Aspies For Freedom

Autistic Toddler Murderer was ABA Therapist

Michelle Bott-Graham, arrested for the murder of a two year old autistic boy in Pocatello, Idaho,  was an ABA certified counsellor.

see: ABA Resources: ABA consultants and service providers

The Advocacy and Learning Associates, 212 Deere St., Twin Falls ID 83303, (208)734-1233, Michelle Bott-Graham, BCBA

http://rsaffran.tripod.com/consultants.html

http://alakids.com/

It's what we've known all along but no one would listen to us.  

Stella

Murder charges considered

By Casey Santee
Idaho State Journal
Tuesday 13th December

POCATELLO - Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman said he is considering filing a murder charge against Michelle Bott-Graham for the death of 2-year-old Cameron Hamilton of Pocatello, but he wants to wait for autopsy results before making his move.

Cameron died Dec. 5 after struggling with severe head trauma for nearly a week at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
  
Bott-Graham's hearing for felony injury to a child was postponed Monday until Jan. 11. Hiedeman didn't say if it was due to his plans to refile. Injury to a child carries a maximum of 15 years in prison while the maximum for second-degree murder is life. A first-degree murder conviction could mean the death penalty.

Bott-Graham, 39, an unlicensed counselor who was employed by Chubbuck day care and mental health clinic Achieving a Better Life, was treating Cameron for autism at her home in Pocatello when she allegedly inflicted Cameron's injuries Nov. 29.

With the postponement, Hiedeman now has another month to figure out his next move.

Bott-Graham was arrested at her residence hours after the tragic incident. Police said she picked Cameron up from Achieving a Better Life for autism therapy at her home. ABL employees called Chubbuck Police after Bott-Graham returned Cameron, who was “unresponsive,” police said.

Chubbuck officials revoked the care center's business license Nov. 30, shutting down ABL. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare suspended Achieving a Better Life's enrollment as a Medicaid provider Dec. 2. Police say ABL is under investigation in the case and more people could be charged.

Bott-Graham remains in the Bannock County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bond.

Her attorney, Mike Nielsen of Pocatello, declined to comment about the case. Achieving a Better Life owners Vickey Stauffer and Randie Wilhelm did not return calls for comment Monday.

Source: Idaho State Journal

Child abuse suspect helped autistic kids, local mom says

By Casey Santee
Idaho State Journal
Wednesday, December 14, 2005


POCATELLO - A local mother said Michelle Bott-Graham may have lost control while treating 2-year-old Cameron Hamilton for autism, but the woman now charged in the boy's death used to be a different person and a terrific clinical counselor.

Janet Boyce of Pocatello said Bott-Graham treated her two daughters for autism in the late 1990s and turned their lives around. In doing so, Boyce said she was given a new life by Bott-Graham.
  

“The day (doctors) told me my children were autistic, I knew I would never be a grandmother. I knew they would never be married and would probably live with me for the rest of my life,” Boyce said.

“Seven years later, my oldest, Kimberly, is a sophomore at Century High School. She doesn't need aid and goes to regular classes most of the day. All of a sudden I'm thinking the child I never thought would go to college may be capable of going to a vocational program, having a real job and living on her own.”

Boyce, who has a master's degree in sociology and works with autistic children herself, said her younger daughter, 14-year-old Ashleigh, has also made great strides because of Bott-Graham's work.

Boyce disagrees with Pocatello licensing inspector Dianna Brush's recent comments in a story that appeared in the Idaho State Journal on Dec. 8.

Brush said many children's mental health clinics bill Medicaid for treatment, but are actually providing day care rather than therapy. Brush rhetorically asked if children really need 8-10 hours of mental health counseling per day like she said some of the center's claim to provide.

Boyce said autistic children absolutely need such treatment. She said Kimberly's and Ashleigh's improvements were evident within six months after starting treatment designed for children ages 2-6.

She said Bott-Graham's work paved the way for Intensive Behavioral Treatment in the Gem State. In 2001, Medicaid adopted the program that Bott-Graham helped develop. The program aims to correct anti-social and injurious behaviors associated with autism. Because of this, Boyce said Bott-Graham has improved not only her and her daughters' lives, but also the lives of countless others.

Boyce said she doesn't want people to misunderstand her support for Bott-Graham. She said she believes Bott-Graham recently went off “the deep end,” but that shouldn't detract from her accomplishments.  

Boyce said Bott-Graham became addicted to pain medication after an injury and because doctors eventually stopped her prescription, she turned to heroin to self-medicate. Boyce claims this is what led to a 2003 heroin conviction that cost Bott-Graham her counseling license. She said Bott-Graham's heroin case was well known to others in her field.

