Autistic Boy Charged with Making Terroristic Threats in Stick Figure Drawing
Teen drew two stick figures, one with gun
Updated: , 9 june 2010, 1:41 PM EDT
Published : , 9 june 2010, 10:41 PM EDT
Published : , 9 june 2010, 10:41 PM EDT
Reported By: Denise Dillon | Edited By: Leigha Baugham
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) - A Fulton County mother was outraged Wednesday that her autistic son was suspended and charged with a felony over a picture he drew. The 14 year old is a student at Ridgeview Charter School in Atlanta.
Shane Finn's mother said he was in a special needs class when he drew a picture of two stick figures, and one had a gun.
The eighth grade boy's picture depicted a stick figure with a gun that was labeled "me." The figure was shooting another figure that had his teacher's name above it.
The picture led to Finn being suspended, and he is now facing criminal charges.
"They've pressed felony charges for terroristic threats," said the teen's mother, Karen Finn. "It's that sweeping zero tolerance and I think it's ridiculous."
Finn said her son drew the picture on the page of a school assignment where his teacher would easily see it. Finn says her son doesn't really understand why he's in trouble. Finn said her son is autistic and has the mental capacity of a third grader.
"It really breaks my heart because he's a really nice kid and this is obviously from his disability. He really doesn't have a good way of expressing anger, frustration," Finn said.
Finn said she wasn't proud of the picture her son drew, but she said the punishment was much too severe.
"I think there needs to be some sort of common sense used with the school system. That a 14-year-old autistic boy who does not understand what he's done or what he's drawn, has an IQ of 75 should not be charged with a felony. It's outrageous," Finn said.
School authorities could not say much about the student because of privacy laws, but they did confirm that Shane will face a tribunal and is being charged with making terroristic threats.
Scientists claim new hope for victims of autism
The Autism News | English
By ABC 7 Chicago
Chicago WLS — Scientists say they are on track to uncover the genetic triggers of autism.
In the largest study ever into the genetics of autism scientists have identified new genetic variations that are more common in children with the condition.
The report in the journal Nature says some of the rare DNA glitches are inherited from parents. But many seem to be showing up for the first time in the person with autism. Researchers say this uniqueness may make it more difficult to design drug therapies that work across a wide rage of autistic spectrum disorders.
But the discovery could also pave the way for an earlier diagnosis.
UIC child psychiatrist Louis Kraus says genetics are just one part of the disorder and that environment also plays a role.
“We’ve always been under the belief since years back that — once we crack the generic code — that we would find the gene that causes autism. But in reality, what we find is that it is a multitude of genes that interact with one another, and in certain ways, with likely types of stimuli autism results.”
Dr. Kraus says the ultimate treatment would be a way to correct the faulty gene but says that is a long way off. He cautions parents to beware of treatments without a scientific basis that promise a fix right now.
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Police return stolen bike to autistic girl
The Autism News | English
Police have recovered a rare bicycle after a thief stole it from a 9-year-old girl with autism.
By ABC 7 News
San Francisco — A rare tandem bicycle belonging to a 9-year-old special-needs child that was stolen from her San Francisco apartment complex last month has been recovered, police said today.
The bicycle, manufactured by BuddyBike and one of only three in San Francisco and 450 in the nation, was taken on May 16, San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza said.
The thief entered the gated parking lot of the apartment complex in the 1000 block of Northpoint Street at about 4:30 a.m. and stole the bicycle, according to police.
The 9-year-old girl used the bike weekly with her family, Esparza said.
The manufacturer describes it as an inline tandem bike in which the front rider has handlebars to give the sensation of steering without actually having control. The front rider can contribute to pedaling while the rear rider controls the direction of the bike.
Widespread media coverage and support from the public aided police in their investigation and the bike was recovered Tuesday night, Esparza said.
“Thankfully, we were able to locate and recover the bike quickly,” he said.
The bicycle will be returned to the family at 3 p.m. today at the Central Police Station at 766 Vallejo St.
No one has been arrested in the theft, but police describe the suspect as a man between 25 and 30 years old and about 5 feet 8 inches tall to 5 feet 10 inches tall with a shaved head. He was last seen wearing dark clothing.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Police Department’s Confidential Tip Line at (415) 575-4444 or use Text-a-Tip by texting TIP411.
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Early births mean more learning difficulties
The Autism News | English
By Matt Dickinson | News Scotsman
Babies born just a week early are more prone to develop learning difficulties such as autism, Scottish research suggests.
The study of more than 400,000 children showed those born at 39 weeks were more likely to need help at school compared with babies who spent 40 weeks in the womb.
The results “suggest that deliveries should ideally wait until 40 weeks of gestation because even a baby born at 39 weeks … has an increased risk of special educational needs compared with a baby born a week later”, the experts concluded.
Around a third of UK births take place at 37-39 weeks, a rate that has increased as more mothers choose earlier deliveries for non-medical reasons.
The Glasgow University study, funded by the NHS, looked at the school and hospital records of nearly 408,000 schoolchildren across Scotland.
Nearly 18,000 were classed as having special educational needs, such as dyslexia or autism, or a physical difficulty such as deafness or poor vision.
A total of 8.4 per cent of the children born pre-term were found to have a learning difficulty, compared with just 4.7 per cent for those born at full term.
Babies born between 24 and 27 weeks were found to be 6.92 times as likely to have potential learning difficulties.
