Australian boy with autism led from school in handcuffs after allegedly stabbing classmate

From ninemsn in Australia:

A 10-year-old boy was placed in handcuffs after allegedly stabbing a classmate with a compass at his primary school in Geelong on May 3.

The boy was cuffed and led away to an ambulance after injuring the classmate, threatening other students with scissors and smashing classroom windows at Oberon Primary School.

His mother Nicole told the Geelong Advertiser she was very sorry for her son’s outburst but said the school could have prevented it.

"We did have preventatives in place so something like this was less likely to happen and they were not followed," she said.

Nicole believes her son, who suffers from autism and Asperger’s, became agitated as a reaction to a sudden change in his school routine.

She said the school had failed to inform her that her son’s usual Monday teacher had been replaced by someone else this week.

The school had promised to tell her if it planned to change the routine, she said.

Police and the Victorian Education Department rejected suggestions that officers had overreacted by placing the boy in handcuffs.

A police spokesman said the action had been taken to prevent the boy throwing objects and teachers and police.

Nicole said it would be bad for both her son and his classmates for him to remain at the school.