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The thing is, behavior that outrageous is highly likely to indicate special needs of some sort. Not having a diagnosed health issue, mental or otherwise, doesn't negate the very real possibility of the issue existing. The fact that the student is noted as being subject to evaluation indicates that this is understood.
Again, rage and aggression disproportionate to the situation and stimulus, in children in that age range, is a major diagnostic criterion for more than a couple of mental health issues. It simply isn't normal behavior of typically developing children, emotionally or otherwise. Neglecting to identify volatile behavior as notable for mental health evaluation, and writing it off as "kid's just a brat," is problematic in the long term, and actively works against critical early intervention.
At any rate, my quoted response was actually to your assertion that you never personally saw any behavior of that level while teaching. I was just noting that I saw it all the time, and the students I saw it from were students who were in my program because they had displayed such behavior while students in public schools. So "that type of behavior," and much, much more extreme, absolutely DOES exist. You are fortunate if you didn't, in fact, have to address it at any point in your career.
Thank you for expanding on your previous post.
You make a very good point. When they mentioned that the boy had kicked a teacher previously, that didn't bother me that much. Sounds like a "little kid" tantrum. But you're right, this extensive attack signals a bigger problem. I can almost predict what would happen...the school would suggest looking into the emotional issues the kid is having and the parent would refuse, not wanting her child labeled. I'm sure you've seen that scenario.
Yes, I was fairly lucky to never see the violent behavior. That's not to say I didn't see bizarre behavior. The most memorable was when I (as principal) was in one of the sped classrooms, and I was sitting at a table and 2 kids and I were reading a book. Suddenly, at another table, for no obvious reason, a 12 year old boy started screaming, jumped up and ran out in the hall, and before anyone had to react had stripped off all of his clothes and ran out into the snow and into the woods totally naked.
You make a very good point. When they mentioned that the boy had kicked a teacher previously, that didn't bother me that much. Sounds like a "little kid" tantrum. But you're right, this extensive attack signals a bigger problem. I can almost predict what would happen...the school would suggest looking into the emotional issues the kid is having and the parent would refuse, not wanting her child labeled. I'm sure you've seen that scenario.
Yeah, it's very often an uphill battle, until it reaches the point where other parties are injured and liability issues become a real concern for the family. That's when things tend to come to a head, interventions become unavoidable, alternate behavioral placements suggestions come up, etc. as needed. Multicultural perspectives also come into play, where various cultures have different norms in regard to mental health/behavioral health interventions. And even if cultural relational gaps aren't a factor, parental denial, especially when a child is young, is a real thing.
In this case, the school will likely not have to spearhead a psych evaluation, the law enforcement involved can hand it off to family court officials who can possibly mandate it, depending on other details. I don't have a problem with legal intervention in this case, necessarily, because it may fast-track the appropriate psych intervention, if needed.
My main issue is that the level of restraint was overkill. But this happens often enough when law enforcement who aren't particularly well-trained in behavioral health response are brought in to respond to children, disabled and otherwise, in situations such as these. I'm reminded of the various cases spotlighted in the media in recent years, involving very poorly handled police interventions involving individuals with autism, because the responding officers were very poorly prepared, if they were prepared at all, to assess such situations, and did not have the appropriate training or support relevant to safely dealing with individuals with that particular neurological impairment. More needs to be done to support police officers in responding safely and appropriately on these types of calls. It is highly unlikely that a less drastic form of safe restraint wouldn't have been effective and preferable. There are simply not many cases where handcuffing a young child is necessary for the safety and wellbeing of all involved.
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Yes, I was fairly lucky to never see the violent behavior. That's not to say I didn't see bizarre behavior. The most memorable was when I (as principal) was in one of the sped classrooms, and I was sitting at a table and 2 kids and I were reading a book. Suddenly, at another table, for no obvious reason, a 12 year old boy started screaming, jumped up and ran out in the hall, and before anyone had to react had stripped off all of his clothes and ran out into the snow and into the woods totally naked.
