Kindergartner handcuffed and arrested/charged

[Spock]

This kind of thing always surprises me. My brother has Fragile X Syndrome and is severely disabled by it. He was prone to violent rages. A social worker/specialist of some sort came to our house and taught us, me included, how to restrain my brother safely until he could calm down. In some cases, a time out in the space between a door and the wall was utilized because he couldn't get out to break anything or hurt anyone. Other times when a safe time out location wasn't available, restraint involved getting him down on the ground on his stomach, straddling him, and holding his arm behind his back in such a way that light pressure caused pain.

 

When I worked in afterschool daycare, I was severely reprimanded (and a notation put in my file) for grabbing a kindergartener's wrist and asking her to stop running around the cafeteria tables, because she could slip and fall or knock someone else down.

 

Her parents were threatening to sue for child abuse, because I touched her at all. If the kind of restraints your brother needed were done by school personnel today, the school would be in MAJOR legal trouble. That's why they called the police to do it.

[Night Elf]

A six year old? In kindergarten?

 

I'm not sure why this fact surprises you. The child probably had a birthday during the school year. The only exception I can see is a child who has a birthday in June or July. Then they would be turning a year older during the summer when school isn't in session. In GA, you have to be 5 by Sept. 1st in order to start school in August. A child who has a November birthday, for example, will be 5 on the first day of school but be 6 by the last day of school.

 

I don't know how I feel about the story. I'm appalled that it took such dratic action but I don't feel right about what the girl was doing. I'm interested in knowing if the teachers had ever seen that behavior before. If it's new, of course they wouldn't have had any type of plan in place. So this little girl was restrained by the police. Would it have been better if a staff member had been the one to restrain this child? I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea of a faculty member sitting on this child with her hand behind her back. There would be an uproar and that faculty would have probably lost his/her job. I just have no suggestion on how something like this should be handled. I really don't see a good way at all.

[wonderchica]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea of a faculty member sitting on this child with her hand behind her back. There would be an uproar and that faculty would have probably lost his/her job.

 

As I posted previously, restraining a child is actually fairly common in US public schools, especially restraining a special needs child. There is no overall policy or general recommendations on using restraint given by the Department of Education. Disability Scoop has a whole section on it:

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/educa...int-seclusion/

 

Here is a quote from an article about a survey conducted by the Department of Education-

"The new statistics come from a survey of 72,000 schools, representing 85 percent of the nation’s students, that was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. In all, 38,792 of the students represented in the survey were physically restrained by an adult at school during the 2009-2010 academic year. The vast majority of those restrained — 69 percent — had disabilities, even though students with special needs made up just 12 percent of the survey sample."

[DianeW88]

That's the issue here, though. The police were the only ones legally allowed to restrain her, and she was a danger to the other kids. I don't see where the school had much choice.

 

:iagree:If no one from the school is allowed to lay a hand on the child, what are they supposed to do? You can bet those parents would have sued the school, the principal and the school district if they had physically tried to restrain that child in any way. There are other kids in the classroom that needed protection from her "mood swing". That little girl could have easily hurt any one of them.

 

I have no problems with calling the police and restraining her in handcuffs. They didn't really have a choice.

[Guest ShellyP]

"Now were going to play a game, its called who is your daddy and what does he do?" Where is Arnold when you need him? If this was his student rest assured hand cuffs would not be needed. In all seriousness though, this situation could have been handled better. Handcuffs are used as a restraint when the police are worried about the persoanl safety of themselves or others. So a six year old made them, or those around them, feel threatened enough to have to cuff her? You could have removed the other children, de-escalated the situation (not give her a sugary coke), and not have to use handcuffs on a six year old. Yet, this does not shock me. Law enforcement Officers seem to have little patience with people that don't "do what they say." All the pepper spraying that went on in the anti-wall street fervor that swept the nation is a perfect example. But this isn't all to blame on the police officers directly involved. The parents obviously tolerate this behavior, or at least turn a blind eye to it which makes her believe its okay to act like this. Its okay though, she'll learn manners from the TV eventually, seeing as it is slowly replacing parenting these days. (HA!):auto: Nice ride, huh?

[DianeW88]

This is my perspective as a parent in the US, who has had a child in an elementary mainstreamed classroom and has been in classrooms with nonspecial ed violent children. You might know me as the mom of the kid that wore ear protectors because his sensory issues conflict with the needs of those who must yell, scream, hurt others, and tantrum to communicate in fourth and fifth grade, yet whose parents refuse to refer the child for evaluation. He also moves his desk so that those who have core strength issues won't lay on it and must lay on their own.

