No excuse for child abuse, but remember, most autistic children aren’t “Rain Man”. Some can be quite violent to themselves and others. Not saying this kid was, but federal law says these kids must be placed in public schools, no matter their ability to function.
PBS had a pretty good show about autism, “In a Different Key”. It’s about the first kid, now an old man, diagnosed with autism, and the history of its generally bad treatments, which pretty much parallels the treatments of other neurological and psychiatric illnesses. There was one very short part about violent autistic children - the head bangers, hand chewers, hitters, biters, screamers, throwers, etc. Those kids are also to be given public education. However, the people needed to oversee such kids obviously don’t get much education in.
A SPED teacher told me horror stories about the severely disabled children in her classroom. As an example, one of the kids was so messed up she had to change his diapers, and his IQ was so low he would never learn to communicate, let alone learn how to tie his own shoes. He just sat there; it was the best he would ever do.
The administration required her to teach him arithmetic, and demonstrate progress.
Other kids screamed, scratched, and bit if interacted with.
Yeah, the teaching industry is overwhelmingly run by fools.