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A 9-year-old autistic child who does not speak has been moved from school to school as his family searches for a safe place for him to learn.

In October, he finally enrolled in a new class at the University of New Mexico for autistic children.

When he attended Atrisco Elementary School last school year, he received "unexplained bruising which appeared the result of forcible restraint or other physical punishment," claims a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

The boy is one of four Albuquerque Public Schools students described in the lawsuit filed in September on behalf of all autistic children in the district.

The lawsuit claims the district and the state Department of Education are discriminating against autistic children and denying them an education.

"They are not getting a full school day all the time," said attorney Gail Stewart, who represents the autistic students.

"These kids' futures are suffering for lack of an education," she said. "This case is hugely important to them."

A planning conference in the case is scheduled Wednesday in U.S. District Court. A trial date has not been set.

Bernadette Brown, the mother of a 12-year-old autistic girl, said she hopes the legal action will bring the necessary training for teachers and staff who work with autistic children.

"We lose educational time every day," she said. "The expertise is out there and the district needs to provide the resources for our teachers."

On her daughter's first day in August at Taylor Middle School, the staff "seemed like they did not know what to do with her or for her," Brown said. However, a transition plan was in place for her daughter to make the move smoothly from elementary school to middle school, she said.

The plaintiffs are asking that a special master be appointed to audit district attendance records for autistic children; oversee a national panel of experts to examine services and develop staff training for autistic children and determine compensatory education for students and monetary awards for parents who have been unable to work because of their children's sporadic schooling.

Plaintiffs claim they've been illegally deprived of their right to a full year of education annually since 2006 and that the district failed to provide the schooling by trained staff.

"APS does not mandate any specialized training on autism or appropriate teaching strategies to meet the educational needs of students," the lawsuit says.

Autistic children have been suspended, arrested or threatened with law enforcement action for their behaviors because staff cannot control them because of a lack of training and educational programming, the plaintiffs claim.

Parents of autistic children have been forced to home school them "out of desperation and reasonable fear for the safety and well-being of their child," the lawsuit says.

"APS purposefully withholds public education from these students, on the basis of disability, throughout the school year by its ongoing failure to train and support the employees providing education to students with autism."

The district and its co-defendant, the state Public Education Department, have denied the allegations.

"APS provides educational instruction to each student based upon that student's individual needs. If additional training or support is needed to meet the needs of an individual student, it is provided," said APS attorneys in their answer to the allegations.

"APS denies that its teachers are not appropriately trained to fulfill their responsibilities."

Based on nationwide data, there is one autistic student for every 150 students between the ages of 5 and 22.

Although APS and the New Mexico Public Education Department do not count autistic children, estimates place the number in Albuquerque at more than 400 students.