Children With Disabilities Arrested for Behavior (news article)

[Guest guest]

This is something that concerns me more than ever as I watch Jake age. Where

will he go? What will he do at school? Will people hold him accountable beyond

his ability? I have friends whos teenage sons have already been arrested,

facing charges, and whose kids have been expelled from schools (within a special

ed classroom no less!). Where does it stop and when is anyone going to start

facing the reality of how many children there are in this world with Autism and

how the hell did they get it? What is going to happen to the 1 in 150 kids that

will soon be reaching their teenage years? If you think teenage years are hard,

try teenage years with Autism? It is not pretty!

Just wanted to pass along my Merry Cheer!

Love to all!

Holly

Children With Disabilities Arrested For Behavior

Dec 12, 2008

http://wcco.com/crime/children.disabilities.arrested.2.886567.html

<http://wcco.com/crime/children.disabilities.arrested.2.886567.html>

(WCCO, Minnesota ) For parents of children with special needs, outbursts

can

be a problem, and they don't stop at home. More Minnesota kids with autism

and developmental disabilities are actually getting arrested for having

tantrums at school. That's landing students in treatment centers, where

they

live alongside the worst sex offenders. son told the I-TEAM

she knew something was wrong when she arrived at lin Middle School in

Thief River Falls to pick up her son. " He was really upset, sobbing and

really upset. And she (the teacher) said 'You're not in any trouble Dakota,

you're not in any trouble,' " she recalled. " Two hours later I think it was,

we get a call from the assistant principal saying Dakota's in trouble. "

Dakota had a pocket knife in his coat. He didn't threaten anyone, but

bringing any kind of weapon to school is a felony in Minnesota. While most

kids understand why you wouldn't want to do that, Dakota did not. " He's 13

and he's autistic, " explained his mother. Children with autism can have

trouble understanding rules. His mom says he was just trying to be like his

dad, . " is on the volunteer fire department, carries a knife

hooked up to his belt, so he kind of likes to emulate his dad, " said

son. Police and the Pennington County Court weighed Dakota's Autism

diagnosis, but still charged him with a felony that ended up on his record.

.... Brinker didn't understand why he was arrested either. has

fetal alcohol syndrome. At 19, he threw paint on a teacher's sweater during

a tantrum at his District 287 school. was cited for disorderly

conduct. " I was not notified of the citation, and was living at a

group home at the time, " said father Brinker. After missing a court

date, was arrested and put in the Hennepin County Jail. ... The

disorderly conduct charge was eventually dropped after was found

incompetent to stand trial. That was just the beginning of the Brinker's

ordeal. " They recommended that he went to the METO program, " said Brinker.

METO is the Minnesota Extended Treatment Options program. Its one place

courts send people to live if their developmental disability turns

dangerous. ' family doesn't think throwing paint rises to that level.

a Opheim is the state's ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental

Disabilities. She told the I-TEAM shouldn't have ended up there, but

a lot of people like him do. ... " When they don't or can't participate in

their own trial, they are sometimes sent to mental health facilities, " she

said. Opheim recently reviewed the METO program and found problems with the

frequent use of metal handcuffs and leg hobbles. " It became so routine that

people didn't even identify it as a problem, " she said. ...

Teachers sometimes don't follow their own behavioral intervention plan for

how to calm down a particular student. Setter wants school resource

officers

to see those plans and to be trained in emotional disorders. We're in the

process of developing it, " said Setter.

Dakota's felony drops off his record after six months, if he doesn't bring

another weapon to school. is still at the METO facility for throwing

paint. His care costs taxpayers more than $900 a day.