Update on restraining Liam in class
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| Tue, 04-22-2008 - 3:26pm |
I am unbelieveably raging angry right now. I received a reply to the email and yes, he was restrained on Thursday and no they didn't tell us. It started where he was apparently in another student's face (the only other verbal student in the class and Liam's best friend) which was the initial domino as when he was suitably disciplined for that all he wanted was to apologize to the other child; the teacher wouldn't allow it at the time and yup, you guessed it Liam got in "stuck" mode and that was the second domino.
All in all it escalated and Liam became more angry threatening to leave; teacher positioned herself by the door and basically Liam became so frustrated he tipped over furniture (which is when he is totally out of control btw,and is a rarity these days), tried to push past the teachers to get out and ended up thumping teacher in the arm; hence the restraint. Oh and yes the pregnant parapro was mentioned as being needed to be protected...Holy Feckin' Mother of God!!!! I don't know what to do here. School is out in 5 weeks and esy is with a new teacher and is only 3 weeks of half days.
How HARD would it have been to allow Liam to apologise to his friend (because when remorse come to Liam it comes fast and furious and its all he can think about). Their excuse is the other student couldn't be interrupted doing his work, but like a minute's thought would have stopped all this after the initial upset. I am seriously thinking about pulling Liam the last month of school. State testing is this week, and when it's done I might have to look into filing Liam as a homeschooler, and with 5 weeks to go there's no way he'd get speech therapy set up, and I am still waiting on the waiver.
Another thing we heard was the resource teacher making some comments about bullies and the police coming, (happened Friday in resource group-part of Liam's inclusion time) and we aren't sure if it was directed at Liam or the group in general. But it did happen the day after. Not to mention the fact THEY never told dh about Thursday at all. I feel we have lost all the good work and progress made last year. Too sad to type anymore.
Dee







wow im so sorry!!!
i wish i had some great words of wisdom, but im sending ((hugs)) your way!!
What do you mean by restraining ? Like are they physically holding him down
Give me a break! We're talking about a 7yo here! Pu-leeze! I gotta tell ya, I hope they know what they're doing if they're physically restraining kids. My son almost broke and aide's jaw one time because she and the teacher weren't restraining him properly (they admitted they weren't--they're both trained). They shouldn't have been restraining him at all, but they felt they needed to. Heck, he broke a bone in my face when he was 8 because I didn't know what I was doing, but I was afraid he was going to hurt his little brother or himself, and dh wasn't home to help me. And what the heck is this threatening to call the police??? Public schools make me so crazy. I never had problems with them until my kids went. The whole system needs so much tweaking, it's not even funny.
Sorry to turn your vent into mine, but this is something I'm so passionate about. Our schools need teachers and administrators that understand the needs of the kids--not people who are just about how much money the schools can get. I know there are some great teachers (and other adults) out there, but they're few and far between. I'll be starting college classes this summer to eventually get my degree in special education. The special needs kids need teachers that "get" them. I've got lots of school of life there.
Hugs
Cathy
(((Dee)))
That's the most infuriating part of this. It COULD have been avoided in the first place. When Liam initially asked to apologise for the first infraction and they had let him it would have totally deescalated everything.
I am looking into the legal issues with not informing a parent of a restraint; this teacher has become way too trigger happy with them; and she obviously asked the resource teacher to have a "chat" with Liam the next day as now he thinks he is going to be arrested for being a "bully"....sigh!
Dee
Ridiculus. Write a letter to the principal at the very least to file a complaint. Most times the principal is the direct supervisor and in charge of the persons evaluations. If not him/her then ask who is that persons supervisor. The principal will know. I don't know Georgia law but at the very least parents should be informed.
Here in Cali she would be in a whole can of worms. And yes, she definitely should have de-escalated the situation first. Teachers who are control freaks or just inflexible shouldn't be teaching, especially not in special ed.
IMO Liam did a fabulous thing by asking to apologize. In a classroom such as this that proper social skills should have been the priority. If the other student would get upset at having his work interupted then she could have easily taken out a timer or other such accommodation to show Liam exactly WHEN he could apologize (and make it quick)
I do know california law and thankfully, our kids are pretty darn protected here. It is called the "Hughes Bill" and we have to be very very careful how we even touch or physically prompt a child.
A restraint is only used in emergencies to ensure safety and only long enough to ensure safety and only by trained staff (3 day training and have to be retrained every 2 years I think).
Mike had this happen a number of years ago and his teacher would clear all the other kids out of the room and let him trash the room but would only restrain if he was doing some serious headbanging or charging/throwing furniture at teachers and wouldn't stop when prompted.
Sorry, but if he had "bumped" her arm while in a rage she would have never restrained him. She would have likely ignored it and walked away. If he hit her on purpose she would have asked him to stop and if he didn't and continously charged she wouldhave restrained him and asked him again to stop. When he agreed to or started to calm down she would let go and only rerestrain if again he was uncontrollably aggressive or self injurious.