Autistic teen charged with assault
ienjball
Clovis boy faces charge that he attacked teacher.
By Erin Kennedy
The Fresno Bee
(Updated Friday, September 17, 2004, 1:04 PM)
[Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee]
Colin Frates, 15, plays a computer game after school Thursday
afternoon. Colin has Asperger's, a form of autism. He is accused of
pushing a Clovis special-education teacher during an angry outburst.
Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee
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A criminal case against a Clovis High School teen with Asperger's
disorder is raising alarm among autism experts in California who say
that such prosecution sets a dangerous precedent.
The Fresno County District Attorney's Office charged Colin Frates, 15,
with assault for shoving his special-education teacher at Reyburn
Intermediate School last year and for throwing two chairs against a
wall.
Clovis Unified School District suspended Colin for two days after the
March 8 incident but did not call police. Teacher Alstema Jackson
contacted police on her own without district knowledge, a school
district spokeswoman said. Two court-ordered medical evaluations of
Colin found that he is not capable of understanding court proceedings
and cannot help with his defense. Colin's attorney, David Mugridge,
urged charges be dropped.
But those evaluations were not enough to sway prosecutors or a judge
Wednesday.
Another hearing has been set for Monday to discuss Colin's competency
and possibly the appointment of a court conservator to oversee his
care.
Autism experts say Colin's behavior is not unusual for an autistic
child in distress and that the criminal justice system is not the
place to deal with this matter.
In a letter to the Fresno County District Attorney's Office,
psychologist Floyd O'Brien explained that people with Asperger's don't
understand social interactions or appropriate behavior. Proceeding
with prosecution against Colin, O'Brien wrote, was like making it a
crime for an epileptic to have a seizure. O'Brien was one of several
mental health professionals who e-mailed or wrote letters to the
district attorney criticizing the prosecution.
People with Asperger's, a form of the brain disorder autism, usually
have normal or higher-than-normal intelligence but difficulty in
deciphering facial expressions or body language. They have poor social
skills, do not understand personal space, do not like change, have
rigid mannerisms and speak mechanically.
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There is debate about what causes autism, and there is no cure.
Colin's mother, Kathy Frates, is frantic that her son will be taken
away: "They talked about institutionalizing him to rehabilitate him to
bring him back to trial or appointing a conservator." Colin is
bewildered by all the attention. He insists he was just tapping his
teacher's shoulder, trying to get her attention so she would let him
call home.
Colin seemed unaffected by the turmoil Thursday. He talked about the
intricacies of the video game "Starcraft," bragging about knowing
secret pass codes. The slight teen appeared like a version of Harry
Potter at barely 5 feet tall and 100 pounds, with tiny glasses, a mop
of straight brown hair and eyes wide in a perpetual look of
astonishment.
Assistant District Attorney Alvin Harrell said the law prohibits
prosecutors from talking about the specifics of a juvenile case. But,
he said, generally before filing charges, the District Attorney's
Office tries to determine whether someone has the mental capacity to
understand he or she has committed a crime. That's not always
possible.
Once a case goes to court, Harrell said, defense attorneys might alert
a judge that their client is unable to assist in a defense. And then,
evaluations by medical professionals would determine that.
Harrell could not say whether this case is typical or how often a
special-education student who misbehaves at school ends up in the
criminal courts.
Neuropsychologist Paul Lebby, who evaluated Colin for the Fresno
court, found that Colin is mildly mentally retarded when it comes to
his understanding of speech.
Sacramento psychologist Joe Morrow, who also examined Colin for the
court, went further: "I believe that no psychologist or psychiatrist
that I am familiar with would think that the criminal justice system
is the appropriate venue for dealing with the behavior problems
attendant to the neurological disorder labeled Asperger's syndrome."
An incident report Jackson wrote for the school district and the
police report describe what happened March 8:
Colin was sent to Jackson's room because he was agitated in his
first-period class, which had a substitute teacher.
Jackson put him in a room by himself adjoining her classroom full of
students. She told him repeatedly he had to wait until the end of the
period to call home and to finish his work before returning to class.
Colin became more agitated, began yelling and tried to grab a
telephone. Jackson disconnected the phone, asked a student to get
another school employee and positioned her chair in front of the door.
