8 Year Old Autistic Boy Charged for Biting Teacher

According to the Tifton Gazette an 8 year old non verbal autistic boy at Horizon Academy in Tifton, Georgia has been charged with assault after he bit his teacher. The teacher claims to have been walking by the student, engaged in regular teaching duties, when he reached up and bit her on top of her right arm. (This seems a little strange if the boy was seated how was he able to reach up and bite her on top of her arm while she walked by?).

I am amazed that an 8 year old non verbal autistic boy was charged with assault in this case. Many severely autistic children bite themselves and others. It is sometimes a part of their neurological disorder. The boy might well have been overwhelmed by his placement in a classroom with other students and might have needed instruction in a quieter less stimulating environment.

On the basis of the facts reported in the Tifton Gazette .... it would not appear they know all that much about autism in Tifton, Georgia.

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