Aberdare: Assault-accused teacher had no autism experience, court told

A teacher accused of taking a severely autistic boy's ear defenders away has told a court he frequently went without them at school.

Laura Murphy, from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf said she had seen other staff members remove the boy's ear defenders.

Ms Murphy, 33, and teaching assistant Mandy Hodges, 50, deny seven counts of assault and cruelty to a child under 16.

None of the children can be named for legal reasons.

Swansea Crown Court was told other staff at Park Lane Special School, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, alerted the school's acting head after allegedly witnessing the two women inappropriately handling three boys in separate incidents on 19 and 20 November 2020.

The boys were aged eight, nine and 10.

One of these incidents involved the nine-year-old, who had sensory processing disorder, meaning he had profound sensitivity to noise, the court was told.

It is claimed Ms Murphy "ripped the ear defenders" from the child's head.

Ms Murphy, who had worked at the school for seven years, is also accused of "dragging" a boy across a playground and shouting in a boy's face.

Ms Murphy said: "I saw him without his ear defenders in the school hall, in assemblies, trampolining, and in the swimming pool where ear defenders are not worn."

She said shortly before she became the teacher to some of the most severely autistic children in the school, she spent time in their class and listed the names of other staff she said had also removed ear defenders.

Ms Murphy told court that she knew very little about the impact of noise on children with sensory processing disorder and was not trained in how to work with children with extreme sensitivity to noise.

She added she had "never read" anything to say noise could cause children with this condition pain.

"I didn't know much to be honest, I knew it was for comfort and to make sounds less loud."

The court was also told that a 10-year-old's behaviour changed after the ear defenders were removed, and he would not let his father touch his ear defenders.

Last week, the father of the child told the court he had his ear defenders "ripped" from his head by Ms Murphy said their son "could not function without them".

Ms Murphy said she had been given nothing other than basic autism training before becoming the teacher of the class, and had "no experience" working with children with profound learning difficulties before taking on the class.

She told court she was concerned about the challenge, and asked to be moved at the end of a four-month trial period, but said she was told for "continuity's sake" she would stay with the class.

She explained she removed the ear defenders because she saw other teachers doing the same thing.

"I copied another member of staff who had worked with that class for two or three years, you don't question it, you just take it on board."

Under cross examination she denied taking headphones away from a child as punishment, and denied she was pushing another child away, claiming she believed he was about to bite her.

Parents of the children sitting in the public gallery became visibly upset as she gave her evidence.

The trial continues.