Judicial Spectrum Primer: What Judges Need to Know About Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Ricky’s Story* In the summer of 2010, a young mother called 911 after finding her 1-year-old daughter blue and not breathing. She was distraught when the police and emergency medical service arrived. After the police discovered that her 2-year-old son, Ricky, had smothered the little girl, Child Protective Services (CPS) was called and Ricky and his brother, Eddie, age 5, were taken into emergency foster care and placed with their grandmother. The mother and father were arrested for child endangerment. CPS then moved to get a court order keeping both boys in foster care. The motion was granted after the judge found the boys in imminent risk of harm; the judge also ordered an immediate multidisciplinary evaluation (MDE) of both boys by the local early childhood center that has expertise in mental health and developmental disabilities of young children. Two days later, the boys were evaluated at the early childhood center. Eddie was found to be a normal kindergartener, but counseling was recommended to help him manage the death of his sibling. In the meantime, Ricky was in the waiting room with his grandmother. He was silently walking in circles, and did not respond to his name or anything else his grandmother said, or take any interest in the other children or toys. The evaluators determined that he had autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and immediately referred him for Early Intervention (EI). Ricky was, however, already receiving EI for speech delay. The evaluator urged the EI service coordinator to get Ricky into a specialized autism program immediately. Ricky was soon admitted to a day autism program and received Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy along with Occupational and Speech Therapy. His grandmother also received training.