Mother Records Autistic Child's Alleged Abuse

[Guest guest]

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=130355 & catid=3

Mother Records Autistic Child's Alleged Abuse

Updated 5/19/2009 10:32:21 AM

Reported By: Jaye

Posted By: King

ATLANTA -- Stefan is an 11-year-old boy with Autism. A judge ruled he was

physically and verbally abused at school.

He is an Atlanta Public School student but because of his special needs, he goes

to schools run by a state agency called Metro North.

They line the outside of each leg -- bruises from knee to hip. A judge has ruled

a school employee caused these injuries to 11-year-old Stefan Ferrari the day

before pictures were taken.

Stefan cannot speak. He has Autism, and is non-verbal.

He could not tell his parents -- couldn't tell anyone -- what happened to him.

But he had a mother who believed, before this happened, that something was

terribly wrong at his school.

Stefan went to Margaret Elementary School in Buckhead, where he was

doing well, but he was transferred to the Marshall School in DeKalb County in

August 2008, due to renovations.

That's when the Ferraris say things started to fall apart.

" I knew something was really wrong for the first time on September 8th, " said

Stefan's mother, Carolyn Ferrari.

That's when she said Stefan came home with bloody scratches, bruises and ripped

shorts. His behavior over the next month deteriorated.

" It was getting worse and worse, " Carolyn said.

Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari say they repeatedly told school officials they were

concerned. So the mother of a boy without a voice found a way to give him one.

" It's about the size of a quarter, " Carolyn said about a microphone she sewed

into Stefan's shirt. She sent him to school with it on October 21.

It would be his last day at Marshall.

" As soon as he took his boxers off to get in the shower, I noticed it, " said

Stefan's father, Marcelo Ferrari. " And I was like, 'oh my God'. "

Marcelo was shocked by the severe bruising covering his son's legs. He and his

wife went straight to the tape.

" Sit down stupid, " was one of the things they heard on the tape.

" It was horrifying, " Carolyn said. " I was visibly sick. I felt like I was going

to vomit. "

Carolyn and Marcelo stayed up all night listening to hour after hour of what

they say was the neglect, ridicule and abuse of their son.

With the microphone hidden at the base of Stefan's neck, picking up the sounds

around him, the Ferraris listened to the adults in the room talk about the size

of a boyfriend's genitals.

" The man I'm dating is intelligent. But he has a small penis. You can't throw a

pebble into the ocean. Does it matter? Does size matter? Yes it does. "

The adults talked about drinking.

" Russian vodka with olive juice. That's a dirty martini? "

At one point in the day, Stefan ate some pizza out of the trash can. The adults

joked about it.

" I mean he was chill. Finger lickin' good. He was chillin' with that. "

But what the Ferraris heard that horrified them was this:

" You want a be-quiet hit? " (followed by the sound of a thump) " There you go. Get

it now, go on. "

And two minutes later, listen as an adult tells others to leave.

" Please make him be quiet. Go away. Go. Take a minute. Go. Go on. "

And 15 seconds later, there were 18 seconds of thumps and the sounds of Stefan

making noises.

" It was numbing, and yet at the same time, you can't stop listening to it,

because you're thinking, 'oh my God, if my child went through this, I need to

hear what happened to my child', " Carolyn said.

The Ferraris called DFACS and Atlanta police. Both investigations went nowhere.

They sued the Atlanta Public Schools -- which recommended the program to the

family. What was done to Stefan Ferrari and who did it would be decided in a

small state administrative courtroom.

First up, Marshall's principal, Gail Healy.

" At no time after interviewing my teachers, talking to them do I feel he was

abused at my program, " Healy said.

Attorneys for Atlanta Public Schools said maybe Stefan cause the injuries to

himself, but the Ferraris said Stefan was never self-injurious -- and the judge

agreed.

Stefan's pediatrician, Dr. Alison Koenig testified.

" It seems to me something like that, he could not have done to himself but

somebody had done it to him, " she said.

The school's attorneys suggested maybe Stefan's father did it.

In his ruling, Judge Gatto found, " Stefan was not injured at home...(He)

was injured at school...His injuries were caused by multiple infliction of

trauma. They were caused by his being struck by a hand or an object by an

adult. "

The week-long hearing was filled with experts -- educational, psychological,

criminal. But the most anticipated witness took the stand on the final day of

the hearing: teacher Sherri . And the Ferrari's attorney, Zimring, got

right to it, asking her if she was the one talking about a man's gentials.

" I can't recall if I said it or not, " said.

If she was the one talking about drinking.

" I may have, " she said.

If she was one of the people joking about Stefan eating out of the trash.

" I don't recall saying that, " said.

But after Sherri is made again and again to listen to the audio, her

answers changed.

" And that was your voice? " Zimring asked.

" Yes, it was, " answered.

" So you did say that? " Zimring asked.

" It came out of my mouth, yes, " replied.

" You said that did you not? " Zimring asked.

" Most likely, yeah, " said .

" It was you wasn't it? " Zimring asked.

" Umm, that could have been what I said, yeah, " admitted.

denies ever hitting or threatening to hit Stefan -- and the judge did not

find that she did. His decision stated only that Stefan was injured at school by

an adult.

" That is your voice is it not? " Zimring asked when the voice on the tape

referred to striking Stefan.

" No, it's not, " said.

" Whose was it? " Zimring pressed on.

" I don't know, " said.

" You are under testimony to his honor! " Zimring said.

" I do not know whose voice is on that tape, " said. " It is not me. "

" So you felt empowered to take advantage of these children with disabilities? "

Zimring asked.

" No, " replied.

Atlanta school attorneys gave Sherri a chance to explain herself.

" I understand how it may come across, " said. " But I love what I do, and

this will not stop me from continuing to do what I do for the rest of my life. "

In his ruling, Judge Gatto used the word appalling -- given that Stefan is

non-verbal, and did not have the ability to inform his parents of his

mistreatment by employees on October 21. The school's failure to take the steps

to discipline the adult educators involved leads the court to conclude that the

schools can only promise more of the same.

" He's a different child, " Carolyn Ferrari said.

Seven months after he was injured, Stefan Ferrari has made tremendous strides,

and is excelling at his new private school. Failed by those who were supposed to

support and protect her son, a determined mother did something no one thought

could be done -- she gave him a voice.