A teaching assistant accused of removing hearing protection from a severely autistic boy has denied she punished him for hitting her.
Mandy Hodges, 50, of Pentre, Rhondda Cynon Taf, told a court she believed the nine-year-old would “settle down” if his hearing protection was removed.
Ms Hodges and teacher Laura Murphy, 33, are denying seven counts of assault and cruelty to a child under 16 at Park Lane Special School in Aberdare.
None of the children can be named.
CCTV footage of the playground was shown to Swansea Crown Court as of October 2020.
Prosecutors said it showed Ms Hodges taking the boy’s earplugs because she knew it would cause him distress because he has a condition known as sensory processing disorder, an acute sensitivity to noise.
- The teacher accused of assault had no experience of autism, the court said
- Assault altered autistic students – court
- Autistic students treated with unacceptable methods – court
Ms Hodges said removing the ear defenders would result in the boy hearing what she described as “different sounds” and would “settle down”.
She dismissed suggestions that he heard noises louder, causing him to become distressed and upset.
Parents seated in the bleachers were visibly distraught as she made her statement.
Handling plans and an explanation for the child shown stated that he “could be easily disturbed by the noise of other children around him”.
Ms Hodges said she did not have access to detailed information about the children in her class and saw other staff remove the children’s ear defenders.
“I did what I saw others do,” she said.
Ms Hodges said the boy, who she said was taller than her, grabbed her and gave her a “dead arm”.
She told the court she tried to de-escalate the situation by massaging his hand, which had worked in the past but didn’t this time, but he hit her again.
She said she returned the hearing protection after about a minute.
“He was fine, he was happy,” she told the court.
The process goes on.
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