Texas substitute teacher is fired for washing girl with Down syndrome's mouth out using SOAP after accusing 13 year-old of cursing at her

Daily Mail UK ^ | January 26, 2024 | Dolores Chang

[Morgana]

A substitute teacher has been fired for washing out the mouth of a girl with Down syndrome, accusing the 13-year-old of cursing at her.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Cambridge School in Texas, a school that caters to students with special needs.

LaShae Celestine, the mother of the 13-year-old Harmony, who has Down syndrome and a speech impediment, said that the teacher demanded Harmoney to wash her mouth and placed a paper towel full of soap into her mouth.

The heartbroken mother, who reviewed surveillance camera footage capturing the incident, has filed reports with child protective services and Humble Independent School District Police.

As of Friday morning, the teacher has not been identified or charged. DailyMail.com has reached out to the Humble ISD police for further information.

You can't unsee that video. Like, you really assaulted my baby by putting soap in her mouth,' Celestine told ABC13, recalling the traumatic incident that happened to her child.

Celestine said she received an email from the Cambridge School Director Leslie Johnson on Tuesday afternoon.

Harmoney was working with the substitute teacher shortly before 10am that day, according to the email.

'While doing her work, Harmoney cursed at the substitute.' the director wrote.

But Celestine said her daughter's speaking ability is limited and was simply asking a question.

'[Harmony] said, 'What you doing?' And she has a speech impediment because she (has) Down syndrome.

[Bobalu]

Most of the news nowadays is disturbing... this is one more depressing story for the pile :-/

Set the Wayback machine for about 1960 Mr Peabody!

or perhaps....

[pfflier]

Back in my day, any teacher "physically accosting" my daughter for any reason would have found it "very bad" for their continued good health.

As a retired teacher, I think parents should see some of the things their little angels say and do while at school. There is always a reaction of "My kid would never do that" until evidence is presented.

Teachers should be given body cams

[Jim W N]

Yup, symptomatic of self-loathing - over-reaction to perceived slights.

[New Perspective]

What was said? How functioning was the child? Where did the girl learn the potential string of profanity? Do you value having a classroom subjected to one student getting their way in cursing?

Children with DS, especially a teenager, impulsiveness is another common challenging behavior in children with Down syndrome as they may act without thinking, which can lead to behavior issues and difficulties in social interactions. In many cases they also suffer from ADHD as well. This was an act of cruelty to a young woman who does not have the ability to truly know right from wrong yet. This should overcome your 4 obnoxious questions.

[EinNYC]

Brown lye soap is the worst. She likely got mild tasting Camay.

Doesn't matter what kind of soap she used. That's capital punishment and most school systems do not allow any sort of physical punishment. And how could you punish a Down's kid? They likely have no idea what they're saying, probably just imitating a fellow classmate. That woman looks dumber than a pile of hog leavings.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

SOAP? How primitive! My mom always warned us she would wash our mouth out with bleach if we said a cuss word! So we never cursed. At 77 years of age I still don’t curse.

[imardmd1]

I read the whole original article through. Five entities involved: The child, the teacher, the aide, the mother, and the administration. In my estimate, inexcusable malfunction of all.

Properly conductd, the experience could have been a profitable one to everyone involved.

But the primary cause was the failure of the parent to train (not teach) her child to obey a direct order from a superior.

Ask any Drill Instructor or recruit who failed boot camp and necessarily received a BCD.

So, what happens when the student curses or strikes out at the next teacher? Fire the teacher for a negative disciplinary corrective procedure? Send the mother to a dog-training school to learn how to use negative/positive incentives to train her own child for proper behavior? Send the administrator to management seminars to learn how to handle a manipulative parent and to resolve the issue without career-damaging reconciliation of the budding substitute-teacher?

Bunch of fools, all demonstrating childish behaviors.

[imardmd1]

Doing this to a DS child is just plain cruelty

Depends on circumstances. This may have been a life-improving lesson of how to manage one's behavior while being supervised, especially for a down-side IQ who cannot respond to the logic of reasoning, but can learn from negative and positive actions of one's "boss."

