Dad Secretly Tapes Autistic Son Being Bullied At School By Teachers; Truly Disgraceful

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. "I could not understand why this was happening," Chaifetz, a 44-year-old animal rights activist in New Jersey, wrote on his website. "I had never witnessed Akian hit anyone, nor could I dream of him lashing out as had been described to me."

"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."

Link

My heart goes out to this child, his family, and any other families and children suffering from such abuse. Seems to me, we have a growing problem in our school systems, where the faculty responsible for teaching our future leaders are simply not, and have not been educated enough themselves to hold such responsibility. That isn't meant to brush all teachers/educators with the same brush, but there is a growing concern many teachers simply should not be teachers.

The other aspect which really hurts me, is the lack of compassion and humanity. Many people suffer from autism, and the numbers of those suffering is only increasing. We as a society, need to find a way to provide better help, education, and understanding to these individuals. We're all human, and at the least, need to carry respect for one another. Sadly, what this father, the family and especially the child have gone through shows some of the lows humanity can sink too, and in a school of all places.

Why only one teacher was fired is beyond me. Disgraceful.

I think the school my niece went too out here was bullied as well, her teacher would talk to her as if she was a drill instructor and would purposely get her going knowing full well she had violent outbursts. My niece wanted to quit school and would refuse to go to school.

Right now, she's in a different state and seems to be exhibiting a much better attitude where she is at. She seems happy.

reply to post by MysticPearl


This story is just awful. Both my brothers and son years later had an awful teacher that bullied the students and nothing was ever done. It was well known throughout the school but tenure protected her. It's really upsetting how awful some teachers can be. I applaud this father for speaking out about it.

reply to post by Manhater


That's terrible. I was bullied at school as a youngster, but it was more physical abuse at the hands of older and larger students. I can't imagine being a child, and being picked on/abused by the faculty meant to protect you from such abuse, and because of a situation/circumstances out of ones control?

Where's the compassion in this world? Where's the empathy?

I admire this guy so much for exposing what I'm sure goes on in schools a lot more than we think. Yes there are some excellent teachers but it only takes ONE to ruin a lot of lives.

I'm amazed this hasn't gone viral and hope it does - in protection of children everywhere.

S&F to bump it - come on guys spread the word so Mums and Dads can just keep that closer eye on how there kids are being treated by the very people we should be able to trust.

Flag it!!!!

Originally posted by quedup
I admire this guy so much for exposing what I'm sure goes on in schools a lot more than we think. Yes there are some excellent teachers but it only takes ONE to ruin a lot of lives.

I'm amazed this hasn't gone viral and hope it does - in protection of children everywhere.

S&F to bump it - come on guys spread the word so Mums and Dads can just keep that closer eye on how there kids are being treated by the very people we should be able to trust.

Flag it!!!!

edit on 25-4-2012 by quedup because: (no reason given)

The father is great, and I hope more parents follow his lead if a similar situation is occurring at school with their child. You're also right about it only taking one teacher to screw up many lives. Same things goes for cops, and that's why both professions should be held to higher standards, as they effect the lives, in the long term, of many, many people, and with teachers usually young, impressionable people.

As for spreading the word and getting attention? Part of me thinks ATS has become superficial. How this doesn't get more than a handful of responses I can't answer. Causes people to think too much? Don't know. I might change the thread title to something completely unrelated just to show how ridiculous it can be here sometimes.

reply to post by MysticPearl


You're right - try it and shame them!

Is it because most members are young and don't have kids???? It's making me wonder - or time of day????

reply to post by MysticPearl


I agree. My heart goes to this father. How atrocious that is to watch ): .. One of my jobs is working for a company that provides services to those with special needs.. This video hits hard. I truly hope it does goes viral and will be curious to see what develops here.

Thanks for posting this, and kudos to the dad for DOING something.

My daughter hurt her knee recently, so we strapped the knee and gave her crutches. Walking between classes she was tripped, pushed, bumped, had stones thrown at her, all because she was on crutches.

Not exactly the same, but clearly schools are a lot less pleasant than when we were there

That was really ugly. I watched the video a few hours ago, got mad, decided not to post and cool down. Was very impressed with the father. As I recall it was around 11 minutes when he said, 'I'm not going to sue. This isn't about money. This is about dignity.' I may not have that quite right, but I was, and am still impressed.

My Father had a saying, don't know where he got it. 'A society should be judged on how they treat their weakest member.'

Well we may be doing better, but still have a ways to go. Little guy should have gotten a hug instead of ridicule.

This is bull# and the dad is telling lies and no one seemed to pick up on it, he's a freak

Just where did the teach say "You are a bastard" because i played it back and could not hear it.

The teacher answered no to a question without knowing all the in and outs well big deal she just brushed the question off without going in to a full debate.

Kids in school often need to be told to sit down and shut up unless all the teaching is one on one so in all that day, at some stage she say shut your mouth after a kid screams at the top of his voice.

What should she do to maintain control, ask the class to join in.

Look at the expressions on he guys face as he talks, he's all twisted up as he tries to put his spin on things instead of letting the tape play.

yes its bad for the kid having a dad like that and seems his ex-wife also got tired of the guy and left him and now he wants to be a stay at home dad and to sue the state to keep him in money.

Hands up anyone that has gone to school with a hang over and telling the kids this was her way of making he kids feel like she is one of them, she was not still drunk or anything and kids know what beer is at that age but dad wants to make a big deal out of it.

Maybe the lad is kicking up at school because he is not happy at home with his dad and that is why he got upset when thought he was not going to see mum at the weekend.

Shoot as much as you like but thats what i see and some here will have to wake up to the real world that is not fair or perfect all the time.

reply to post by Master_007


These children are disabled. Did you not get that part? This man's son cannot express himself through spoken communication.