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Tybee police chief, supervisor suspended; three others resign after tazing of autistic teenager
The Autism News | English
Clifford Grevemberg
By Jan Skutch and Arek Sarkissian II | Savannah Now
Tybee police Chief Jimmy Price was suspended Wednesday for personnel reasons in the wake of an incident last month involving an autistic teenager who claims he was beaten and Tased by Tybee officers.
Tybee Island City Manager Diane Schleicher confirmed Wednesday evening Price was suspended with pay pending a disciplinary hearing sometime next week. In the meantime, Lt. Bob Bryson will take helm of the department, she said.
Also Wednesday, two Tybee officers involved in the May 21 arrest of Clifford Grevemberg, 18, resigned after being suspended last week.
In addition to those suspensions, a police supervisor involved in the incident also was suspended with pay last week, and a Tybee detention officer resigned.
On Tuesday, Grevemberg’s family filed a civil lawsuit in Chatham County State Court against the island contending officers assaulted Grevemberg “without probable or reasonable cause or excuse.”
Schleicher said none of the personnel actions were in response to the suit.
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Boy with autism communicates through his award-winning art
The Autism News | English
Jalyn Weston describes his picture, “The Doctor,” to his mother, Pam.
By Beth Watson Drinnen | Knoxville News Sentinel
Seven-year-old Jalyn Weston’s art is more than a passion, it’s his way of communicating. “I did this one in Nashville at the Frist,” he said, holding a painting. “It’s me as a doctor. The white suit, the stethoscope around my ears, the yellow hair, which I have, and the orange skin – which is necessary.”
For Weston, who has a high functioning form of the developmental disorder autism, his work has provided opportunities that many children his age haven’t had, such as traveling to Washington, D.C., to debut one of his pieces being displayed in a national traveling exhibit with the 2010 International VSA festival. Formerly Very Special Arts, VSA: The International Organization on Arts and Disability helps people with disabilities participate in, learn from and enjoy the arts.
“When he wasn’t quite 2, we would write down all the words that he said,” said Pam Weston, Jalyn’s mother, of Sweetwater. “One day we looked at the list and said, ‘You know, we haven’t written anything down in a while.’ There was this period of no words. He pretty much didn’t talk for a long, long time.”
Drawing became a way for him to connect with those around him – to give them a glimpse into his world.
Jalyn was diagnosed with autism while still in preschool. “They asked, ‘Do you notice that he lines things up?’ ” said Pam. “He would take his crayons and line them up in rainbow order like fence posts. In one of our meetings with the preschool, they said they thought he had ‘autistic characteristics.’ We were mad,” Pam said of her and husband Hank’s initial reaction.
“We were like, ‘Not everybody can line their crayons up in rainbow order.’ But the speech was the big thing,” she said. “It was a flag.”
His diagnosis was confirmed in North Carolina. “They said high-functioning autism,” said Pam. Because of his delayed speech, the Westons placed Jalyn in speech therapy. “Even in his first speech therapy,” Pam explained, “they used drawing, because that was something he was interested in.”
To advocate for her son, Pam tried to find artistic outlets for Jalyn that went beyond the art instruction he got in school at Sweetwater Elementary.
“Bottom line is, they get about 35 minutes of art one day a week for about three months, and that’s it. I was looking for other opportunities for him, and I came across them.” She discovered VSA.
“The VSA has an organization in Tennessee that’s been here about 10 years,” said Pam. “I got on their weekly e-mail newsletter list, and the first thing they had was the cartoon workshop.”
The class, held in Murfreesboro, was intended for teenagers with autism, but Pam convinced them to let Jalyn try. “I felt confident that he could do it,” she said. “He can sit, he is interested, and he does listen.”
He was accepted into the class, and for three weekends in a row, Weston and Jalyn would wake up at 5 in the morning to drive to Murfreesboro so he could participate. Jalyn loved it and wasn’t intimidated by the older kids in the class. “They thought I was a better artist than them,” he said with a smile.
Since that first workshop a year and a half ago, Jalyn’s art has opened many doors for him. He sold his first painting at the age of 6. His work has been exhibited many places, including the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Chattanooga Zoo and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville.
On May 24, he traveled to Nashville and was presented with the VSA Arts Tennessee Young Artist of the Year award at the Ryman Auditorium. On June 5, he and his mother traveled to Washington, D.C., where a piece of his artwork, titled “The Enchanted Forest,” will be on display as part of a national traveling exhibit.
“The Enchanted Forest” was selected from a field of 5,500 submissions in a contest sponsored jointly by VSA and CVS Caremark’s ” ‘All Kids Can’ … CREATE!” campaign. One winner from each state was selected to be part of the final display. Jalyn will represent Tennessee at the exhibition, “State of the Art,” which is part of the 2010 International VSA festival.
“He’s different,” Pam said simply. “We’re all different. When we first got the diagnosis, it freaked us out. Me and my husband just looked at each other, and we wondered, ‘What does it mean?’ You don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I want to make sure that we never forget to display our ability. Getting speech for him was everything,” she continued. “And art gives him something to talk about, and it focuses on something that he is good at,” she paused, “and I think it has made so much difference.”
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What an inspiration! I am just blown away and for me, it just re-affirms that there are so many avenues for communicating! (Personally, cannot wait to show this to my son's SLP!) I am a firm believer that non-verbals (including my son) will eventually find "their way" when it comes to communicating. Just gotta keep thinking outside the box!
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