Autistic Son And Mother Turned Out Of Airplane

In an eyebrow raising incident the details of which hold contradicting views on the reasons why it happened, a two year old Autistic boy and his mother were removed from the American Eagle flight which returned back to the terminal before finally taking off, minus the duo.

Both sides hold to their version of what went wrong and who is to be blamed.

However, both sides agree that, the main reason behind the whole incident was the small 2 year old autistic child, Jarrett Farrell, who became restless and grew out of control with each passing moment as a result of which, altercations between the crew and the child’s mother took place, eventually ending in the mother son duo to be turned out of the plane.

As per Mrs. Farrell her son who is autistic, became uneasy at in the beginning itself and despite all her efforts she was finding it difficult to keep him calm. She had expected more understanding from the crew which she did not get. According to Mrs. Farrell “If they just would have been a little more understanding I think that none of this would have been a problem."

The mother found the behavior of the flight attendant to be absolutely out of line. "She kept coming over and tugging his seatbelt to make it tighter, 'This has to stay tight'. And then he was wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And she kept coming over and reprimanding him and yelling at him," Farrell said.

Her behavior as well as the behavior of the pilot who came out to give a stern warning to the lady further worsened the situation as the child was able to understand the altercations and sense the tense atmosphere, which further made him frustrated and reactive.

The whole thing seemed to snowball into the worst situation. "He just melted down. He saw me getting upset. He was upset. He was on the floor rolling around," she said.

It was after this that the pilot decided to turn the plane back to drop off the two of them. However, when he made an announcement concerning the mother and her uncontrollable child, was when the lady broke down.

The American Eagle, which belongs to the American Airlines group, on the other hand have a different story to tell. As per them, the woman had from the beginning refused to keep her bag in the overhead compartment as a result of which the problem started.

In a statement which they released to the media, American Airlines said that "Though, ultimately, the parent's violation of FAA regulations was the cause for removal, both situations contributed to an uncomfortable and potentially unsafe atmosphere for our passengers and crew. Our responsibility is to maintain the safety and comfort of all our passengers, therefore the captain taxied the airplane back to the gate before departure and the passengers were removed."

Janice Farrell however, says, she had complied with the airlines, despite the fact that the bag contained stuff to pacify her son. "She took my bag and put it up top," Farrell said.

With the airlines maintaining its stand and the Farrells’ deciding to never fly American, the true issue remains unresolved in a way.

It is a fact that children diagnosed with Autism have difficulty adjusting to any change in their surroundings, as this disorder has hampering effects on their social interaction and communication skills. Generally children below 3 years of age are diagnosed with this brain developmental disorder.

Autistic children need help to sail through the everyday ups and downs of life which normally would be considered trivial by other toddlers. Parents of an Autistic child too get upset as it’s an everyday struggle for normalcy with them.

Emotional outbursts and meltdowns are seen in such children often, when they are faced with situations which restrict or refrain them, or limit their actions as in case of Jarrett Farrell. Under such circumstances it is important to –

• Be encouraging and sensitive, in order to avoid the onset of the meltdown at best.
• Sometimes some children react well by being left alone, to gain reaction time and find their own way out of a situation.
• While at times teaching and practicing deep breathing might work.
• Often redirecting the child’s thoughts to something else may be useful.
• Sometimes rewards and sometimes preparation in advance might be a useful way out of a meltdown.

Whatever way one chooses to deal with these children, patience is the keyword here.