Texas mom says her 7yo son cries whenever he sees the school bus, then she discovers what allegedly happened inside his classroom: ‘Shocked, speechless’

According to Texan mother Briana Winkle, a phone call from the principal of Patterson Elementary School in Kennedale “changed everything.” The call alerted her to a video that allegedly showed her 7-year-old non-verbal and autistic son, Maddox, suffering physical abuse at the hands of his teacher inside his special education classroom.

“I was baffled. I was shocked, speechless,” Winkle told CBS. “There was a point that the pair came up and she had kicked him while he was laying on the ground.”

Even before the footage of the alleged classroom abuse surfaced, Winkle says there were warning signs when her son would cry at the sight of the school bus. Parents of non-verbal autistic children rely on behavioral changes to understand what they’re experiencing. One Indiana mother spent three years asking her autistic son about his school day before he finally gave her an answer.

It’s been happening to other autistic kids in Texas

Winkle says the school principal called after the mother of another special needs student filed a complaint with Child Protective Services and local law enforcement. Monica Davis’s autistic daughter came home on August 21 with bruises on her arm. The following month, parents were notified by email that the school’s special education teacher and paraprofessional resigned.

“They said that they couldn’t give us any information at that time. We didn’t find out for what it was like a month later,” said Winkle. “If she didn’t speak up, we would have never known. And those teachers could potentially still be there.”

These incidents are just among the latest reports of educators allegedly abusing autistic children in Texas. In May, Daniel Hall reviewed surveillance footage involving his verbally-challenged 6-year-old autistic daughter Trinity. The video shows Trinity being manhandled by her special education teacher and several teachers’ aides in front of her classmates.

“They visibly seen my daughter’s teacher pull her hair and pull her hair hard enough to where my daughter’s beads came out her head,” Hall told ABC. “Also on camera, there’s literally teachers encouraging other students to cause harm to my daughter.”

Briana Winkle told reporters that her son is now receiving therapy and has been out of school for several days. “It’s just really hard. And as a mother, I’m really struggling with the guilt aspect of it. Something has to change.”

CBS reports that Kennedale ISD confirmed that the employees are no longer with the school district after conducting an internal investigation. In its statement, the school system said it notified affected parents, implemented additional measures to improve classroom oversight and student safety, and is cooperating with local law enforcement and Child Protective Services. Due to confidentiality laws, Kennedale ISD declined to disclose further details.

Concerns about the safety of autistic children also extend beyond the classroom. A California mother recently alleged that a truck driver tried to scare her autistic son before crashing his car and pulling out a knife.