Not necessarily "cruel" at all. Are you a SJW candidate?

[MeganC]

You think a Down’s Syndrome child is going to behave logically?

[imardmd1]

I'm not sure that substitute teachers are fully trained to handle such situations.

A substitute teacher is usually a well-trained licensed teacher who is only temporarily filling in for the regular permanent contract teacher's absence. I have known fully degreed and licensed substitutes who make a career out of this, at excellent wages. Don't sell this way of earning a living short. It has many options that the tenured school employee does not.

If I was placing a bet on this situation after reading the summary, I would put my money on the substitute having done exactly the right thing, in view that the mother has never trained her daughter to be obedient when given a command by a legitimate authority.

Perhaps you can learn from this parable, too?

You can't alter a baby's behavior (or a dog's or horse's) by reasoning with it, can you?

[faucetman]

How old was this teacher? 100?

This is NEVER okay. Not for ANY children. Retarded or otherwise.

Not used as a pejorative, its a REAL word. Another one of those words the left has decided, all by themselves, to eliminate from the lexicon.

I REFUSE to use THEIR words. Who the hell gave them permission/authority to change OUR language?

[imardmd1]

Of course not. Aren't you getting the point?

If the skilled substitute had discerned that the child could be reasoned with, a negatively corporal consequence for misbehavior would not have been needed.

The consequence was merely treatment with a soapy paper towel, not a bar of soap, was not a very painful or harmful result for a not very serious infraction. But the clue of a rebellious attitude of the almost-adult child striking out at the instructor was a much more serious irresponsible behavior, invoking a reasonably equivalent escalation of the negative response from the teacher.

And in retrospect, the child's mother had not learned of her own deficiency of training her child to be obedient to justifiable reproofs from an appointed authority.

[moovova]

That’s assault on a minor. Jail the teach.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My fourth grade teacher was Mr. Raszman at Cayuga Heights Elementary in Ithaca, NY back in 1960. He would bean me from across the room with a piece of blackboard chalk if I got the teeniest bit out of line. It was a well behaved classroom. He was the only male teacher I had in elementary school. Even the female teachers knew how to control a room back then.

Wow, I just found his obituary. He passed only a few years ago at age 91. Sure enough, he was a WW II vet!

Paul R. Raszmann, 1928 - 2020.

[MeganC]

“the skilled substitute” will likely never work again in Texas and may well face prosecution.

“And in retrospect, the child’s mother had not learned of her own deficiency of training her child to be obedient to justifiable reproofs from an appointed authority.”

Hi, welcome to America where we don’t obey some jackass just because another jackass appointed them and gave them ‘authority’.

[imardmd1]

Thanks for the jackass response! Unfortunately, there are many exhibiting this “woke” SJW attitude driving our nation to anarchy. Brought on by Benjamin Spock, I presume.

[LeoTDB69]

Seventh grader Martha Mendlovitz received numerous earned noogies.

But nowhere close to the noogie record of Lisa Looper

[PIF]

Soap is not “capital punishment” - take it from one who got it a lot as a kid many many decades ago when parents were not friends, but parents. Capital kid punishment is the belt or the slap.

And yes it does matter what type of soap.

Millions and millions of DS kids got the treatment - so what’s so special about this DS kid?

[econjack]

My wife was the department head of the Special Needs department of a school with over 3,000 students. Every one of her teachers had special training/course work in learning disabilities (LD) teaching. One can be a licensed substitute teacher and not have that specialized training. I have a Ph.D. in Economics plus almost 40 years of university-level teaching experience, but I am not qualified to teach a high school econ course because I do not have the education courses that are required for certification.

I was not selling substitute teachers short. I'm simply saying she may not have had the LD courses that are often required when teaching special needs students. As for "done exactly the right thing", I seriously doubt that it's prescribed behavior to wash a students mouth out with soap.

[LowOiL]

If the child can not learn, why waste tax payer money to send them to school. I stand by my statement (of questions).