“Nobody ever suspected she would hurt a kid,” Boyce said. “We rallied behind her because we believed in her. Now we're all in shock.”

Bott-Graham remains in the Bannock County Jail in lieu of 75,000 bond. She has a preliminary hearing for felony injury to a child scheduled for Jan. 11, although Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman said Monday he will probably charge her with murder before the hearing takes place. He said his decision depends on pending autopsy results.

Police said Bott-Graham was employed by Achieving a Better Life day care and children's mental health clinic when she allegedly inflicted the fatal injuries to Cameron on Nov. 29.  

Achieving a Better Life owners Vickey Stauffer and Randie Wilhelm didn't return calls for comment about this story.

Source: Idaho State Journal
http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2005/...news02.txt

The mother said "“The day (doctors) told me my children were autistic, I knew I would never be a grandmother. I knew they would never be married and would probably live with me for the rest of my life,” Boyce said."

The doctors don't seem to have told her that, but upon being told by the doctor of the diagnosis she has assumed all of those things.
This is a major problem for people with a very limited knowledge of autism.

Also as she has two daughters on the spectrum, it seems likely that either her, or her partner, are somewhere on the spectrum themselves.

well yes, Amy - she's assumed that no one would want anything to do with us - which is often, but not always, true.  :cry:

What she doesn't seem to have understood  is that the more obvious signs of autism very often mellow out with time resulting in what NTs would call "a considerable improvement." This occurs spontaneously - development is "delayed" rather than halted - but of course ABA therapists are claiming this natural progression as proof of their horrid pudding.

Stella

That's why websites like AFF are so important... the only way to put an end to those ugly and dangerous stereotypes is to educate people about what our lives are really like.

I read an excellent blog entry on this topic last week:

http://susansenator.com/blog/2005/12/myt...beast.html

The author, who is a mother of an autistic teenager, writes that parents need facts about autism, not horror stories and hopelessness.

That was a positive piece.
I politely emailed Susan just to mention that the jigsaw piece in the corner of her blog is sometimes seen as a negative visual representation of autism, in case she wasn't aware of that.

Follow-up DAYCARE INVESTIGATION

The question still remains, 'Did Michelle Bott-Graham even have a license to administer therapy to Cameron Hamilton?' the answer is no. Today, we were able to obtain records stating Michelle Bott-Graham was licensed as a clinical professional counselor, but that license was suspended on February 2nd, 2003 after Bott-Graham was found guilty of drug possession.

While she did serve time for drug charges and disorderly conduct, this isn't the first time Bott-Graham has faced charges of injury to a child. She was charged on January 23rd of 2003, but those charges were dropped.

There are still many unanswered questions surrounding this incident.

It seems this woman slipped through all security measures designed to protect children, she knew that she should not have been employed in that capacity as she had a criminal record for a felony charge, yet she continued regardless.

I've sent an email to Casey Santee, who is reporting on this case in The Idaho State Journal, asking to be kept informed of any developments in the story.

Suspect in autistic child's death posts bond, leaves jail

By Casey Santee
Idaho State Journal

POCATELLO - The woman charged with inflicting fatal injuries to 2-year-old Cameron Hamilton of Pocatello last month, was freed from the Bannock County Jail Tuesday on $75,000 bond.

Michelle Bott-Graham, 39, posted $7,500 - 10 percent of the total bond amount - to secure her release.

Bott-Graham, who was arrested in November for felony injury to a child, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 11, though prosecutors said they are considering filing more serious charges. The maximum penalty for felony injury to a child is 15 years in prison.

Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman did not return calls for comment Wednesday about the case.

The tragic incident allegedly occurred Nov. 29 at Bott-Graham's home in Pocatello while she was treating Cameron for autism. Police said she was working for Achieving a Better Life day care and mental heath clinic in Chubbuck at the time. It remains unclear why she was conducting Cameron's treatment at her residence.

After Bott-Graham returned Cameron to ABL that day, employees of the care center called police and said he was “unresponsive.”

Cameron was taken to Portneuf Medical Center with severe head trauma and he was quickly flown to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. He died less than a week later. Authorities said they will wait for autopsy results before commenting about the exact cause of Cameron's injuries.

It is also unclear why Bott-Graham, whose counseling license was suspended indefinitely in 2003 following a heroin conviction, was working for ABL. Chubbuck officials inspected ABL hours after the incident. The following day, Nov. 30, the city revoked ABL's business license, shutting down the facility.

