Lillian Gomez, Teacher, Accused Of Using Hot Sauce To Punish Special Needs Students

Parents in Kissimmee, Fla., are outraged after Lillian Gomez, a teacher at Sunrise Elementary School, allegedly used hot sauce to punish special needs students, WFTV reports.

Gomez allegedly poured the hot sauce on crayons to punish autistic students for putting them in their mouths, according to the report.

While the school district's superintendent is calling for the teacher's termination, Gomez is currently suspended from her position while she awaits a hearing, which is expected in the next few weeks.

Gomez isn't the first to face legal troubles after allegedly using hot sauce as a disciplinary measure.

A few years ago, Sylvia Guadalupe Tagle, 50, was found guilty of child abuse after allowing a special needs student to drink a soda laced with hot sauce, NBC Miami reported. While Tagle claimed it was just the way she likes to drink her soda, prosecutors ruled it was abuse.

Back in August, Jessica Beagley, 36, was convicted of misdemeanor child abuse after squirting hot sauce into her son's mouth for lying about getting in trouble at school, and recording the act on video. Beagley could face up to one year in jail, a $10,000 fine, and up to 10 years probation.

For more on this story, see the full video report from WFTV.

Comments

[isfturtle]

01:44 AM on 02/03/2012

If you think this woman did the right thing by putting hot sauce on the crayons, then you most likely have never dealt with profoundly autistic children. If you say it's the responsibility of the parents to teach their kids not to eat crayons, then you definitely have never dealt with profoundly autistic children, or at the very least have never tried to teach one not to put something in their mouth.
What the teacher did was dangerous. These kids do not have the ability to understand not to eat the crayons. They don't have the ability to understand that the hot sauce could get into their eyes. Most importantly, they have a limited ability to communicate that they're in pain from hot sauce that's gotten in their mouths and/or eyes. Not to mention that they may be allergic to some ingredients in the hot sauce, or may be on strict diets.
If the teacher cannot ensure that the students are supervised while they are using the crayons, she should take the crayons away. It's that simple.

[SoCalifTeacher]

09:03 AM on 02/03/2012

And when she takes the crayons away and the child proceeds to have a mega temper tantrun, then what?

[isfturtle]

05:32 PM on 02/03/2012

So better to have them screaming in pain than have a "mega temper tantrum?"

[Billy Walters]

12:26 AM on 02/03/2012

why not? the courts say its ok for the parents for use hot sauce to punish there kids. why not teachers, pastor, police etc. its the courts fault for not punishing parents for using hot sauce and other thing on their kids.

[jabailo]

05:07 PM on 02/02/2012

Wasn't it Einstein who said, why should I remember phone numbers when they're all in this book (pointing to the White Pages).

So, yes, teens augmented with smart phones know they could "answer" any of those questions with 2 seconds of Googling. Why clutter the neurons?

[Jamie Zupo]

03:21 PM on 02/02/2012

Corporal punishment appears to still be legal in Florida (and a number of other states -- mostly Southern). And used disproportionately, according to one article, with disabled students.

So I guess I retract my previous comments. If Ms. Gomez is legally entitled to strike her students, why shouldn't she allowed to pour hot sauce on their crayons?

Take care, everyone. I'll be reading homeschool websites.

[Ana Lee McIntosh]

02:24 PM on 02/02/2012

These teachers are absolutely the most ignorant teachers ever. What kind of school administration is this that they don't have higher hiring standards. And more training for the teachers is not the answers; they should come with specialized training for special needs students already. It is criminal not take into consideration possible food allergies, much less the medical contradictions with the medicines these students might be taking. I would not stop at abuse charges, I would charge those teachers with criminal intent to do do harm or possible murder. Someone in the state of Florida needs to step up for these children and they need to do it now before these stupid teachers kill a student.

[Marianela]

01:53 PM on 02/02/2012

This is an abuse with capital letters. I have a a son with autism and I respect and teach him the same way I teach my daugther. This is the result of having many people without the training, the heart and the motivation to work with special students. So sad!

[Watching rock grow]

12:48 PM on 02/02/2012

My mother would applaud this teacher, only to validate her own actions.

[LindaK9975]

10:36 AM on 02/02/2012

As a behavior therapist, I have several questions for those of you who think the teacher's actions are ok. Why use aversive techniques when natural consequences work better and make more sense than putting hot sauce on crayons? The teacher should have simply told the children that if they put the crayons in their mouths, they will be taken away and follow through with it. If the children like to use the crayons, they will stop putting them in their mouths. If they are bored to death with coloring all day, they will continue to put the crayons in their mouth. There are some great special ed teachers out there, but I have seen too many special ed teachers who babysit rather than teach.

[LindaPeterJones]

12:42 PM on 02/02/2012

You know, I think the point needs to be made that non autistic children eat crayons to. And when a parent or teacher tells them not do, they don't always stop either. All children are naturally rebellious. But you don't see the teachers of those kids putting a painful substance on their crayons. Part of why Gomez did this, is because she is a bigot. Plain and simple. Because as someone else said, and I said and now you, she could of just taken the crayons away. Problem solved.

[brisedemer]

02:50 PM on 02/02/2012

I'm the mom of an autistic child.

Is anyone here familiar with PICA behavior? If so, you know that autistic children who suffer from PICA do not put inedible objects in their mouths because they WANT to or because they are "disobedient." They cannot control themselves. You'll find PICA most prevalent in children who are also aphasic ( without speech or with limited verbal communication. ) The teacher should simply have removed the crayons, period. Putting hot sauce on them only caused pain to children who have absolutely no idea why.

