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Old 09-16-2008, 09:49 AM
 
488 posts, read 1,550,091 times
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Disability rights group files lawsuit against Wake school board :: WRAL.com

This is alarming news especially given the rise of autism and the need to have good resources available for those children.
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Old 09-16-2008, 10:05 AM
 
Location: S-E Michigan
4,257 posts, read 5,886,215 times
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Default This clearly needs to be investigated, but don't jump to conclusions...

When I was a middle school student, many decades ago, I had a special needs classmate who arrived home one night with bruising on his upper arm. Upon questioning by his parents he said his science teacher punched him in the arm during class. You can imagine the initial reaction.

The real cause of the bruising was later determined to horseplay with other students outside of the classroom.

These allegations defintiely need to be fully investigated, but lets not start to build the gallows quite yet.
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Old 09-16-2008, 10:43 AM
 
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Have you ever worked with autistic people? If not hold your opinion. Many people picture little johnny with down syndrome winning the special olympics, big smile on his face when they read reports like the OP. Not always the case. Unless you know what takes place out there, do not judge. I'm not saying the suit might not have merit, but until the facts come out, don't judge. Twevle years ago, this was my classroom.

These events happened on a daily and ongoing basis!

Student A would attack staff physically daily and had to restrained. Student A would spread his feces about himself and immediate area upon becoming frustrated. Student A would strip clothing, yank out his own hair and pinch holes in his skin.

Student B would attack lunch staff because they were not given proper portions in their mind. Student B would attempt to attack staff and other students as they felt they were being laughed at anytime anyone within their immediate area was laughing.

Student C had Tourettes syndrome and spent the majority of his day yelling out swear words at the top of his lungs. He also would attack staff and students on a regular daily basis for no reason.

We had to restrain these students on an ongoing and daily basis to prevent them from harming themselves, staff and other students.

People really have no idea what really goes on out there. I know there is abuse and it can happen, but you need to be aware of the extreme disabilities and behaviors many of these students have. Many will remain institutionalized their entire lives as they will never be able to adapt to society. BUT, we still have a constitutional obligation to attempt to educate them.
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Old 09-16-2008, 11:51 AM
 
488 posts, read 1,550,091 times
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My nephew is autistic and if he were bound he would likely chew his own hand off out of the terror of being restraint. Cowboy your right these kids have a right to an education...I don't think that handcuffing them to a desk is educating them. If this is as well equipped as our school systems are they really should be obligated to give these families vouchers so they can get a private education that meets their needs.
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Old 09-16-2008, 12:20 PM
 
1,788 posts, read 3,906,443 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NCBoyMommy View Post
My nephew is autistic and if he were bound he would likely chew his own hand off out of the terror of being restraint. Cowboy your right these kids have a right to an education...I don't think that handcuffing them to a desk is educating them. If this is as well equipped as our school systems are they really should be obligated to give these families vouchers so they can get a private education that meets their needs.
I 100% agree, that if the allegations are true, then action needs to be taken. However, most of the time it is 90% rumors and old fish tales that grew out of control. Many of these students are simply not manageable, but the schools are forced to try. Many have to be restrained 10,20, 30 times per day, all day long, every day. All the meanwhile they have over protective parents screaming lawsuit 24/7 if one little thing goes wrong.

What these agencies like the disability law firms end up doing is driving away educators and the decent help. Does the thought of "nobody wants to deal with your kid" ever cross their mind? Does the thought of a 75% turnover rate among staff ever cross their mind? NOPE, they just want to make an example of someone under the guise of making it better. I personally know at least 6 educators that were excellent in their fields of special education that quit. They quit because these agencies and parents stood on their door step screaming lawsuit 24/7 and they got sick of it.
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Old 09-16-2008, 02:21 PM
 
9,680 posts, read 27,082,704 times
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I agree completely with the teacher's experiences cited in an earlier post.

My daughter went to an NYC public school where mentally unstable children were mainstreamed into regular classes along with special needs kids that could behave.

These violent kids would attack both staff and the younger students. Since the staff could not deal with this, the upperclass students had to physically discipline these violent children regularly since that was the only language they seemed to understand.

Children who are a danger to staff or students, whatever the reason, need to be in an institutional setting not a public school.

Too much emphasis on mainstreaming may be a disservice to all involved.

One person's rights should not take away the rights of other people.

Last edited by saturnfan; 09-16-2008 at 03:13 PM..
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Old 09-16-2008, 03:14 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
1,105 posts, read 2,724,900 times
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Quote:
When I was a middle school student, many decades ago,
and
Quote:
most of the time it is 90% rumors and old fish tales that grew out of control.
Well, I'm convinced!
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Old 09-16-2008, 04:29 PM
 
Location: Morrisville, NC
286 posts, read 991,783 times
Reputation: 105
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarolinaCowboy View Post
Have you ever worked with autistic people? If not hold your opinion. Many people picture little johnny with down syndrome winning the special olympics, big smile on his face when they read reports like the OP. Not always the case. Unless you know what takes place out there, do not judge. I'm not saying the suit might not have merit, but until the facts come out, don't judge. Twevle years ago, this was my classroom.

These events happened on a daily and ongoing basis!

Student A would attack staff physically daily and had to restrained. Student A would spread his feces about himself and immediate area upon becoming frustrated. Student A would strip clothing, yank out his own hair and pinch holes in his skin.

Student B would attack lunch staff because they were not given proper portions in their mind. Student B would attempt to attack staff and other students as they felt they were being laughed at anytime anyone within their immediate area was laughing.

Student C had Tourettes syndrome and spent the majority of his day yelling out swear words at the top of his lungs. He also would attack staff and students on a regular daily basis for no reason.

We had to restrain these students on an ongoing and daily basis to prevent them from harming themselves, staff and other students.

People really have no idea what really goes on out there. I know there is abuse and it can happen, but you need to be aware of the extreme disabilities and behaviors many of these students have. Many will remain institutionalized their entire lives as they will never be able to adapt to society. BUT, we still have a constitutional obligation to attempt to educate them.



Yeah, I agree about people having little idea about the kinds of things that mental health workers deal with. I started my career at a locked facility for violent teens with developmental disabilities. Few people do have awareness of the selfless people who get attacked DAILY for 12 bucks an hour. When I read all the stories about abuse in the butner mental hospital I definitely took it with a grain of salt. Working in the field I have seen some really good, caring staff be investigated for abuse in a situation where they were attacked with a dangerous weapon. I have also seen bad staff who were too rough. It certainly happens. I wouldnt dispute that. The allegations in Butner may very well have all been true. But....there's a lot of great mental health workers who live in fear of abuse charges because their jobs involve physically restraining aggressive clients.

I didn't read the article and don't know the story so I'm not commenting on that.
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Old 09-16-2008, 10:58 PM
 
Location: Cary, NC
8,269 posts, read 25,024,587 times
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I used to work at the hospital in Butner and I agree. In fact, just to work there, we had to take self defense classes which taught us all kids of techniques to "manage" attacks with weapons, choke holds, desks and chairs, kitchen equiptment just to name a few I remember! Many of the health care techs on the locked wards were directly in the line of attacks on a DAILY basis. I was taught how to make sure I looked behind doors before opening them to keep my keys hidden at all times, to never turn my back on anyone and to never be alone on a ward with a mentally ill person in order to cover my OWN b*tt.
If you've never worked with them first hand on a daily to basis, I would say not to believe every law suit you read. I'm glad there is an investigation going on and I hope nothing really bad happened to anyone, but it does happen.
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