Achieving a Better Life owners Vickey Stauffer and Randie Wilhelm also did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

An Idaho State Journal reporter stopped by the jail during visiting hours Friday morning to give Bott-Graham a chance to tell her side of the story, but jail officials said her attorney, Mike Neilsen, decided against the interview.  

Source: Idaho State Journal

Autopsy results still pending in autistic toddler's death

By Jimmy Hancock
Idaho State Journal
Thursday, December 29, 2005

POCATELLO - Bannock County prosecutors continue to wait on autopsy results on 2-year-old Cameron Hamilton before determining if charges against Michelle Bott-Graham should be changed.

“There are several entities involved in the autopsy testing,” said Zach Parris, deputy prosecuting attorney for Bannock County.
  

Bott-Graham was arrested in November and charged with felony injury to a child. She is accused of inflicting the fatal injuries to Hamilton last month. He later died on Dec. 6.

Bott-Graham has a preliminary hearing on Jan. 11 and prosecutors are considering filing more serious charges depending on autopsy results.

“I think what they are ultimately waiting for is a scientific conclusion as to the cause of death,” Parris said.

Hamilton allegedly suffered the injuries on Nov. 29 at Bott-Graham's home while she was treating Hamilton, who was autistic. Police said she was working for Achieving a Better Life day care and mental health clinic in Chubbuck at the time.


Source: Idaho State Journal
http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2005/...news02.txt

BOTT-GRAHAM UPDATE

NBC News Channel 6
Jan 3, 2006


It's been almost a month since the death of 2-year-old Cameron Hamilton. Police believe the young boy was injured by Michelle Bott-Graham, a woman who claimed to be administering therapy to the child for autism. Jeremy Johnson has been following this case very closely and has an update.

As prosecutors continue to wait for autopsy results, we do know Ms. Graham has bonded out of jail and is currently living in Twin Falls, but has been returning to Pocatello for supervised visits with her children. As the investigation continues, we take a look at the time-line of what has happened so far.

According to police reports, on November 29th, Cameron Hamilton was returned to the Achieving a Better Life Daycare by Michelle Bott-Graham, who had taken him for an alleged therapy session. Bott-Graham placed the boy in the back and told workers he was asleep. A short time later, Hamilton was found seizing. EMS was called and the young boy was later transported to Primary Children's Medical Center in serious condition.

The next day, Bott-Graham was arrested and charged with felony injury to a child. Also on the 30th, Chubbuck Police suspended the license of the Achieving a Better Life Daycare while they investigated their involvement in the incident. On December 1st, Bott-Graham was arraigned. Bond was set at $75,000 and a preliminary hearing was set for December 12th.

On December 5th, Cameron Hamilton died from injuries his mother says could not have been an accident.

"He had two black eyes. There was a bruise on his nose. There was a bruise in both ears and behind his ears. And the doctors have pretty much said that it was a blunt trauma injury."

For prosecutors this changed the complexity of the case. During the preliminary hearing on December 12th, the prosecution asked for a continuance, but Bott-Graham had to agree. After continuing the preliminary hearing, Bott-Graham posted the $75,000 bond on December 19th. Bott-Graham's next preliminary hearing is set for January 11th.

Bott-Graham could face different charges once autopsy results return. In talking with prosecutors today, they say they hope to receive autopsy results by the end of the week.

Source: KPVI
http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=nbche...m&ID=30392

Hearing Delayed for Bott-Graham

KIFI Local News
January 10, 2006

Expect the preliminary hearing for a woman accused of felony child endangerment to be continued Wednesday.

Michele Bott-Graham faces those charges in connection with the death of a two-year-old boy she was evaluating for autism. She returned him to a Chubbuck day care facility without disclosing that the child was injured.

County prosecutors say they are still waiting for autopsy results that may lead to more serious charges in the case.

Neither side wants to go through two hearings so a postponement is likely.

Source: http://www.localnews8.com/home/2178617.html

Firstly, I hope you appreciate the irony of coming to an autism forum and complaining about the lack of empathy! :roll:

You said "Please don't co-opt our local tragedy to support your cause because they are not connected. If you had more than just this one newspaper as a source, you might understand this. All I know is that I'm feeling ill to have read what was written about me by individuals who have never met me. And I can assure you what I or my daughter expected to read about ourselves tonight. Thank you.

Janet Boyce, Idaho, USA"

Murder of an autistic is not your town's dirty little secret to hide away, it is OUR business too, when so many of us have been treated badly in various ways, and we have to see it continue every day to child autistics.

Do you expect us to standby and say nothing? You want empathy for yourself but expect us to feel nothing for a child that was like us when we were young?