The mother of a nine-year-old autistic boy who was placed in a duffel bag with the drawstring pulled tight has called for the teacher responsible to be dismissed and for the practice to be banned.
Sandra Baker, from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, said that her son, Christopher, has been withdrawn and uncommunicative since the incident at Mercer County Intermediate School two weeks ago.
Baker, who was told her son had been placed in the bag as "therapy" for his autism, in a practice that has been used on other students, said she has had no apology or further communication with the school, despite promises to the contrary.
She said: "You do not put a child in a bag like that for any reason. If I did that to him, I'd be put in jail. We have not heard anything from the superintendent and we have not had an apology."
The case, which was investigated by the school, has sparked a national campaign condemning it as abuse. More than 18,000 people have now signed an online petition to the Kentucky board of education calling for the teacher responsible, believed to be a special educational aide, to be sacked, or at the very least to be properly educated in de-escalation and crisis intervention techniques for special educational needs students.
The petition highlights what it claims is a lack of training among educators in dealing with students with autism and other disabilities.
Earlier this month, in Alabama, a non-verbal autistic girl, Emily Halcombe, 14, was charged with felony assault after slapping her teacher. The charges were subsequently dropped after a similar petition.
Christopher Baker's case has also drawn attention to the lack of federal and, in many cases, state laws banning the use of restraint or seclusion in public schools. Kentucky is one of several states in which no laws exist preventing the use of restraint or seclusion in public schools, according to a document on the Department of Education website.
Lydia Brown, 18, an intern with an autistic lobby group who began the petition after reading about the case, said she felt the story struck a chord with a lot of parents of autistic children.
Brown, who is autistic, said: "If this had happened to anyone else, it would be condemned as abuse, but because it was a teacher to an autistic student it was called therapy. It was not in a therapeutic session and it was used as a restraining device. It is a reflection of a systematic problem of a lack of respectful and appropriate behaviour towards autistic people."
Baker, who was called to the school on 14 December by an official who said her son had been acting up, said she was horrified to find him inside the bag.
She said: "I can't describe the feeling of seeing him. It was so disturbing. I saw a big green bag in the hallway outside his classroom and I thought, 'no'. I was in shock. I froze. I stood up against the wall and I thought, 'What in the world?'"
She said that, on hearing her voice as she spoke to an educational aide, sitting next to the bag, her son called out.
"He said: 'Momma, is that you?' I told her to get him out of the bag now."
"He was sweating, his eyes were as big as half dollars. All he would do is stare at me. He had a scared look in his eyes. He didn't talk. I couldn't get him to."
"I was mad, shocked, upset."
She was especially disturbed to find that, when the teacher tried to undo the bag, she struggled to release him.
"What if he had gotten sick? What if there had been a fire?" she said.
Baker said that at a subsequent meeting she had with the director of special education and the school principal, she was told that Christopher had had a ball and, when instructed to put it down, had thrown it across the room.
"He did not hurt anyone or himself. I asked, 'Why did you put him in a bag?' She told me it was for therapy. The special education director told me that it had been used for other children."
In a statement, Dennis Davis, the interim superintendent, said state and federal confidentiality laws forbade him from commenting, even to confirm or deny any allegations. He said the matter was being reviewed by the school and was being "handled consistently with school district policies and with state and federal law".
He said: "The employees of the Mercer County Public Schools are qualified professionals who treat students with respect and dignity while providing a safe and nurturing learning environment."