Autistic boy leaves class, hops train unnoticed by teacher

[nscnotp1]

By KGW Staff

PORTLAND - A ten-year-old autistic boy wandered away from his after-school program and ended up in another state without his teacher ever noticing that he was gone, according to the child?s upset mother.

Angie Zecha said it all started Wednesday afternoon when her son, Kyle McEwan got into an argument on the playground. He was upset and wanted to call home.

Zecha said Kyle told her the teacher at his after-school program in North Portland ignored him when he tried to talk to him about it, so Kyle decided to walk home. The school, James John Elementary, is part of the Portland Public Schools system.

Zecha was shocked that no one saw her son leave or even noticed he was gone.

?My child disappears out of his class, and not at one point does he look for him or call up to the main office to notify anybody?"

Kyle, a 5th grader, suffers from a type of autism called Asperger?s Syndrom. He is incredibly intelligent but has a short attention span and few social skills.

During his trip home, Kyle said he got scared, started running and began to climb over a freight train connector, when the train started moving.

He said he thought ?it would be a lot safer? if he stayed on the train. And when it started picking up speed, he was just too afraid to try and get off.

?I hung on," Kyle said.

Off Kyle went, through North Portland, over the Columbia River, and into Washington state.

?I was pretty scared,? he recalled.

Once he reached Vancouver, he started screaming for help.

A railroad worker heard him, found him and pulled him from the train.

"I was crying and could barely catch my breath," he said.

The worker contacted Kyle?s mom and then she immediately called the school.

"Had he not been found, when he was found... we weren't supposed to pick them up until 5 o'clock, we wouldn't have known anything," she told KGW. ?There is no excuse for that. None!"

A school spokesperson told KGW ?we are working to make sure this never happens again.?

Meantime, Kyle?s mom said he will not be returning to the after-school program until the school can guarantee that he will be safe and this type of incident could never happen again.

KGW reporter Jack Penning also contributed to this article.

[cmherndon]

It's things like this that really make me worry for when I eventually have children of my own.  That's some really great childcare going on in that after school program.  Parents who enroll their kids in these programs trust that the teachers or whoever will keep them safe...and nobody noticed that he was gone?  You have got to be kidding me! This is something that never should have happened in the first place.  It's a wonder that he wasn't abducted, or even worse.

That said, I am by no means supporting his decision to climb on the train.  However, it is nice to know that he was returned safely to his mother.  That's the important thing.

[JCagle]

Since he has special needs I'm sure this was some sort of special needs after school program. You would think when there are special needs children there would be even more supervision than normal. At least he made it home safe and sound, but one slip and we would be reading about all of this in a totally different way.