Autism Abuse Lawsuit Lawyers | Special Needs Child Neglect

Our autism abuse lawsuit lawyers can help if your special needs child suffered was abused at school or daycare.

The award-winning child injury attorneys at Buckfire Law represent abused autistic children and their families. If your child was abused or neglected, you need us on your side.

Parents trust that schools and daycare centers will provide a safe and nurturing environment for their autistic child. Sadly, abuse of children with autism spectrum disorder is very common. Often, the teacher or student aid is the abuser at a public or private institution.

When these incidents of abuse are intentional abuse or due to negligence, the child and their parents have the right to demand compensation. The psychological harm to the child is often significant. Buckfire Law aggressively investigates these cases and wins top personal injury settlements.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Statistics
Autism Abuse at Schools and Daycare Centers
Common Types of Autism Abuse
Intentional Autism Abuse by Teachers & Aides
Who Can I Sue for Abusing my Autistic Child?
Video Evidence Helps Win Cases
How Do I File an Autism Abuse Lawsuit?
How Much Are Autism Abuse Settlements?

Autism Spectrum Disorder Statistics in the U.S.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. It can be a genetic condition, but often the cause is unknown. An autistic child frequently behaves, communicates, learns, and interacts differently than other children.

The United States Center for Disease Control reports that about 1 in 44 children have been identified with autism. The disorder affects children of all races, socioeconomic groups, and ethnic groups. It is more than four times more common in boys than girls. Approximately 40% of autistic children are nonverbal and 31% have an intellectual disability.

Autism Abuse at Schools & Daycare Centers

A special needs child often requires special education. Many public and private schools provide separate classrooms and have programs to educate autistic children. Unfortunately, both teachers and aides are frequently discovered both physically and mentally abusing the students.

The sad part is that the child is usually unable to verbalize the history of abuse to a parent or doctor. As a result, most abuse and neglect are completely unreported. Many times, this abuse can continue for many years without anyone knowing about it and it causes permanent harm to the child.

Incidents of abuse are often caught on video cameras placed in the classroom. Schools use video for many purposes, including for training purposes or simply to monitor the classroom. These videos are very helpful when pursuing an autism abuse lawsuit because they tell us what the child cannot do.

Common Types of Autism Abuse

The abuse of an autistic child can be subtle or blatant. Autistic children often have issues with aggressive behavior, like biting or scratching, and both teachers and aides must be trained to deal with those behaviors. However, too often, they are overly aggressive and abusive to the student.

The most common types of autism abuse at schools includes bullying, both physical and verbal. Aides often use unreasonable physical exertion with the child, including grabbing the arms and hands, slapping the child in the face, and even pinning the child to the floor. Parents and doctors should suspect this type of abuse if the child comes home from school with scratches and bruises.

Emotional abuse is also very common. This can involve a teacher screaming in a child’s face or yelling at the entire class in a mean-spirited and insulting way. An autistic child is often told they are “a terrible child” or “stupid” repeatedly by teaching staff members. This type of verbal abuse has a profound effect on the development of the child and feelings of self-worth and causes permanent damage.

In addition, the sexual abuse of autistic children is common. Many abusers get away with sexual abuse because the victim cannot or does not report it. Signs of sex assaults include observed changes in emotional behavior and physical injuries as well. When these changes are seen, the parent or caregiver should take the child to a physician for a physical exam for further investigation.

Intentional Autism Abuse by Teachers & Aides

Many teachers and aides do not have the proper training or education to work with autistic children. School districts, private schools, and private centers often have difficulty finding qualified professionals to work in autistic classrooms. As a result, the positions are filled by people without the teaching background or emotional intelligence to handle more difficult students.

Our autism abuse lawyers have seen these shocking incidents of abuse on videos. The videos have shown aides throwing sports balls at a child, rolling up a child in a floor mat for restraint purposes, aggressively pointing a finger in child’s face, and forcibly dragging a child across a floor.

Verbal abuse is also often caught on film. You can hear the aide screaming at the child and even making threats to the child if behavior is not changed. When the behavior does not change, the verbal abuse becomes stronger, angrier, and even more aggressive.

