Indianapolis, Indiana Special Education teacher Trinda Barocas has been accused of poisoning an eight year old student with Autism so he did not have to go on a class field trip to the zoo. According to reports Barocas told a classroom aide the student would misbehave and “maybe he could be sick enough not to attend and we won’t have to deal with it.” Barocas gave the eight year old a peanut butter filled candy bar – knowing the autistic student had peanut allergies. According to the boys mother the child did not eat the candy bar, but the boys mother says the boy has serious allergies to peanuts and, “to tempt a child with something that could take their life — honestly, it blows my mind. I think that she should be held accountable for what she’s done.”
The administration at the school contacted the child’s parents in March after classroom aides reported the abuse. Barocas – the accused teacher left the school in February due to reasons that have nothing to do with the allegations. The lawsuit further alleges that the boy was treated like a caged animal, kept in a cubicle all day and that Baracas repeatidly pinched the child, stood on his foot and drug him around the classroom by his arm.
In 2007 Barocas was put on Administrative Leave after a nurse witnessed her force feeding and improperly restraining a student.
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Makes me cry.
sent my comment before I was done!!
Anyway, makes me cry but I am glad to know she ain’t teaching no more (pardon the bad grammar
)….
Sad. Terrible, disgusting, sad. If you don’t want to deal with different kinds of children, then you should not have anything to do with a school or any other teaching position.
Allow me to slightly rephrase that… if you don’t want to *lovingly, patiently, and gently* deal with different kinds of children… if some of that is how she was taught to deal with special needs children, then I don’t want to know how long ago it was – suffice it to say – that kind of training is antiquated at best.
My brother was abused by his teachers. They intentionally humiliated him in front of his classmates, hit him with lunch trays, and allowed him to be interrogated, alone, at his middle school, by a police officer, and he left the room crying. Same day he has a meltdown, his teachers lied about what happened, and now he has a felony assault conviction. His math teacher, who did not appear injured, conveniently stopped going to physical therapy the same day as his first court appearance. There should be extremely high standards to be allowed to teach special ed kids, and there should be cameras in the classroom at all times, TO WATCH THE TEACHERS.
Palomar Hospital of Escondido California left severely autistic adult in hosptial bed, hitting self. He suffered numerous lacerations to hand while in hospital care. At one point, when father arrived to check on son, he found “sitter” wathching “Cops” while autistic son punching his face inside a Posey bed (a bed with netting around it that prohibits patient from getting out of bed to walk). At another point during stay, patient was given haldol, to which he suffered oculogyric crisis (retrocollis–head drawn back, locked, frozen neck, drooling, tongue protruding, eyes rolled back, general muscle rigidity, wrist flexion, extension of lower limbs, etc…) Patient was then left in this dangerous stage for HOURS while “sitter” and assigned RN, failed to notice signs and symptoms of adverse reaction to psychotropic previously given earlier by ER doc and then again, by RN, in IC unit. Not until mother came to check on autistic son was action taken to treat. Mother apparently went beserk after immediately spotting signs and symptoms. Demanded cogentin be given to reverse adverse effects of Haldol. Nurses rushed in, called a medical emergency team to treat, and even then, still tried to downplay situation, pretending that they just thought this was “the way he always acted”, despite having seen him NOT acting this way upon arrival. Upon investigation, it was discovered sitter and assigned RN were oblivious to signs and symptoms, and not even looking for them, despite pt. given a known drug that causes neuroleptic malignant syndrome. RN claimed, “he hadn’t been walking all day..” “had been just lying back watching TV.” Apparently, the fact patient is ambulatory and obessed with walking, as was witnessed upon first arrival to ER didn’t clue the clueless RN in, to the dramatic difference in his behavior. Nor did she consider fact patient suddenly stopped walking and remained in a fixed, rigid, head drawn back, eyes rolled back, drooling state, would be strong evidence patient presenting with signs and symptoms of adverse reaction. Scary. If that wasn’t enough, another nurse, upon being questioned about WHY hospital staff would allow an autistic patient to be neglected like this, said, “well, he’s autistic, isn’t that what they do.” When mother asked, “what do you mean that’s what they do?” Nurse replied, “they just do odd things like that.” Yes, apparently, this brilliant nurse figured all autistics are just lying prostrate in hospital beds, tongues wagging, head tilted backwards, eyes rolling around in head and neck frozen, as just, well, being autistic. So much for autism awareness. This disgraceful Hospital is Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, California. It’s in the public’s best interest to call or write this hospital, and demand better care of autistic patients.
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