School District To Pay $1.55 Million For Allegedly Denying ABA Therapy
NORTH SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The North Syracuse Central School District has settled a lawsuit that claimed school staff fell short in providing a student with autism proper resources and care.
The case settled for $1.55 million, said Carlo de Oliveira, the lawyer who represented the family and their child.
School officials declined to comment on the lawsuit and settlement, saying it does not comment on litigation.
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The lawsuit did not identify the student.
The family sued in 2018, when their son was 5. The lawsuit said the district declined to provide a therapy known as applied behavior analysis and a teaching assistant trained to provide the therapy.
By not providing the care, the lawsuit said the district violated federal law that ensures students with disabilities have equal access to education.
The student was nonverbal with limited motor, cognitive and social skills, according to the lawsuit. The family believed a limited window of opportunity to address their child’s disability closed when the school refused to provide the therapy, de Oliveira said.
The district insisted on using a different methodology, de Oliveira said.
The case went to a trial and settled by its fourth day in June, according to court filings. de Oliveira said the family expects the money will be used largely for expenses related to their child’s long-term care.
It is unlikely he will develop language skills, de Oliveira said.
The district is facing a second lawsuit by parents of a student with autism. The lawsuit, filed in April in federal court, claims staff strapped a nonverbal 5-year-old girl to a chair every school day for five months during the 2021-22 school year.
The girl had trouble staying seated and paying attention in the classroom, the lawsuit said. A teacher would strap her to a chair to keep her seated, according to the lawsuit.
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