Stuart Chaifetz Secretly Tapes His Autistic Son at School, Discovers He's Being Bullied by Teachers

When his 10-year-old son, Akian, started getting into trouble at school, Stuart Chaifetz was stunned. The notes from Horace Mann Elementary School in Cherry Hill, N.J., said that Akian, who has autism, was having violent outbursts and hitting his teacher and his aide -- behavior that the boy had never exhibited before. "The morning of February 17, I put a wire on my son, and I sent him to school," Chaifetz says in a video he created to showcase the audio clips. "What I heard on that audio was so disgusting, vile, and just an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son, that happened not by other children, but by his teacher, and the aides -- the people who were supposed to protect him. They were literally making my son's life a living hell." The recordings are raw and intense. Angry adults yell at kids to "shut up," "shut your mouth," and "knock it off." Adults have inappropriate personal conversations in front of the children, discussing how drunk they were the night before, complaining about their husbands, and talking in detail about adult issues. More than once, an adult goads Akian to the point of tears -- and then laughs at him. "Go ahead and scream," one adult hisses menacingly at Akian. "Because guess what? You're going to get nothing… until your mouth is shut." And later: "Oh, Akian, you are a bastard."

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This makes me utterly sick to my stomach, has the quality of educators gone down so far low?
I'm not suprised

reply to post by HomerinNC


I feel sorry for this child and all the other children which have been hurt by this teacher.

I wonder just how common this type of behavior is in special needs schools and classes.

The level of neglect and abuse is staggering. I am glad that the "Jodi" women mentioned was fired, but I am livid at the fact that the majority of those involved are still teaching.

reply to post by Openeye


thats the frakkin unions for you

The teachers are in the wrong business if they cannot handle the stress of the job. Sad they treat the children this way; I am happy the father found out.

This makes me so glad we choose to send my brother (down-syndrome) to a regular school. Surrounded by others who can see the injustice if it should occur. This just makes me sick.
I don't know how it is in handled in other countries but if possible I would recommend doing so for everybody. I have 3 points to reason my view on this (we are talking elementary school here).

Kids having problems as down-syndrome and autism/asberger (and generally all kids) learn more from their surroundings and other children than the actual teaching process.

Other children with down-syndrome I've met on regional gatherings with my brother I noticed that more often than not the kids going to a regular school had a small but noticeable advantage in areas as social, language and right/wrong understanding. And even more important, other families also expressed the gratitude towards feedback from the minds of the classmates.

Many will point to the extra stress on the teachers and classmates, but I can reassure you that although this may happen in some cases in many cases it may not. But I would argue the consequences are less severe if it does not work and at least you will get feedback on the situation so that you at least know what problem your dealing with to better address the issue.
Based on first hand experience from both my brother's situation, multiple individuals at my school (back when) and actually being one myself (luckily unnoticeable to most).

NB! I understand there are situations where schools are so big that this is not applicable (such schools should not exist in my opinion).

reply to post by HomerinNC


OMG, that is heartbreaking. I am sitting here crying after watching that video. All teachers and aides in that classroom, on that audio making fun of him, treating him badly, etc should be fired! No question about it.

I applaude the father for handling this the way he is. He isn't suing anyone, he doesn't want their money. He wants justice for his son in the form of an apology and consequences for those involved. Bravo to him!

Anyone who treats a child that way - autistic/disabled or not - should not be working with children.

There will probably be charges filed in this case. Against the parent who did the videotaping. That's just the wickedly corrupt society we live in.

If anyone wonders how people heard in the video are able to keep their jobs, it's the teachers unions.

Scary stuff, I have one boy, the youngest, who has both fragile-x and autistic tendency. (another two have fragile-x) He would totally be unable to articulate to us, any events like this man's boy went through. It's the mocking that is most shocking, but the casual use of cursing is pretty grim, it's not even as if there was any extreme behaviour from the child, where a teacher might lose the rag in anger, it's done in more or less normal conversation.

Posted earlier here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Please add further comments to the ongoing discussion in the above linked thread.
Thanks

**Thread Closed**


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