If you want to ( somewhat ) understand what it is like to be autistic, imagine trying to listen to a song that is being played on an AM radio station that is filled with static and echos from other stations. You can't interact with them the way you do "normal" children or even children with other developemental disabilities.

For lack of a better description, what the teacher did was really, really dumb. And it probably resulted in screaming, crying, head-slapping and hand-flapping from children who are triggered by simply sensory stimulants, anyway, and have no idea why their throats are burning. Maybe it's the teacher who should be riding the short bus to school.

[LindaK9975]

11:24 AM on 02/04/2012

I think she is a control freak more than a bigot. I often wonder why people expect better behavior from children and individuals with developmental disabilities of all ages than they do of adults.

[Louie Rey]

10:35 AM on 02/02/2012

As bad as this is the even bigger problem is that her teacher's union is going to do everything it can to save her job which by extension would save her vacation days, her pension and every other perk that being a teacher entails. The teacher's unions greatest concern is their members, NOT their students. It's ok if these lowlifes inflict their form of "teaching" on other peoples' children but I wonder what kind of reaction they'd have if it occurred to one of their children? Oh wait, a lot of the higher ups in the union send their kids to private schools as opposed to the public schools in which their members teach. Never mind.

[LindaPeterJones]

12:45 PM on 02/02/2012

With all due respect, I don't think it is a bigger problem but it is an equal problem if this idiot gets her pension. She should lose her job and get no rewards for that at all. You made some good points with your post.

[Louie Rey]

01:03 PM on 02/02/2012

I said it was a bigger problem because the union would do whatever it could to not have to fire her or take her out of the classroom but you're right, it's not a bigger problem. I guess I'm a lot older than I wish to acknowledge but I do remember that the teachers that were in my classrooms were just about the most respectable people I came in contact with. As I read the plethora of stories about incidents like this, and much worse for that matter, I wonder what exactly is going on in the schools around the country? Children seem to be treated as prey or props or whatever. Almost anything instead of students. A terrible shame and a tragedy upon this country.

[LindaPeterJones]

09:35 AM on 02/02/2012

The woman who raised me used to put a horrid tasting burning substance on my fingers so I would not bite my nails. If it got in my mouth and I complained, she would start laughing at me and try to make me feel like a mental case because I did not like it. That was decades ago, when kids were not protected. Most of the people who work with autistic kids abuse them because they think they are better than them, and because they are control freak type of people to begin with. I have heard so many stories and seen so many people in Human Services be so abusive to these poor disadvantaged people, despite the fact today, that there ARE laws to protect children. Yet when these low lifes are outed all they do is lie and complain about the kid's behavior, indicating they deserved the abuse. A few years ago I heard about this horrid psychiatrist who made retarded people wear shock belts. This woman should go to jail for child abuse and if anyone ever sees a state worker be verbally abusive to autistic or retarded people, or people with Down in public please call the State's Attorney office and notify them. I have witnessed their stomach turning condescending behavior many times and they need to be stopped.

[chemist666]

02:45 PM on 02/02/2012

funny how from up on your pedistal you nonchalantly use the word "retarded" while tryin to defend these children. Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror and evaluate yourself before attempting to speak. The word "retarded" is regarded as a derrogatory statement. So please stop your self-righteous banter.

[orlenda]

09:34 AM on 02/02/2012

why not just take the crayons away? duh....

[black2deep]

09:31 AM on 02/02/2012

Okay one of the problems I have with this is kids are goats. We don't have kids we have children.

[OAK STREET MAFIA]

09:23 AM on 02/02/2012

That is just wrong.

[chelosomellow]

09:20 AM on 02/02/2012

let me tell you something people,i have a son with autism and if someone would do something like that to my son i would go to the school and squirt some hot sauce in her mouth,to see how she likes it!

[black2deep]

09:32 AM on 02/02/2012

You are generous. I wouldn't waste the hot saus. The only thing going in thier mouths would be my fist.

[chelosomellow]

10:13 AM on 02/02/2012

lmao,you're so right,good one!

[LindaPeterJones]

12:48 PM on 02/02/2012

Oh wow...get help.

[jacmed]

10:02 AM on 02/02/2012

Not me, chelosomellow! I'd squirt it into her eyes - some adults like hot sauce and, even if they don't, they can tolerate it much better than most children.

[Arn Arn]

09:14 AM on 02/02/2012

They weren't forced. What a misleading article. Shame! Not that the teacher was in the right, but the hot sauce was applied to the crayons, not poured down their throats. Ya gotta love the media in this country. It's all about sensationalism.

[orlenda]

09:35 AM on 02/02/2012

agreed! huffpo is shamelss when it comes to that!

[jacmed]

10:14 AM on 02/02/2012

Neither the article nor the headline was misleading, Arn. The headline stated that the teacher was accused of "using" hot sauce and the article clearly states how it was used. Nowhere in the headline or the article does it imply that the hot sauce was forcibly poured down their throats. I read the headline as it was written and with an open mind - I wanted to know how the hot sauce was used (because the headline didn't tell me) so I read the article. You apparently read the headlineline with a closed mind - you had already decided how it was used and were disappointed to find out you were wrong.

[Arn Arn]

10:50 AM on 02/02/2012

Nope, you are wrong. It clearly stated "forced" and if I could include a screenshot I would. You should get your facts straight before you post. Loser.