Disabled Georgia Boy Faces Felony Charges For Quoting Video Games
The parents of a Georgia boy with autism are outraged after faces felony charges for ‘scripting’ threats from his favorite video game in class.
Part of 12-year-old Jadon Ringland’s condition is a pattern of behavior called “scripting” or echolalia; Jadon repeats words or phrases he has heard without any real meaning behind them.
The Ringland family says that the school is aware of their child’s condition but did not follow the plan in place for his outbursts of the day he allegedly threatened his school. During a science lesson, Jadon started yelling, “I will burn all the teachers. I will burn this school down and all the students in this class. One by one, I will make bottles. It is easy. I will put in a glass bottle of gas and a piece of cloth and burn them. I will burn you.”
Jadon later told a teacher, “I sometimes like to get in trouble at school.” The reason being that he got to “go home to play on [his] computer all day.” Because of the yelling incident, Jadon has been charged with making terroristic threats, a felony. Jadon’s parents say that their child was only repeating scenes from his and his older brother’s favorite video game, Red Dead Redemption. The bottles Jadon yelled about are a weapon used in the game.
The parents are upset with the charges against Jadon, saying the school ignored the intervention plan for Jadon’s ‘scripting’ outbursts. The plan notes that Jadon might loudly ‘script’ or make threats in class. Teachers are supposed to follow a script of their own when handling Jadon, responding to him in specific ways, but the parents say that did not happen. When asked about the incident by his mother, Jadon allegedly said it was a “pretend, video game.”
Jadon now awaits a competency hearing in his criminal case as his family contends with the school and advocates more training to more effectively handle autistic behaviors in class.
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