I wouldn't treat a dog that way.

So you feel the teacher and aides' actions in the audio were acceptable? So having a conversation with 10 year olds with autism about how drunk you got last night was a good thing to you?

Unbelievable.

I cannot understand some people, if I ever saw any person abusing a child I would beat the living the cr*p out of them.

I just cant watch this, right now, having an autistic child. I can use my imagination though, and all I can say is put this on the list of reasons I'm considering homeschooling.

Originally posted by CoherentlyConfused
reply to post by Master_007

 

These children are disabled. Did you not get that part? This man's son cannot express himself through spoken communication.

I wouldn't treat a dog that way.

So you feel the teacher and aides' actions in the audio were acceptable?

So having a conversation with 10 year olds with autism about how drunk you got last night was a good thing to you?

edit on 26-4-2012 by CoherentlyConfused because: (no reason given)

I didn't hear anyone assaulting the child and the guys talks about sub-human, stabbing and as if he is addressing the nation about the constitution all in frot of his made up screen set and some people (not me) would not agree with the ending photo where a dog is licking the kids mouth due to the spread of germs after it had been licking it's bum.

"So you feel the teacher and aides' actions in the audio were acceptable"
Yes if thats all he could dig up having recored here for six hours or maybe you would like schools to employ robots.

The dad is a stay at home dad and is not only using his son as an excuse but want someone to admit guilt so he can sue there ass and live like a king sitting on his bum.

I would actually like to point out a few facts about autistic children that have added confusion to myself after watching this waffle.

Autistic children lack emotion and understanding so a true autistic child would not burst into tears at the word no,
what is also strange that this child can adjust to his environment being completely different at home and at school this is also not the case of a normal child let alone one with autisimn, it would be the same behaviour at both, so would you please enlighten me please. This teacher from speaking was not out of control she was not shouting and screaming at the child and answered in a dignified manner but sometimes you have to just say no and leave it at that.

I would like to know if this child is actually medicated, the father is talking of abuse, but pumping drugs into a child is also abusive so would like an answer to that one please.

Originally posted by TheMindWar
Unbelievable.

I cannot understand some people, if I ever saw any person abusing a child I would beat the living the cr*p out of them.

yeah well i've been known to slap my child around the chops when the have kicked up in the super-market and would not do as they are told, it soon stops them.

Sounds to me like you are a violent sort of person looking for a fight, most likely a left-wing fascist soaking up what you are told like it's some type of religion.

Look at nature, animals use physical force all the time to teach the young and we can argue we are not animals, should know better and all that crap but since we have been forced to all go PC we suddenly have a problem with the kids of today.

My misses also hits the kids when needed so what you going to do, beat up on a woman

Originally posted by ValentineWiggin
I just cant watch this, right now, having an autistic child. I can use my imagination though, and all I can say is put this on the list of reasons I'm considering homeschooling.

Indeed, as the dad of a severely autistic kiddo myself, I would have had a hard time keeping from wiping those "nice" folks off the face of the planet.

Shameful, disgusting, and wastes of good human skin.

Indeed. I do not have kids. And im not going to while we have people like this running around.
And it happens far to often to far to many kids for me to justify sending my own future kids to public school (hint, im homeschooling them)

I would lose my mind if something like this was happening. There would be no schoolboard. There would be no cops. There would be my fist in a teachers face (man or woman, do not care). No one treats a child like that.

Let me be the one who angers parents all over the world who reads this, because some things just need to be said.
Every child who is in a public school that has a serious condition and will never be self sufficient, be it because of having downs syndrome or some other form of handicap has cost the tax payers billions of dollars. We are paying billions of dollars for a babysitter so that someone who decided on their own free will to either precede with a pregnancy that tests showed the result of which will produce a child with abnormalities or for other reasons made the decision that this life must be saved at all costs. And that is fine, and even admirable. What I do not agree with is the sense of entitlement these parents believe they have and deserve. How many thousands and thousands of dollars, day in and day out, are spent "educating" people who at the end of it all are never going to be anything more in life than a handicapped child who grew up into a handicap adult?? Why is it ok to spend double the resources on a child with no hope of becoming anything more than a ward of the state after his parents are no longer around to care for him, all the while telling people that we need to raise taxes to raise money to educate our children??
I am sorry this mans child was treated poorly, but the simple truth is he should have been home with the father who is so concerned about him...not dumped off at the state run babysitters club, on the tax payer dime, so he could have a "break" from the stresses of raising a handicap child. You brought him into the world.....now he is YOUR responsibility, you want him educated, you should get the amount of money spent per kid as everyone else and pay the rest out of pocket. It is not fair to the other students, that your unteachable child gets all the extra money spent on his make believe education at the expense of those getting educated without music class, or without gym class or any other program that the vast majority of students would be able to utilize.
You people that call yourself Special Needs Educators are nothing more than high payed babysitters...with a union. To even compare yourselves to the teachers who educate our kids is laughable.
In short, the money spent on kids whose future, with schooling or without, ends up the same, is money wasted. Having these kids intermingling with normal kids at school only makes the good kids uncomfortable and gives the bad ones someone to make fun of or worse.

When will any of you get it that the US public school system only provides an education in obedience and not an education in knowledge. If you do not obey or play ball you will be forced out, i know first hand. At my HS i was thrown out over wearing a coat in 30F weather while pointing out that I was the only one told to remove my coat while all the black guys with their bigger, puffier style coats that has all the overpaid sports teams were allowed to wear them, that and i also called some of the staff F`ing bass-turds. That probably had something to do with it.

If i was that guy these people would be visited during the night and wake up to a redecorated vehicle, complete with custom dents, all new stay flat tires, a glucose infused fuel system, and a brand spanking new ventilation system in place of those archaic windows made of glass.