Chris said, according to his mother. A teacher's aide was there, and Baker demanded that her son be released. At first, the aide struggled to undo the drawstring, but the boy was pulled out of the bag, which had some small balls inside and resembled a green Army duffel bag, Baker said. "When I got him out of the bag, his poor little eyes were as big as half dollars and he was sweating," Baker said. "I tried to talk to him and get his side of the reason they put him in there, and he said it was because he wouldn't do his work."

I don't care if this kid was acting out. Number one, he's autistic. Number two, that is not how you discipline a child, ever.

What is happening to this country? A large portion of the people in authoritative positions seem to lack even basic common sense. Stuffing a kid in a duffel bag? Seriously? How about dealing with it in a more mature way. Why is good judgement so hard to find these days?

news.yahoo.com...

I don't care if this kid was acting out. Number one, he's autistic. Number two, that is not how you discipline a child, ever.

What is happening to this country? A large portion of the people in authoritative positions seem to lack even basic common sense. Stuffing a kid in a duffel bag? Seriously? How about dealing with it in a more mature way. Why is good judgement so hard to find these days?

Yes, what is happening to this country, because it seems like it's a cycle of hurt and law suits. Seems to be the way people can only make a decent buck these days.

Whoever did this to this child is sick, sick, sick, sick.....

This is unfortunately the country we live in.

I'm thinking about this more,because it's absolutely horrible, and I really feel for this child. I cannot believe they have a so called "therapy bag" which they've been putting him in. This was not the first time. Maybe there are experts here who know more about autism, and I;d like to ask if locking a child in a duffel bag is the best form of treatment? I'd think obviously, it isn't.

Originally posted by MysticPearl
What is happening to this country? A large portion of the people in authoritative positions seem to lack even basic common sense. Stuffing a kid in a duffel bag? Seriously? How about dealing with it in a more mature way. Why is good judgement so hard to find these days?

i think you missed a key word here... "Kentucky"

if you lived anywhere near it, it would explain a lot.

reply to post by MysticPearl


While not autistic, I was once stuffed in a storage locker for acting out. The paramedics arrived just in time because I was already unconscious from lack of oxygen.

This was in the 1960's and it made the news where we lived.

I both can and cannot believe this type of behavior still exists.

I guess it all depends on how the abuser was raised. Yep, it's almost 2012.......

That is absolutely horrible. I read a lot of thread on ATS about students being treated badly by either teacher/police. While I hope these are the exceptions, there is no excuse for them. Anyone who treats a child like this should automatically be fired and charges should be pressed.

And as a special needs teacher you should know how to handle misbehaving; any teacher should be able to handle it, actually.

I will be un-schooling my kids when I have them. Not only for this reason, but it definitely plays a part.

That is horrible. Truly cruel and ignorant.
However if you hear of a special needs Teacher squishing
a child between two bean bags, please remember
they say that is a quite effective treatment for calming
an overstimulated autistic child. And it's normally
the child asking for the squish because of it's
grounding effect.

I see things like this, and always my first thought is: Even if these people are not trained, and even if they don't have trained staff onsite to deal with these kids--goddammit, that's what the internet is for! You can get--for free!--the methods of brilliant behaviorists stretching from here to doomsday. Just Google it, for god's sake. There have GOT to be better ideas available than stuffing kids in duffel bags! Seriously--what a bunch of idiots....

Is this real? Am I still on Earth?

reply to post by MysticPearl


Dear MysticPearl,

50+ and autistic here. Things haven't changed much and certainly not for the better. In first grade I spent more time in the hall than in the class and that was just for saying what I thought. Back then, "acting up" or deciding for yourself what you would and would not go along with got you spanked, in class, in front of all of the other students. I got disciplined for knowing more than the teachers about certain things. School is about learning to work with others and we don't like to and we are stubborn.

Autism does not mean you have a low IQ, though people with low IQs can be autistic. It is like color blindness, people can have it with all different IQs. Those of us who are smart are said to have Asperger's Syndrome. They used to classify autism as a disease. When you start by looking at people who see the world differently than you as diseased, the world has truly become sick. Obviously, I am not accusing you of any such thing, merely ranting at the attitude that can lead to people being treated like this child. Autism is a refusal to lie to yourself, it is seeing the world for what it is and being incapable of making up lies to justify it. We are often blunt because we cannot understand the constant lies.

That was an explanation of us; but, the autistic also have to learn to work with others and to appreciate others even if we see them as liars and easily manipulated. The autistic have to have empathy for "normal" people and understand that they need other people's acceptance, that it has value. Restraining autistic people only enrages them for life, "training" them only fails. What the schools need to do is tell the truth and explain to the autistic that people are flawed and works in progress running at a different speed.

You might be wondering where this is going. When people hear of things like this and have an autistic child, they will consider home schooling or putting their child in a special school or special needs class. That is bad for both the child and the other school children because we don't learn to work with each other and there are a lot more autistic kids today (more than 1 in a 100) then when I was in school (1 in 10,000). The best thing my parents ever did for me was not let me skip grades, they made me grow up with people my own age. Was it hard, yes, was it annoying, yes and did it keep me from getting out of school quicker, yes; but, it also forced me to observe the stages of growth in others. Anger turns to empathy when you understand that others don't understand you at all.