Yes, we had a much older adolescent, once, who disrobed and eloped. Not a snowy day, the opposite. Completely naked and sitting in the middle of a freshly paved parking lot on a 90+ degree day in full, sweltering sunlight. We had extremely large and extremely well-trained crisis support personnel who went in to action in that case. The student in question actually had a severe psychiatric disturbance, possibly an early onset/precursor to some sort of schizoaffective disorder. He was actually beyond the scope of our program, and required inpatient care, but his family at that point was determined to cling to his autism diagnosis as the only issue, and it wasn't. Meticulously documenting and tracking behavior played a big role in building a case for seeking differential diagnosis.
A big reason I left education for mental health was due to seeing how poorly mental health concerns are addressed among school age children, and feeling that I really needed to learn more about it, as it is a hugely unmet need.
What rights do teachers have?
What rights do 7 year olds have?
Should he have been cuffed?
Are the parents laying the ground work for their lawsuit?
Can the school system and the police emerge from this with their reputation untarnished?
Probably not. People are going to go ape over the handcuffs. As for me, I'd worry much more about the boy hitting his teacher, if I were his parent. That's anti-social, extremely violent behavior for a child. A criminal in the making, possibly. That's abnormal behavior and shows violence against those in authority. The handcuffs may have had an impact on the boy on the seriousness of his behavior, actually.
If the kid had starting hitting or fighting w/the officers, they would've gotten in trouble if they had restrained him or pepper sprayed him. So the police were in a lose-lose situation, as I see it. If this is protocol, they behaved in the best interest for all.
I think they need another Psychiatrist to do a work up-second opinion. Something is wrong with kid or family system. Some form of Attention Deficit Disorder is a possibility. He was interrupted from something he was focusing on, and responded very poorly.
There is little the school can do. My daughter worked in a school where many of the kids were like this. If a kid acted out, she could tell them to sit down, that is all. If they did not comply, she could send them to the office. If the kid did not comply she could call for an assistant principal to come take the kid away. If the principal could not get the kid to leave without touching the kid, she had to move her class to a different location. If a kid attacked her she was not allowed to do anything to defend herself. She got punched hard enough by an 8 year old she had a bruised rib.
No one is allowed to touch a kid, only the police can, so they call the police when a kid gets out of control. Maybe in some places the security personnel can touch a kid to protect other kids. One kid blew up and started throwing chairs at the other kids. She had to quickly usher the other kids into another room and then call the office. She could not touch him to stop him. She was able to grab some of the chairs as he tried to throw them and wrestle them away from him, but she was told that was improper. She could not do anything physical.
[. . .]
I do not know what the solution is
The solution is obvious. Allow the adults in charge to be in charge. If a kid refuses to go to the office when told, a big burly security guard takes him there, if necessary by dragging him by the collar. If a kid attacks a teacher, the teacher defends herself by whatever means necessary, even if it entails knocking the kid down to the floor.
But this won't happen as long as the school systems are run by pie-in-the-sky morons who would tell a teacher that it's "improper" to even attempt to defend herself and her students from a chair-throwing nutcase, and by utopian airheads who are far more worried about the "rights" of one single delinquent than of the rights of the teachers to not be assaulted, or the other kids to have at least a chance at learning something.
But of course, if you actually tried to do anything to get a handle on the problem, you're going to run into this:
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Originally Posted by Coldjensens
At the other school, the parents were mostly concerned with blaming teachers or, the school, or whatever, for their kid's problems and trying to get something for nothing. They threatened to sue over everything and anything. Dramatic difference.
The ultimate solution to this problem is to completely change the unbearably toxic culture that these "parents" marinate in. This, I don't know how to do. Maybe as a first step, if the kids acted up this badly, the parents could be given the choice between reigning them in, or having them kicked out of school, with the parents then being responsible for paying out of their own pockets for their brats to be sent to an "alternative" school. Maybe this would be enough of an incentive for them to actually start parenting.
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Seven Year Old Punches Teacher