 

I expect a child that has these needs to have been referred for special education evaluation at age 3, when services begin. If the child arrives at preK not able to be safe in the classroom - i.e. cannot mind teacher consistently, refuses to leave during fire alarms, refuses to go to lunch at lunchtime, hurts others to solve problems, etc - the parent needs to agree to an eval if they haven't already. If the child is not determined to be special needs, I expect the parent and school psych to be agreeing on a behavior plan that includes removal from the classroom when violent and appropriate home discipline. I also expect the school to provide food breaks at times consistent with the children's needs, and an appropriate sensory environment. Otherwise my child will not be in the classroom. It simply is not safe, much less conducive to learning. I learned my lesson the first mainstreamed year, when my child's class didn't do a lick of grade level math due to the 'needs' of those whose parents were in denial. If the majority of the day is meeting emotional needs, discipline training, and reaction to med issues, then my children do not need to be in that classroom as it has become a therapeutic room, and is no longer a place where neurotypical children are provided academics.

 

:iagree:However, where I live the teachers are not even allowed to SUGGEST to parents that their little darling is not neurotypical. The request for an evaluation and help has to come from the parents themselves. Guess how many parents actually do that? Yep, you're right. :glare:

[LeslieAnneLevine]

If the school had no choice but to have the police come and handcuff this girl and haul her off to the police station, then something is very wrong.

 

I'm guessing what the parents are referring to is a mood disorder, which does involve mood swings. This girl needs help. There's no way this incident is going to make her think twice before she has another tantrum--that's part of the problem, she can't first think about the consequences or calm herself down. Her brain doesn't work that way.

 

I just hope she gets the help she needs. 6 years old is so young, I can't imagine her having such a scary experience at such a young age. I understand that she needed to be restrained in the moment. This should have all been worked out between the school and the parents at the start of the year.

[Kathryn]

Unless my math is fuzzy this morning, I fail to see how about one student being somehow physically restrained per every two schools surveyed equals "fairly common."

 

I chose to HS for many reasons, among those are that my child is academically advanced but were he to go to school, his behavior issues would be the focus instead of academics, holding him and his class back. I spent a lot of time on autism forums before I got tired of them being basically about school problems. I assure you, from what those parents said, teachers physically restraining violent children is not common, and when it does happen it is often cause for complaint or lawsuit.

 

As I posted previously, restraining a child is actually fairly common in US public schools, especially restraining a special needs child. There is no overall policy or general recommendations on using restraint given by the Department of Education. Disability Scoop has a whole section on it:

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/educa...int-seclusion/

 

Here is a quote from an article about a survey conducted by the Department of Education-

"The new statistics come from a survey of 72,000 schools, representing 85 percent of the nation’s students, that was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. In all, 38,792 of the students represented in the survey were physically restrained by an adult at school during the 2009-2010 academic year. The vast majority of those restrained — 69 percent — had disabilities, even though students with special needs made up just 12 percent of the survey sample."

[QuirkyKapers]

If no one from the school is allowed to lay a hand on the child, what are they supposed to do? You can bet those parents would have sued the school, the principal and the school district if they had physically tried to restrain that child in any way. There are other kids in the classroom that needed protection from her "mood swing". That little girl could have easily hurt any one of them.

 

I have no problems with calling the police and restraining her in handcuffs. They didn't really have a choice.

 

 

:iagree:

[joannqn]

If the kind of restraints your brother needed were done by school personnel today, the school would be in MAJOR legal trouble. That's why they called the police to do it.

 

If the school had no choice but to have the police come and handcuff this girl and haul her off to the police station, then something is very wrong.

 

But that's exactly the problem. Some kids should not be mainstreamed. The teachers are not equipped to deal with their needs, nor is it fair to the rest of the students in the class/school.

 

Further, the litigious society we've become has created the other part of this problem. At some point, the courts and juries need to stop awarding big settlements that make it so everyone is afraid to do what is necessary. The cops are not the appropriate avenue for dealing with discipline issues in young children.

 

This world has gotten crazy, and everyone is paying for it.

[Impish]

But that's exactly the problem. Some kids should not be mainstreamed. The teachers are not equipped to deal with their needs, nor is it fair to the rest of the students in the class/school.

 

Further, the litigious society we've become has created the other part of this problem. At some point, the courts and juries need to stop awarding big settlements that make it so everyone is afraid to do what is necessary. The cops are not the appropriate avenue for dealing with discipline issues in young children.

 

This world has gotten crazy, and everyone is paying for it.

:iagree:

There *has* to be a point where someone looks at the classroom as a whole, vs what is good for *one* child.

 

And seriously, if the kid is tantruming to the point where others are getting injured and things are being destroyed, how could it be in HER best interest either?

[Mommy22alyns]

It sounds like a pretty severe tantrum to me. It sounds extreme, but kids are apparently capable of that kind of behavior more and more. I don't disagree with what the school did.

 

And I completely agree that some kids should NOT be mainstreamed.

[ssavings]

In all seriousness though, this situation could have been handled better. Handcuffs are used as a restraint when the police are worried about the persoanl safety of themselves or others. So a six year old made them, or those around them, feel threatened enough to have to cuff her? You could have removed the other children, de-escalated the situation (not give her a sugary coke), and not have to use handcuffs on a six year old.

 

To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they were trying to prevent the girl from doing harm to herself.

Maybe misguided, but restraints (like cuffs) would be a quick way to regain control and prevent her from hurting herself.