. DISABILITIES : CHILDREN : EDUCATION: K-12 : LAW: CASES : MEDICAL: CONDITIONS: AUSTISM: 5th Grader with Autism Charged with Felony Assault Dec 31, 2009 5th Grader with Autism Charged with Felony Assault KPS for Parents Making Special Education Actually Work <http://www.kps4parents.org/blog/?p=712 I am writing today about a deplorable situation in my home state of Arkansas involving an 11-year-old with autism who has failed to receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), according to the events described by his grandmother (see the Examiner news article).  Zakhqurey Price is a 5th grader at Beard Elementary in Fort Smith, AR, who is challenged by autism. Im not going to repeat verbatim the article cited above because thats unnecessarily redundant.  Ive already posted comments on this article and its sister article at Great Schools in hopes that the family will get the word and contact Arkansas Legal Aid for help.  The point of todays blog article and podcast is to use this horrible situation as a teaching example and learning opportunity for others.  Im going to presume for the purposes of this article that the familys assertions are true. <snip The fact that this family has a court date on January 12, 2010 on the felony assault charges means the charges obviously havent been dropped and Fort Smith schools are prosecuting handicapped children for manifesting the symptoms of their handicapping conditions rather than providing them with a FAPE. What is more, in addition to the claims that this family most likely has under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), they probably have actionable claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 for discrimination on the basis of handicapping conditions.  While the IDEA claims can only pursue remedy in the form of special education services, the 504 claims can pursue monetary damages. The Districts board of education, which is comprised of Dr. Deanie Mehl, Ms. Shannon Blatt, Mr. Wyman R. Wade, Jr., Ms. Jeannie Cole, Ms. Barbara Hathcock, Dr. David Hunton, and Ms. Yvonne Keaton-Martin should be mortally ashamed and embarrassed right now, and are well-advised to keep their eyes on the horizon for a big, fat legal expense that should never have had the occasion to develop. Fifth grade autistic boy charged with a felony December 30, 12:47 AM Special Education Examiner Robin Hansen Examiner <http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4959-Special-Education- Examiner~y2009m12d30-Autism-is-considered-a-felony-in-fifth-grade# A shorter URL for the above _link_: <http://tinyurl.com/y9yk9jv Carole Reynolds is desperate to help her eleven year old autistic grandson, Zakhqurey Price, who has been charged with multiple counts of felonious assault against  two school district employees.  The school is Beard Elementary in Fort Smith School District, Arkansas. Reynolds says, On August 18th, my 11 year old grandson started the school year, and we requested an evaluation be done as he was returning from another district that recommended he have an aide with him at all times. We tried to get an IEP together before school started in July and were refused and told to wait until school started. Reynolds has been refused access to Zakh's records in spite of repeated requests. She said, We have made requests to receive a copy of his evaluation/assessment results before the October 15th temporary placement IEP meeting and were refused because they said it was not allowed by state law. <snip Reynolds continued, We repeatedly asked for a Functional Behavior Assessment FBA, and positive behavior plan with positive behavior strategies and supports, and the school to stop calling the police on my grandson. At the October 15th meeting, suggestions and guidelines were agreed upon but no formal positive behavior support plan was completed. Reynolds is sure the suggestions from the meeting were not implemented. Worst of all, there was  no positive behavior support plan in place  As a result, Zakh had a meltdown two weeks later. On Oct 30th, Zakhqurey exhibited behaviors manifested by his Autism, which led to restraints. The police were called. In the process of attempting to restrain him, two staff members were injured and filed felony charges against the 11 year old child. They cornered him and tried to take him down, he fought back. There were very minor injuries to principal and teacher. The fifth grader was taken away in handcuffs and booked with juvenile criminals.  He has an IQ of 68.