Colin tried several times to push Jackson out of the chair. When that
didn't work, he threw two chairs at the wall next to her.
Another school employee defused the situation, took Colin to the
office and called his parents.
Frates said that Colin's education plan, a document that outlines his
learning goals and how to deal with his behavior, is filed at the
school. It said Colin would be sent to Jackson or could call home when
he was agitated.
California Education Code requires schools to have individualized
plans for how to properly deal with disruptive special-education
students. Teachers who work with special-education students must have
special training in difficult behaviors and different disabilities.
Jackson, a 14-year special education teacher in Clovis Unified, could
not be reached to comment.
Her husband, Jerome Jackson, contacted at their home Thursday, said
his wife was still unnerved by the incident: "In 26 years of teaching,
never had anything like this happened to her. She was very shaken by
it. She's still shaken by it. She was upset too that the people who
work with her on a daily basis acted like nothing happened."
Jerome Jackson said his wife did not expect anything to come of her
police report because it had been months since anyone talked to her
about the incident.
Kathy and Mike Frates said they're also shaken. "He's really a very
loving child," Kathy Frates said. "She trapped him that day."
Mike Frates, who quit his job to help with Colin's learning
difficulties, said: "The irony is we didn't want him at school. We
pleaded with the district to have a home-school program or an
Asperger's program elsewhere."
Carl Binder, a Santa Rosa psychologist who works with autistic people,
wrote to the district attorney: "To consider the behavior of this boy
to be a willful assault with full awareness of the consequences and so
on would be stretching far beyond what most clinicians would find
credible."
The reporter can be reached at eken...@fresnobee.com or (559)
441-6197.
Child
"ienjball" <ienj...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3e86d7aa.04091...@posting.google.com...
apparently she hasnt' worked with autistic kids before.
> Jerome Jackson said his wife did not expect anything to come of her
> police report because it had been months since anyone talked to her
> about the incident.
>
> Kathy and Mike Frates said they're also shaken. "He's really a very
> loving child," Kathy Frates said. "She trapped him that day."
in my mothers' experience, autistic kids can get wild occasionally if their
routine is disturbed. Best thing to do is put them in a nice quiet place by
themselves. Apparently, this teacher did that but kept herself in the room
too, and since she was the thing causing the distress that was a really
stupid idea.
> Mike Frates, who quit his job to help with Colin's learning
> difficulties, said: "The irony is we didn't want him at school. We
> pleaded with the district to have a home-school program or an
> Asperger's program elsewhere."
>
> Carl Binder, a Santa Rosa psychologist who works with autistic people,
> wrote to the district attorney: "To consider the behavior of this boy
> to be a willful assault with full awareness of the consequences and so
> on would be stretching far beyond what most clinicians would find
> credible."
Yes, its stupid crap.
~Veil
child, and now wants to press charges?
Sheesh some people in this world are pathetic selfish morons.
"ienjball" <ienj...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3e86d7aa.04091...@posting.google.com...
MaryL
"~Veil" <ve...@realityrock.com> wrote in message
news:10kn1ap...@corp.supernews.com...
> That teacher should rethink her career. She antagonized an already
volatile
> child, and now wants to press charges?
> Sheesh some people in this world are pathetic selfish morons.
>
>
Agreed. On the other hand, she was a substitute teacher. I suspect that
she was not qualified to deal with this problems -- substitutes are often
placed in any room where the regular teacher is absent, often without any
specific instructions. Even so, it seems irrational for her to *still* be
upset and to take this course of action once the circumstances have been
explained to her.
MaryL
Robert N. Lee
news:3e86d7aa.04091...@posting.google.com:
> Autistic teenager accused of assault
>
> Clovis boy faces charge that he attacked teacher.
Well, hats off to all this "Zero Tolerance" bullshit. I look forward to the
day when teacher can just carry the most difficult student the class to the
back of the gym and shoot him in the head.
--Robert
--
***
My Head Is Filled with Yeast
http://www.livejournal.com/users/spimby/
Scorpi...@attnospam.net
>Autistic teenager accused of assault
>
>Clovis boy faces charge that he attacked teacher.
Way to go, what's next, charging the blind with failing to cross in
marked cross walks?
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