Parents give nonverbal child a voice when suspecting abuse in special education classroom

June 15, 11:47 PMChicago Special Education ExaminerKindall Nelson

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When Stefan's mother had a suspicion that something was wrong at her son's school, she didn't just let it go. She followed her gut and her common sense and was horrified at what she found.

Stefan, who is nonverbal and autistic, had just transferred to a new Atlanta school in August of 2008, and right away things just didn't seem to be going well. In early September he came home with ripped shorts, bloody scratches and bruises on his body. The school claimed that they were self inflicted, but this was like nothing Stefan's parents had ever seen before.

From that day on Stefan's behavior got worse and continued to do so, seemingly without reason. Carolyn, Stefan's mother, repeatedly spoke with school officials but got no response.

Finally, feeling she had no other options, Carolyn sewed a microphone the size of a quarter into the back of Stefan's shirt and sent him to school. It was October 21, 2008 and it was the last day Stefan attended school there.

As his father, Marcelo, undressed him to put him into the shower that night, he saw bruises up and down Stefan's legs.

Stefan's parents put him to bed and listened to the tape. They were sickened by what they heard. Teachers and aids talked about sex and alcohol, made fun of Stefan while he ate food out of the trash, and then yelling and threatening the child to be quiet before receiving what sounds like an 18-second beating.

They called Atlanta police and the DFACS, but neither could or would do anything about the abuse. The only reason the case saw the inside of a courtroom was that the Ferrari's sued Atlanta Public Schools for suggesting Stefan be placed there when remodeling removed his previous school as an option for him.

At the end of the trial the judge ruled that the school was negligent in reprimanding its employees for misbehavior. He called the abuse appalling. He also said that it wasn't clear on the audio tape who was doing the beating and who was saying what to Stefan. So, while he found that the injuries were inflicted with a hand or other object being held by an adult, no adults were charged.

This means those adults are still free to teach.

Stefan has since been enrolled at a private school and, according to his mother, has done amazingly well since the change.

You can read more about this story and what happened in the courtroom here.

If you have a story that you want heard, please email Kindall Nelson at specialeducationexaminer@gmail.com

See Also:
Parents are key to prevention of abuse in special education classrooms

Corporal punishment of special education students crosses the line to child abuse

Click here if you would like to read the 65 page report from the Government Accountability Office.

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