Physically restarining children at school?

Question

I am working with a young boy at school at the moment who is needing to be restrained daily. He can be fine for a while but then something 'clicks' and he then starts kicking and hitting people......anyone who is close by basically.....teachers....other kids. I try diversion tactics, encourage him to make 'good' choices give him adequate warnings etc but more often than not these startagies dont work and I need to either remove him from the class or hold his arms or legs to prevent him from hurting others. He has a statement of special needs.

My question is 1) should I be restraining him anyway as I have never had any training for this. If I accidently hurt him I would be in trouble wouldn't I ?
2) I have my own health problems and I could do myself an injury also.

Does anyone know of anywhere online where I can get more advice on restarint and violence in schools and also how bad it has to be before children are excluded (which he has been a few times already!)

Thanks

Answer 1

I worked for a few years with young people in a school designed to deal specifically with emotional and behavioural difficulties. I worked with all age ranges from 5 to 16, and had to participate in numerous 'positive handling' incidents with children of all ages. It sounds as if he may need to be allocated to a school that is specially geared to work with disturbed children, and you are well within your rights to question if this is a possibility for him. Time out of school to do vocational stuff is another option.. we had a farm on one of our sites where the children benefitted greatly from being able to build a pond, tend to the land and the animals, grow things, etc... in a safe environment away from the rest of the students so as not to disrupt the education of others.

You really shouldn't be put in the situation of carrying out positive handling techniques if you have not had any training. Restraint is the very last resort after doing everything else that you've mentioned doing (distraction, talking, reminding of consequences, etc..) but you are putting yourself and the pupil at risk... (both physically and from serious accusations), as it pretty specialised.

As part of your duty of care you are expected to do certain things, and Id make it your duty to enquire about some training for you and other staff. Id also make it clear to the head that you are not happy with the situation as it stands and ask to see what policies they have in place regarding the restraint of a pupil and what your duty of care entails... if they cant show you any I'd be really surprised (and concerned!!). Follow what the policies say for now as that is your fall back if anything happens. Also, is there a specific risk assessment written for him, that outlines his triggers, his behaviours, effective and non-effective descaletion strategies, and guidelines of restraint techniques that can be used safely with him? Behaviour monitoring is also important to look at the patterns of when/ why he needs this extra support.

Write up every incident too... well you should be doing that anyway.

Are you in the UK? There a few companies that will come out and train a number of the staff team who deal with the specific behaviours your student is displaying. 'Teamteach' and 'Pro-Act' are a couple of methods of training/ groups of trainers you could look up.

Answer 2

Restraint can be used in a classroom if:
1) it is expressly stated in the child's behavioral plan and
2) the aide/teacher is trained in the correct ways to do it.

Trying to restrain a child if you have not had proper training can cause injuries to yourself, the child and lead to legal issues if the parents are unaware this is occuring or injuried occur. You need to sit with the classroom teacher and school administrator immediately to find out if physically restraining this child is allowed. If it is, you need to demand that you are trained on the correct way to do so. Finally, you need to be sure that the school is notifying the parents each and every time a physical restraint is needed. The notice should include a desciption of how the child was restrained as well as mention any possible areas of bruising (from bumping into objects...you should never leave marks on a child when restraining him..another reason for the training) as well as listing any property damage or injuries you or other children sustained. A clear description of the behaviors leading up to the restraint, along with the steps taken to circumvent it are also included.

Finally, if you have health issues that may make it unsafe for you to restrain a child, you need to be reassigned or, since the year is over, be sure to have it placed on your records to assure you are not placing yourself in harm's way in the future.

As for removing the child. Removing a child to a safe place, with few distractions to allow him to calm down is perfectly acceptable (again, it must be in the behavior management profile to be used). It should never be the first or only choice, but the one used after most others are exhausted, or if it is clear the child is unable to calm down or could harm others. It is not appropriate to use the removal as a threat to get good behavior.

Answer 3

I know someone who works in a special educational needs school and a lot of the children there have very severe problems. The staff get specific training to know how to restrain a child when it is needed, so that the safety of the child, the adults involved, and other children in the class are all as safe as possible in what could be a potentially dangerous situation. I really think you need to speak to your headteacher and say you need proper training so that you and the boy are both safe - point out that such situations would almost certainly result in legal action if something went wrong and that is bad publicity for the school. If the head doesn't feel they can send you for training then they really need to address whether or not the school is equipped to deal with this pupil.

