Each parent we spoke with says they now understand why their children regressed at the time they were in Pickens' class.

Lisa Williams, mother of Alex: "They all regressed in potty-training, they all started isolating themselves in their rooms."

Doug Williams, the pediatrician and Alex's father, says "I thought he had something medically going on. And we kept searching for it. And unfortunately we found it was the abuse and the PTSD that was really causing all his regression and his symptoms."

Shayne Lee, mother of Garrett: "He was just crying, crying, just miserable, and I just thought, I thought maybe the medication was not effective."

Significant questions remain.

Why hasn't Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard's office charged anyone involved in the abuse? CNN made repeated attempts to obtain comments from the DA's office, but we were told the Fulton County school police were still collecting information to be presented to the DA's office.

Did then-principal Frances Boyd report the abuse to Personnel and a school social worker, as she stated in a recent court document? And if she was in fact told "not" to fire Pickens at that time, why would this be so?

Why do teachers and staff at Hopewell say they were intimidated by Principal Boyd? The court determined Boyd created an "air of intimidation" that made staff afraid they'd lose their jobs if they reported Pickens.

So as Fulton County schools have a new superintendent, Hopewell Middle School has a new principal, and with new reporting procedures in place, many parents say they want charges filed. District Attorney Paul Howard's office and Fulton County school police tell CNN the school police continue to collect background -- eight years after the substantiated abuse began. Meantime, parents say their children will be making up for lost ground for a very long time.

"It may take a lifetime to get these kids back to where they were," says Judy Marshall.