BRUISED: The centre's principal said the eight-year-old (above) was violent. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

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When his mother picked him up from the centre in Orchard Road, she saw bruises and scratches on his arms, back and neck.

Infuriated, she confronted the centre's principal. What she learnt stunned her.

She told The Straits Times at the family's home in Kovan on Monday: 'She told me that my son was violent and that her staff have to deal with this at every session.'

The 41-year-old accounts manager added: 'He would usually only lie on the floor and kick when he doesn't get what he wants.'

She and her husband, a 43-year-old sales manager, took the boy to KK Women's and Children's Hospital that evening for a check-up. They also made a report at the police post there.

The police confirmed that a report was filed and they were looking into the matter.

The boy, diagnosed with autism at age two, is in Primary 2 at an autism-specific school here.

His mother had qualms about sending him to the speech therapy centre because, she said, she had heard him screaming and struggling in the group sessions with other therapists last year.

She pulled him out of the classes then, but resumed them last month when a psychologist said the boy needed to expand his vocabulary.

The mother said: 'I couldn't think of any other place to send him because I had trust in the principal. I called her and told her that I did not want any other therapists to handle him.'

When contacted, the centre's principal said the boy, the biggest child in the class of seven, was known to throw violent tantrums regularly.

The centre claimed it had filmed a recent episode which started when he did not have a drink bottle in his hand.

The boy's parents said they did not know their son had been filmed.

The principal added: 'Last Friday's was the worst episode we'd ever seen. As far as I can tell, my staff did what they did to protect the other students.'

It took two staff members to restrain the boy.

She added: 'I'm a parent too. I would never send my child anywhere where he might be abused.'

The boy's parents have since stopped his sessions at the centre. His music classes, held just a few doors away, may also be stopped, because they do not want him developing a phobia for music as well.

The boy's father said: 'If we just mention the building name, he panics.'