Answer 4

Simple Answers, applicable to UK:

1. Should you be restraining him without training? Your headteacher will be on dodgy ground if he permits you to restrain "regularly" (i.e. not the odd time you break up a fight or whatever) and does not provide training. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 tells you who can use physical interventions (teachers without direct permission, other staff need permission from head). If you cause injury and do not have permission or training you could be at risk of an accusation of assault. Check immediately with your headteacher.
2. Part of physical interventions training is evaluating your capability for the task required. Health & Safety law requires you to look after your own H&S and so if you have doubts you should not be doing it.

There is no substitute for hands-on (excuse the pun) training in this kind of scenario.

It sounds like you are doing the best you can with a difficult child. Other answerers have identified suitable training organisations. (Your LEA (Local Education Authority) will have a policy and access to training.) They have also identified that the young person you are dealing with may well be better off in more specialist provision.

Good Luck.

Answer 5

Without knowing the nature of the disability, its hard to say. I would suggest this: DON'tT rely on online sources too much. The first thing--for your own legal protection--is go to the principal and insist on a clear briefing-by the school system legal counsel, if need be--on what you can and cannot do. Don't assume that general advice is sufficient--it isn't, because the laws in states differ.

Second, you need to sit down with the parents and find out as much as you can about the child.

Andkeep this in mind (you mentioned the child "making choices"): if the behavior is caused by the child's imparment(s), the behavior may not BE a choice.

Ultimately, if intervention strategies don't work, the child may have to be switched out of regular classes (and if you read many of my posts, you'll know I'm not a fan of dooing that unless its absolutely necessary).

Answer 6

I would advise against restraints. When a child is bad enough to be physically violent towards other children, the teacher, or himself, he needs a one-on-one mentor, or to be in a different school. One on ones are properly trained to deal with children with behavioral or scholastic challenges, and your school should provide such a person. If this is your position, you are not properly trained, and the school should be addressing the situation. If the child is beyond the capabilities of this school, he should be put elsewhere. I absolutely think pulling a child from his/her school is a last resort, but it is hurting his development to be in this situation as well. I wonder if you are in a public or private school, because the state very much regulates these things in a public setting. Everything dealing with restraining and outbreaks are supposed to be covered during a training session. Just shows how our educational system is plummeting... GW needs to pull some of that 3 bil military budget, and put it where it counts.

Answer 7

You should be trained / certified in restraint before you attempt it as you can hurt the child or yourself. If not properly trained, you could open yourself and your school district to possible law suits.

Check with your department head / principal about training. At the elementary school where I taught, all of the special ed teachers (lead and assistant) were trained, as well as some of the inclusion teachers.

As far as your health issues, depending on what they are, you may want to speak to your doctor about the physical energy / strength that is needed to do minimal restraints.

I worked as an lead teacher with emotionally disabled children. Even the smallest child could have easily hurt themselves or me when they were in need of restraint. It is the same principle as being a witness to a wreck. The adrenaline gets flowing and they all of a sudden have seemingly inexplicable strength.

The other thing to be aware of is to make sure that before you try to restrain a child is that you have access to another adult that can tend to your class. You will have all of your focus on the individual child and will not be able to manage the other students. And ideally, you wouldn't want to restrain the child in the presence of his peers (although that is not always possible).

Answer 8

Id speak to your head about some manual handling training ASAP, you dont want to hurt yourself or potentially get yourself in trouble.

Also you can speak to your LEA SEN support worker and they can give you advice.

I only restrain a child if it protects himself or others from harm otherwise I leave them to their paddy in safety (eg remove chairs etc quickly). I always make sure I tell the parent at the end of the day too.

If your child is doing this regularly then maybe the IEP isnt working and new tactics need to be discussed between staff and parent.

Good luck!

Answer 9

You should be asking these questions to your headteacher and your local council (or whoever happens to be in charge).

In my opinion you should not be restraining any child unless you have had training to do so. If you are the only teacher available to look after this child then I would think he should be sent home or to another school until you receive the required training.

My mother is a nursery teacher and she had this training but I am not sure whether it is a requirement or not.

Answer 10

Ask your school about school safe training, we all had it at ours, it outlines the best ways to deal with these situations with minimal risk to ourselves and the pupils. You are on dodgy ground as far as restraint goes, it must be reasonable force, you must do only what is necessary in the situation or there could be a problem. I got hurt trying to split up a fight and I got told off for even trying as I am not supposed to put myself at risk, same goes for all school staff, your safety should be your first concern. I know that is easier said than done because you have to respond to the situations that arise. As far as exclusion goes it varies so much from school to school, there seem to be no set rules for this. It is a tough situation, good luck!