BROWNSBURG, Ind. — A Brownsburg mother says the situation surrounding the mistreatment of a 7-year-old boy at her son's school has her on edge.
The woman spoke to 13News anonymously because her child is currently in the same life skills program as the student at the center of a proposed lawsuit against Brownsburg Schools.
"He had the teacher, the aide and his speech pathologist all removed immediately from his team," she said, "which is completely understandable. But when it comes to kids with autism, it's really hard when they have big changes like that."
She said thinking about the alleged incident still makes her emotional.
"Knowing that that child was sitting underneath a camera the entire time and it went so long without being recognized or even called out upon is what really got us," the mother said.
Now, the family of that student is looking at suing the school district for abuse and failing to report -- a move the parent who spoke with 13News believes is the right thing to do.
"I hope that the outcome is everything they want and everything that their little boy deserves," she said.
In the lawsuit, the parents of the alleged abuse victim say they noticed a change in their child's behavior after being in Sarah Seymour's class.
The mother who spoke to 13News said she witnessed some changes in her child's behavior, too.
"He began to hate school. He would cry going into school. Anytime he would see her face on his AAC device, he would start crying," she said.
The mom said she attended Tuesday's meeting when school leaders addressed concerns and offered an apology. But, she said, she still worries every time her child gets on the bus.
"As soon as he gets off the bus and I know he's at school, it's just straight panic for me," she said.
The mother said she wants to speak out because she feels it's important that someone does.
"My kid, their kids ... they don't have voices. We are their voices and someone needs to stand up for them, and that's exactly what we are doing," she said.