Aberdare: Autistic pupils treated with unacceptable methods - court

A teaching assistant who took a tricycle from an autistic boy was not using accepted classroom methods, a court has heard.

CCTV showed Mandy Hodges standing in the boy's way as he rode the toy into her leg, which she took and sat on.

Swansea Crown Court heard she removed him from the trike, in contravention of accepted methods.

Ms Hodges, 50, and Laura Murphy, 33, deny seven counts of assault by beating and cruelty to a child under 16.

Acting head of Aberdare's Park Lane Special School, Diane Llewellyn, said the way teaching assistant Ms Hodges moved the eight-year-old was not the right way.

The pupil has sensory processing disorder and communication difficulties,

Ms Llewellyn said: "She wanted him off the trike there and then. That is not the Team Teach method."

Ms Llewellyn said autistic children should not be forced to do things they didn't want to.

That would apply even if it meant they remained on a trike or toy for a long time.

"You wait until they get off," Ms Llewellyn told the court. "We do not put our hands on any children."

In a clip shown to the jury of 10 men and two women the court heard Ms Llewellyn describe teacher Ms Murphy "ripping" ear defenders from a nine-year-old boy's head.

Watching the footage, Ms Llewellyn said Ms Murphy shouted in the boy's face before taking the ear defenders and walking away.

"Then he becomes distressed, jumping up and down," Ms Llewellyn said.

"He is raising his hands to his ears, to protect his ears.

"It looks like she is telling him off, he pulls away when she gets in close."

The court was told the child is severely autistic and won't now let his father to touch his defenders, which he had before.

Ms Llewellyn said she suspended both staff members and called police after concerns about them were raised by colleagues in October 2020.

She said she watched CCTV in which there was "inappropriate handling" of three autistic children aged eight, nine and 10 in the school yard.

After watching it, she contacted her chair of governors and the school HR advisor.

The women were suspended and told to leave school grounds immediately.

Emma Harris, prosecuting, asked Ms Llewellyn what was in the footage that concerned her.

Ms Llewellyn said removing the defenders caused the pupils physical pain.

She said the boy, who can't be named for legal reasons, was profoundly sensitive to noise and that there were specific ways to work with autistic children who use ear defenders.

Ms Llewellyn described a scene in another clip and said Ms Murphy could be seen with a 10-year-old non-verbal autistic boy.

She said Ms Murphy caused him distress by pushing him away before she "grabs him and marches him across the yard."

The case continues.