Someone on this site said I was pro Autism and I am. I would not trade in my autism for being "normal" for anything. I like seeing the world through my eyes and not the garbage group think that you find in the mass media or even in the alternative media. I am also thankful everyday for my deceased mother who forced me to interact with people who were not autistic because I came to have sympathy for them. Their lives may be easier in some ways; but, I would hate to have to go along with any crowd just because. Peace.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


The boy seems to be doing well, Thank God, but once again, this country is sad.

Not only will the teachers and authorities be fired, hopefully, but...

There will be a lawsuit.

What the heck is wrong with this country?

Why should there even be an excuse for something like this?

reply to post by AQuestion


Thank you for your reply.

The entire world needs to be more tolerant of each other, and I don't mean just people with autism.

Who knows, maybe I am and was never diagnosed?

I spent a lot of time in the hallway too, throughout my years at school for saying what was on my mind. So you doing that certainly did not make you any different, in my book.

I also have an extremely high IQ.

It is unfortunate that this happened and sad. With the rise is autistic children it should be time the school boards where better equipped or open more schools dedicated to these children. Or more parents should seriously consider home schooling if the school boards won't address a growing trend of special needs children .

There is a petition for their firing? Forget that. This would be an open and shut criminal case, and should be taken to that level.

I used to do the exact job that this person does, only with middle schoolers. There is no situation, ever, where this is tolerable activity.

Can someone educate me a bit? Just a quick recap of what I think I know:
When my grandma, who is 65 was a kid her teachers would hit kids on the fingers with pencils.. (i think you can see this in the show Little House on the Prarie)... after a while people got mad and said "we should be the only ones to spank our children!" so .. for a while (like when I was in school) (i graduated 2002) teachers would get in big trouble for even touching a kid sometimes..

now.. I hear many reports of teachers and cops treating kids like adults, hand cuffing, getting them in trouble for waving pizza shaped like a 'gun... when did this change occur? Some may say the net just makes these things more known.. but the net has been around now a decent amount of years but only it seems this year reports are going way up.

reply to post by AQuestion


terrifically put!

I was in the same situation early on which led to getting paddled in the hall frequently. this teacher liked hitting me soo much she tried like hell to get me held behind although I tested at the top of my class.

as frustrating as it can be when your a parent. and when a child isn't yours it's a lot more difficult to handle. the truth is these are teachers this is there job. they should be able to handle the issue with out resulting to treatment that would get you attacked by PETA if it was a dog.

simply if i walked in and found my son tied in a bag there would be some serious issues at hand . cause personally that would not and will not happen. that's what they have detention rooms for and parents.

i wouldn't be able to hold back i would fold the teacher up and stick them in it see how they like it

Originally posted by wingsfan
reply to post by AQuestion

 

terrifically put!

I was in the same situation early on which led to getting paddled in the hall frequently. this teacher liked hitting me soo much she tried like hell to get me held behind although I tested at the top of my class.

Dear wingsfan,

On the first day of a class on "women's studies" we were told that we had X minutes to list as many famous women in history as we could. I had three times the number of the person with the next correct answer. The teacher had me name them off, I got to Matoaka and the teacher assumed that I made the name up and I explained that it was Pocahontas' real name, I was thrown out of the class immediately. I asked why and was told that "You know why". It could have cost me my high school diploma; but, I had aced every other class and only needed one class to graduate and had the next semester to do it. The autistic are outliers and we don't fit the model, the idea of how people can think because we think for ourselves. There is a cost associated with that; but, the price is worth it. If the world can accept gays, bi-polar, body piercing and even people who think the queen is a lizard alien, then I think they should be willing to accept us too. Peace. By the way, not saying any of those comparisons is bad, I don't think we, the autistic, are bad, just different.

Originally posted by wingsfan
reply to post by AQuestion

 

terrifically put!

I was in the same situation early on which led to getting paddled in the hall frequently. this teacher liked hitting me soo much she tried like hell to get me held behind although I tested at the top of my class.

Dear wingsfan,

On the first day of a class on "women's studies" we were told that we had X minutes to list as many famous women in history as we could. I had three times the number of the person with the next correct answer. The teacher had me name them off, I got to Matoaka and the teacher assumed that I made the name up and I explained that it was Pocahontas' real name, I was thrown out of the class immediately. I asked why and was told that "You know why". It could have cost me my high school diploma; but, I had aced every other class and only needed one class to graduate and had the next semester to do it. The autistic are outliers and we don't fit the model, the idea of how people can think because we think for ourselves. There is a cost associated with that; but, the price is worth it. If the world can accept gays, bi-polar, body piercing and even people who think the queen is a lizard alien, then I think they should be willing to accept us too. Peace. By the way, not saying any of those comparisons is bad, I don't think we, the autistic, are bad, just different.

This is just absolutely disgusting. They did it more than once as well!

What bothers me is that they were not fired right away. I mean, they need to lose their job. Be charged with child abuse and so much more.


This is just simply gross....

I really don't even know what else to say.....

I am going to look for that petition. Though I think it sucks that one needs to even be passed around......