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Mother vows to sue after teacher duct-tapes 3-year-old son to a chair at the Condon School
By adamg on Mon, 03/04/2024 - 1:29pm
WBZ reports on the incident involving a special-needs child who was first put in restraints, which were then duct-taped to a chair at the Condon School in South Boston. The teacher and other staffers have been put on administrative leave as BPS investigates.
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Comments
The New Boston
The New Boston
I can't tell if you're a bot
I can't tell if you're a bot or not. You always make these vague, rhetorical comments, but there's never any specific assertions or opinions, and sometimes (like here) the comment is so broad that it could work for any post, thus capitalizing on the Barnum effect. Can the UHub community, Turing test you, just for fun?
His post got the designed response.
You perseverating over him is the whole point.
What is the protocol for
What is the protocol for handling a special needs 3-year old who is uncontrollable, disruptive, and possibly violent? Obviously not duct taping them to a chair, but "special needs" covers a mix of kids with learning disabilities and behavioral problems.
Should be individualized
There's no one protocol because what works best for one child may escalate things for another. That's why children with "special needs" have IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). That said, teachers and aides should have training in handling these situations.
It's horrifying that this happened and inexcusable that the parent wasn't notified right away. The only positive is that this was noticed by another teacher and the teacher reported it, rather than covering it up (as can happen too often).
Three year old
I'll say that again for you: Three year old.
Just like with any three year old, tantrums happen. You put them someplace where they won't hurt themselves and let the tantrum burn itself out.
This isn't anything unusual with three year olds - the only thing unusual here is the insistence on restraining any three year old, neurotypical or not, when they are having a tantrum, and, of course, the exceptional level of abuse involved.
Again, for clarity: THREE YEAR OLD.
THREE YEAR OLD.
The protocol shouldn't
The protocol shouldn't include "hope the parent never hears about it." As the mother said, she shouldn't have found out about this from DCF two weeks later.
I don't know whether the "don't tell the parent" part is policy, or if the school decided after the fact to hide staff misbehavior, but neither would be good.
Restraint chair?
It seemed to me that the video indicated that the Condon School has a restraint chair, or dedicated mechanical restraints of some other sort. At about 0:30 in the WBZ video, the narrator states that the child was put in restraints, and the restraints were duct-taped to a seat.
Per MA law, mechanical restraints are illegal in public education settings. Why does the Condon have such devices?
https://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr46.html?section=all
I wish we could let
the "special needs" euphemism go and just say "disabled child" or "child with a disability". https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2021/06/11/disabled-...
Special Needs != Disabled
Not all kids with special needs are "disabled". Some are simply neurodiverse.
Their needs are different from the "typical" child (whoever that may be), but they aren't necessarily unable to learn how to function independently.
Disabled kids
can also learn to function independently. If a kid is neurodiverse then say neurodiverse.
Intersectionality
Agreed that "special needs" could be better worded but it does capture the intersection of multiple issues (physical disabilities, mental/behavioral health, cognitive/learning disabilities, trauma).
Can one person be diverse?
I think "neurodivergent" is the better term.
(Perhaps we can make an exception for Walt Whitman.)