Reply to Parents of Churchill HS Student with Autism Sue After Child is Restrained, Put in Handcuffs

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Reply to "Parents of Churchill HS Student with Autism Sue After Child is Restrained, Put in Handcuffs"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well what are they supposed to do? Just because someone has a disability doesn't mean they get to be a danger to themselves and others. They clearly thought it was a legitimate safety concern or they wouldn't have immediately called the police.

They ALSO have a right to protect themselves and an obligation to do whatever they can to protect the other students. They are also special needs students who might react in different ways to an out of control situation on the bus.

It's different if they were hitting him or if they had immediately restrained him due to his disability when he first entered the bus. But just restraining him until police get there after he started to have a physical outburst? Clearly very reasonable and appropriate behavior.[/quote]

This exactly. As long as they did the restraint in a CPI-approved method, I don't see the issue here. Physical restraint is appropriate when a child is an imminent danger to hurt themselves or someone else. You cannot stand by and try to sweet-talk them down or use a token board when someone is getting injured or there's about to be a traffic accident. On a school bus, there is no ability to "leave the room" to let them deescalate. You have the inherent danger of a moving vehicle, and the safety of the other students to consider. What if the student grabbed the wheel or attacked the driver and the bus crashed? What if another student got injured? Then what would all of you be saying?  On a moving school bus, your list of options is short and you may have to judge and act quickly. I'm not ready to condemn the staff based on that parent complaint.  There's always another side of the story.

I also question why the parent put the child on the bus at all. From the school end, if we have a child acting out who we think is at risk of a serious outburst on the way home (very rare, but it happens a handful of times a year), we call the parent to come pick them up due to safety concerns. They don't get on the bus. Precisely to avoid a situation like this, where you have a student melting down, trapped in a moving vehicle with other vulnerable children who cannot leave the situation the way you could clear a classroom. [/quote]

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