Mom of autistic son jailed after he misses school

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Mom of autistic son jailed after he misses school

10:02 PM, Jul 2, 2011

Tampa, Florida - Dawn Larsen, 43, of Carrollwood was arrested on Friday and

spent the night in jail because her autistic son has skipped too much school.

Larsen says during the school year, her son missed about 34 days from Hammond

Elementary School located at 8008 N. Mobley Road in Odessa.

Larsen was charged with violating her probation on a charge of failure to ensure

school attendance. A judge recently warned her that her 9-year-old son, n,

could not miss any more half days of school.

But Larsen says she felt she had no choice but to keep her son home anyway due

to the severity of his autism. She says a doctor has diagnosed him with autism

spectrum disorder. Her son cannot speak.

She told a different judge in court on Saturday morning that the doctor has

written notes explaining that, due to her son's behavior, there are some

instances when he needs to be kept out of the classroom and left instead in her

care.

Larsen told 10 News that n only attends school half a day and when he

attended Citrus Park Elementary three years ago she would keep him out of class

too at times.

She says, " I would sit in the hallways just in case he'd freak out on a teacher.

He gets frustrated because he can't talk. He'd disrupt the whole class and I'd

have to take him home and he's not even there for two hours sometimes. "

The judge scolded Larsen and told her that she should have notified the judge

right away of the doctor's opinion so she wouldn't be at risk of arrest.

He released her from the Orient Road Jail in Tampa on Saturday afternoon on her

own recognizance.

Larsen broke down in tears explaining the challenge she faces caring for her son

as a single mother. " And it's really difficult, but I love him more than

anything in the world. I wouldn't trade him. Autism is especially hard to deal

with. "

Larsen believes the stress may have caused her to suffer a stroke recently that

left her in the hospital for a month.

n is doing better in school, she says, due to medication. She says he's

smart and earns good grades, but she needs the flexibility to keep him out of

school when his behavior becomes a problem. She adds about her arrest, " I know

this is necessary, but this is a special circumstance. "

Larsen says Hammond Elementary School has teachers who specialize in teaching

autistic children.

She says she left n in the care of his grandmother and his older siblings

while she was in jail. Larsen also has two adult children and a 17-year-old.

[Guest guest]

This is something I've never understood. If any child is unable to communicate or requires a full time attendant, then they shouldn't be in public school but as a special care facility better able to handle them, or at home if the parents can manage to care for them and teach them whatever the kids are able to learn.

I have a cousin who has been working with special needs kids in public school for a few years. Some of the ones there should indeed be in nursing facilities and not in school because they literally can't do anything but sit and drool. The teachers are trying to teach them to push a button if they need help, but they don't really even get that. Now I'm not talking about autism here but brain damage from injuries and things like that. Then there are the frequently violent ones with the very low IQs.

I guess the schools want to force parents to bring these kids in because special needs kids mean bigger school budgets. However, these aren't things the schools should be doing. They should be trying to actually educate the students into being productive citizens instead of the waste matter they mostly churn out. Good kids that make it through most public schools with a decent education are just plain lucky.

In a message dated 7/3/2011 3:14:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

But Larsen says she felt she had no choice but to keep her son home anyway due to the severity of his autism. She says a doctor has diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder. Her son cannot speak.She told a different judge in court on Saturday morning that the doctor has written notes explaining that, due to her son's behavior, there are some instances when he needs to be kept out of the classroom and left instead in her care.