Atlanta, GA 5/28/2008 10:29:27 PM
News / Education

Alex Barton, 5-Year Old Boy, "Voted Out" of Class

Alex Barton, a five-year-old with special needs, was voted out of his Kindergarten class at Morningside Elementary, in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

His teacher Wendy Portillo brought Barton, who suffers from Asperger's disease, in front of his classmates and asked the children to tell Barton why they didn’t like him.  

Portillo then asked the class to vote on if he deserved to stay in the class or not. Barton was voted out by a 14-2 margin.

His mother told The Early Show that Portillo may have forced some of the children to vote him out. She admits that he's had behavioral problems and can be difficult but says he’s undergoing tests to determine if he has a disorder.

Police found no grounds for charges but the school district is investigating.

According to Aspergers.com, people with Asperger's Disorder as “characterized by social isolation and eccentric behavior in childhood. There are impairments in two-sided social interaction and non-verbal communication. Though grammatical, their speech may sound peculiar due to abnormalities of inflection and a repetitive pattern. Clumsiness may be prominent both in their articulation and gross motor behavior."

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