Tuesday, October 20, 2009

MT: Ex-aides charged for abuse of autistic boy

From GreatFallsTribune.com:

Here's an excerpt:

"Their horrific acts did tremendous damage to this child," charged Dr. Suzanne Dixon, the physician who has been treating the 14-year-old, Garrett Schilling.

Interviewed by the police department, Parish and Kallies said they splashed water in Garrett's face or poured it over his head, but denied they held his head under the water.

Garrett's parents, Tifonie and Bryan Schilling, wrote school Superintendent Cheryl Crawley two weeks ago to demand changes in the special education department to make sure no more students are abused.

Crawley said she had heard about the incident from parents and staff last spring and requested an immediate investigation.

"Our investigation is complete, and none of those people work for us anymore," Crawley said a week ago. "It's a police matter at the moment."

Tifoni Schilling is furious about what happened to her son, but is careful not to blame all special education personnel.

"Those people who did terrible things to my son are horrible, but there are many good people who really care about these kids," she said. "We're afraid of tarring good people, but we just want to make sure this problem is reformed."

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