Assistant coah of high school baseball team laughs at his player with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) when...

[BusynMember]

he gets frustrated and beats his fists against the wall and cries.

Jumper, age 14 1/2, came home from watching the ninth grad boys practicing baseball today and she was livid. The baseball coach assistant was laughing at her friend, who has autistic spectrum disorder, because he got frustrated and started banging his fists against the gym walls. This is a beautiful young man who is brilliant and has come so far from his early days. Jumper has grown up with him and, maybe because her brother has the same diagnosis, she has always been protective of him.

A lot of the girls who were watching were horrified as this grown man cracked up laughing as the boy had a meltdown. They are all going to protest to the principle, saying that he should be tossed as the assistant coach for making fun of this boy. Jumper said, "I with we weren't on spring break. I want to talk to him NOW." She was almost in tears.

I know the man who did it. He is lucky enough to have three boys who don't have disabilities. I can't believe he was LAUGHING at this boy, especially in full view of everybody, including the boy's teammates and peers and the girls who were watching the practice.

I have no words. That poor boy...

 

[TerryJ2]

Go for it, kids! I hope they DO go to the principal, en masse. There is no getting around it when a bunch of teenagers protest against an ADULT being an insensitive bully.
Let us know what happens.

 

[susiestar]

If you know the family, a call to them might be a good thing. Depending on his disabilities and how he felt at the time, he might not tell them or they might not believe him. If the school has email, why not get Jumper to help you write an email complaint about this? If nothing else, have her write down exactly what happened, who did what when, and all of the people she can name who were witnesses.

This man has NO business around kids. I hate to know about stuff like this because I had a LOT of teachers, even nuns, who joined my peers in teasing me in awful ways - and two of the years the nuns STARTED the teasing and cruelty.

Jumper is an awesome kid to stand up for the boy.

 

[BusynMember]

thank you.
The principal really likes Jumper. They meet together a lot and he encourages her to reach for her dreams, although she struggles in school. She will tell him in person. I doubt he'll do anything over spring break. He may not do anything at all. But I'm proud of all the girls, and I'm appalled at the insensitivity of this "adult." What a horrible example he is setting for his kids.

Although I'm not sure how this applies, he isn't the most moral man. He has had two failed marriages due to his rampant infidelity. I don't mean he cheated one time. He can't seem to keep "it" in his pants.

 

[shellyd67]

Wonderful kid that Jumper ! I am livid reading this ! He has no business working with children.

 

[AnnieO]

MWM - actually, it does apply - because it is clear he has NO RESPECT WHATSOEVER for others. Child, adult... Whatever.

Something Jumper can do as well, is write a letter to the school board. In many cases, the principal canNOT do anything. (In our SD, if there is an issue? We have to go to the board - they've taken away all the principal's authority over the teachers...)