This week I accompanied a teen with Asperger’s into a police interrogation.  (Asperger’s is on the autism spectrum.)  He wasn’t accused of anything. He was the victim. A peer had sexually assaulted him the restroom.

Because of his Asperger’s, he could explain literally exactly what happened to him; but, he could not identify the perpetrator from a photo lineup. Of course, that’s exactly why the perpetrator chose him as a victim. He knew he could get away with it.

Children with special needs can become easy prey. They can be especially vulnerable in unsupervised settings such as the restroom, or unstructured settings such as passing periods or the cafeteria. For that reason, you could demand at an IEP meeting that your child with a disability be accompanied by a para in these risky situations.