Of course, no type of autism abuse is ever acceptable. When a special needs student is physically or verbally abused, the facility and the abuser must be held accountable. Accountability can include termination of a job, criminal charges by the police, and an autism abuse lawsuit.

Who Can I Sue for Abusing My Autistic Child?

You can sue a public or private school for the abuse of an autistic child. Also, there are many hospitals and other facilities that provide autism daycare treatment. These are also potential defendants in an autism abuse lawsuit. Our attorneys will evaluate your case and bring claims against all possible entities and persons responsible for abusing your autistic child.

In addition to suing for intentional physical and verbal abuse, lawsuits allege negligence in the hiring and training of teachers and aides. All schools and centers have a legal duty to properly screen their workers to ensure they are both qualified and fit to teach special needs children. The failure to properly hire workers can provide the basis for a negligent hiring claim.

In addition, these institutions must regularly supervise and monitor the classrooms for abuse. In our experience, supervisors do not even look at video unless abuse is reported or suspected. And many times, it is only seen when a police detective requests the video after suspected abuse.

The failure to monitor and supervise teachers and aides is another basis for filing a lawsuit.

Autism abuse has a lifelong impact on the victim, so preventing it in the first place is essential but stopping it early in its tracks once it has occurred is essential for providing a safe and nurturing environment for the student. With proper supervision and monitoring, most abuse would never occur.

Video Evidence Helps Win Cases

Our law firm has won major settlements in autism abuse lawsuits with the help of video evidence. Although the facility may deny abuse, the videos can prove otherwise. We will demand these important videos to win your child a settlement.

In one case, the video evidence showed aides calling children “brats,” “stupid,” and even making verbal threats. Videos also showed physical abuse to multiple children in the same classroom. Without the video evidence, the case would have been very difficult to prove.

How Do I File an Autism Abuse Lawsuit?

If you have evidence of abuse and neglect of an autistic child, you should contact our law office immediately. We will obtain all reports, records, and video evidence to support the case. If there was a police or other investigation, we will gather those documents to build our case.

In most cases, it is the legal guardian or conservator of the child that files the lawsuit. This person serves as the plaintiff in the lawsuit. Our autism abuse lawyers work closely with legal guardians or conservators to pursue all potential claims and demand sizable compensation in the lawsuit.

If you suspect a child is the victim of autism abuse, you should contact Buckfire Law immediately.

How Much Are Autism Abuse Settlements?

There are several types of compensation demanded in an autism abuse settlement. Our lawyers will analyze all available compensation and work hard to prove each one in the courtroom.

The first type of damage is for the emotional and psychological damage caused by abuse. There is no calculator to determine this amount and it varies from case to case depending on the abuse and harm caused to the child. Our lawyers may have your child tested by a psychologist and examined by a psychiatrist to determine the extent of the injuries caused by the abuse.

The second damage type is for physical abuse of the child. If the child has physical injuries, like bruising, broken bones, or a burn injury, we will demand compensation for that harm. Medical records and photographs of the injuries are the best evidence to support this damage.

The third damage type is for the economic and financial harm to the child and family. A special needs child can require medical care, counselling, and other treatment for the harm caused by abuse and neglect. Our legal team utilizes top experts to evaluate these needs and to calculate the lifetime costs. This economic damage is explained to the jury and a part of the settlement demand.

Autistic Child Abuse Settlement Examples

Buckfire Law recently settled an autism abuse settlement in Michigan for $9 million. The case was filed against a facility that provided day classes and treatment for several autistic children. When it was discovered that teachers and aides were physically abusing the students, we filed a federal court lawsuit for four children and their parents.

The settlement paid $2.25 million per student.

In a California case, a school district paid out a $6.7 million dollar settlement in an autism lawsuit. A 17-year-old special needs autistic student was abused in the classroom. Another case in California resulted in a $45 million dollar judgment for twin boys abused at a public school.

Contact Our Autism Abuse Lawsuit Lawyers Today

Our autism abuse lawsuit lawyers are ready and eager to help you and your child win your case. Buckfire Law will investigate the cause of the injury, identify all possible defendants, and demand fair compensation for you and your child. Get started now so we can begin working on your case.

There are no legal fees unless you win a settlement. And it costs no money to start your case.

Call today to schedule an appointment.