Autistic boy kicked in the head by classmate and left untreated at school, TN suit says
A 7-year-old nonverbal autistic boy got a concussion from another student at school, and no one told his mom until he came home with knots and bruises on his head, according to a Tennessee lawsuit.
The mom has now filed a lawsuit obtained by WSMV against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County accusing school employees of negligence in failing to prevent her son’s injuries.
A spokesperson for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools told McClatchy News they can’t comment on pending litigation.
On Oct. 16, 2023, the first grader at Granbery Elementary School suffered a “traumatic brain injury” during the school day, according to the lawsuit filed exactly a year after the incident.
When he came home from school, he had visible injuries, and he was lethargic and vomiting, the lawsuit says. His mom took him to urgent care, then the emergency room for a concussion, according to the filing.
When the mom emailed her son’s teacher to find out what happened, the teacher told her the boy had been headbanging a lot that day, which is associated with his autism, the lawsuit says.
But the mom emailed the principal too, and the principal told her that after looking into it, she learned a classmate had kicked the boy in the head, according to the lawsuit.
However the injury occurred, the mom says the school’s employees failed to adequately monitor her son to prevent it.
The principal told the mom that the nurse didn’t treat her son because “the incident had not been reported to the teacher by the paraprofessional who witnessed the event,” the lawsuit says.
As part of the boy’s educational plans, the school was supposed to call the mom if her son was injured at school, and a paraprofessional was supposed to be with him one-on-one around the clock, according to the filing.
The boy “suffered a head injury as a result of unsupervised headbanging activity and/or a student attack as a result of the assigned paraprofessional’s failure to properly supervise and care for (the child),” the lawsuit says.
The mom says in addition to the Oct. 16 injury, her son sustained a handful of other head injuries during that school year stemming from a lack of adequate supervision.
“I feel as though once this incident happened, they were more so focused on themselves than trying to make it better for (my son),” she told WZTV. “I did not get any reassurance that things would get better.”
She’s seeking no more than $300,000 in damages related to medical expenses, anguish and other losses.
“For any other parents that have a special needs child, I say advocate, show up, ask questions, demand answers,” the mom told WZTV. “Don’t give up. You are your child’s biggest advocate.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Autistic boy kicked in the head by classmate and left untreated at school, TN suit says."