Dad releases audio of teachers allegedly bullying autistic son

[Bill Cosby]

VERY POWERFUL YOUTUBE

15 hrs ago
Watch this powerful video of a dad describing how his 10-year-old, autistic son was bullied at school -- not by other students, but by aides and teachers. Suspicious about why Akian was acting out, Stuart Chaifetz wired up his son and recorded 6-1/2 hours of classroom audio. He describes what he heard as "disgusting and vile ... an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son." He says the recording includes adults calling Akian a "bastard" and telling him to "shut your mouth." One aide at New Jersey's Horace Mann Elementary School has reportedly been fired, but Chaifetz wants the teacher out, an apology and legislative action "so that no teacher who bullies a child ... is allowed to retain a job."

[skye]

Oh...this is so heartbreaking and shocking. I only watched the first 10 minutes but that was enough. I've worked with kids who have Autism and I've never seen anything like this before. The teacher and aides need to be fired and never allowed in a classroom again. And the school district needs to look into their hiring practices for aides and special ed teachers. The teacher needed to be responsible for her classroom and she should have known what was going on. No excuse for this kind of behavior.

[kres24GT]

When you put your kids in government schools got to take the good with the bad. Teachers are obviously assholes, but also why is a public elementary school serving as a taxpayer funded daycare for a child who clearly needs special care and attention?

[Bill Cosby]

Oh...this is so heartbreaking and shocking. I only watched the first 10 minutes but that was enough. I've worked with kids who have Autism and I've never seen anything like this before. The teacher and aides need to be fired and never allowed in a classroom again. And the school district needs to look into their hiring practices for aides and special ed teachers. The teacher needed to be responsible for her classroom and she should have known what was going on. No excuse for this kind of behavior.

Yea, it was difficult to watch/hear.......... I had to do it in segments as I was getting angry.........

[skye]

When you put your kids in government schools got to take the good with the bad. Teachers are obviously assholes, but also why is a public elementary school serving as a taxpayer funded daycare for a child who clearly needs special care and attention?

Because all kids deserve the right to an education. He was in a special ed class for children who have Autism and they should have been able to meet his needs in a public school setting considering he's typically not an aggressive kid. If the school district can't serve special needs kids then they need to pay for them to go to a facility that can....private day treatment etc...

[skye]

Yea, it was difficult to watch/hear.......... I had to do it in segments as I was getting angry.........

It's very disturbing. I've never personally seen this kind of behavior in a special ed classroom setting but I'm sure it happens a lot. I have see some really unprofessional behavior coming out of some group and foster homes.

[kres24GT]

Because all kids deserve the right to an education. He was in a special ed class for children who have Autism and they should have been able to meet his needs in a public school setting considering he's typically not an aggressive kid. If the school district can't serve special needs kids then they need to pay for them to go to a facility that can....private day treatment etc...

Sounds like this school was not equipped for such. From the looks of it dad dumped him in a school that could not handle him as tax payer daycare. Doesn't sound like he was getting educated very well, so I would say he probably should be somewhere where that can happen.

[skye]

Sounds like this school was not equipped for such. From the looks of it dad dumped him in a school that could not handle him as tax payer daycare. Doesn't sound like he was getting educated very well, so I would say he probably should be somewhere where that can happen.

First...his dad didn't dump him there any more than any other parent dumps their child when they go to school. Public schools should be able to serve special needs kids in their special ed programs as long as the kid isn't aggressive and in most cases this child wasn't. That's why schools have such programs and school districts receive extra money for them. If he had been aggressive and they couldn't handle him in that kind of a classroom setting then the school should have been responsible for getting him a one to one aide or sending him to a private facility. There is no excuse for what happened and none of this is the dad's fault.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/iep.html#

[kres24GT]

First...his dad didn't dump him there any more than any other parent dumps their child when they go to school. Public schools should be able to serve special needs kids in their special ed programs as long as the kid isn't aggressive and in most cases this child wasn't. That's why schools have such programs and school districts receive extra money for them. If he had been aggressive and they couldn't handle him in that kind of a classroom setting then the school should have been responsible for getting him a one to one aide or sending him to a private facility. There is no excuse for what happened and none of this is the dad's fault.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/iep.html#

Lots of parents dump their kids in school as a babysitting service. Not just ones that have disabilities. Plenty of parents don't give a shit about the education of their kids, hence the shitty state of education in this country.

Should be able to and are able to are two different things. Teachers are definitely shitheads who should be fired. Dad should have done his homework though. It sounds like his kid was in a school where he was being yelled at instead of being educated.

[Bill Cosby]

Sounds like this school was not equipped for such. From the looks of it dad dumped him in a school that could not handle him as tax payer daycare. Doesn't sound like he was getting educated very well, so I would say he probably should be somewhere where that can happen.

Does that mean you didn't actually watch/listen to the clip???