In Georgia, a 6 year old with special needs was placed in handcuffs:
When
a Georgia mother arrived at her 6-year-old son’s school last week in
response to a call that he was misbehaving, she was greeted by a
shocking surprise: Her first grader was in handcuffs.Lakaisha Reid’s 6-year-old son Patrick is a special needs student at Pine Ridge Elementary
in Stone Mountain, Ga. On the morning of December 5, Reid got a call
from the school asking her to pick up her son and bring him home early.
“They said he wasn’t having a good day,” Reid tells Yahoo Parenting. “My
husband and I walked into the school and heard my son yelling and
screaming.” The couple found him in a room on his knees with his hands
cuffed behind his back. The school resource officer was standing behind
Patrick, holding him in place.
In Washington, a 6 year old with special needs has been told he can’t ride the bus without, basically, a straitjacket.
Dean’s son, Wyatt, is a first grade student the Hood Canal School in Skokomish. The 6-year old was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, a behavioral issue, when he was younger, Dean says, and has had discipline issues on the school bus.The family now faces a tough decision: allow Wyatt to be restrained on the bus or find alternate transportation to school.“It just flat-out violates everything as far as any civil rights I would think anybody would ever have,” Dean said.The district calls the restraints a “safety vest,” and says it only
uses them after multiple discussions with both a child and the parents,
Superintendent Shawn Batstone said Tuesday. Parents must sign off on
use of the restraints before they are deployed.
Behavioral issues can be really challenging for everyone, including the child in question. I don’t know all the specifics of either case. I wonder, though, why there isn’t a 1:1 aide for Wyatt on the bus? Why use a transportation system that requires the bus driver to do anything but drive? My son does not have specific behavioral disorders, but for the first year he had an aide on the bus every day (we put him on the regular bus as a means of increasing his degree of inclusion).
Mostly, I just want to say this: Any intervention, accommodation, or response to special needs that ends up with handcuffs on a six year old is a FAILED INTERVENTION.
Dear God. Last week I had to pick up my ASD 14-year-old because he was having a bad day. Had I found him restrained, there would have been a riot. Why are there even handcuffs available in the school??? And who wants an already-stigmatized child to be seen by his peers in a restraining jacket? We need more and louder advocacy.
I am a social worker in Georgia and am appalled but not surprised. Rather surprised he wasn't shot and killed.
I hear you Dona. I have almost no words, other than to make the story more visible.
I WAS AFRAID FOR MY LIFE THIS 6 YEAR OLD TERRIFIED ME.
COME ON, WHEN WILL ALL OF THE HONEST POLICE OFFICERS WHO ARE HONESTLY TRYING TO PROTECT AND SERVE ALL OF THE PEOPLE EQUALLY AND FAIRLY GOING TO STEP FORWARD AND ENFORCE THE LAWS AGAINST THE MEMBERS OF THE POLICE FORCE THEY ARE A MEMBER OF WHO ARE VIOLATING THE LAWS AND RIGHTS OF THE CITIZENS OF THE COMMUNITY THAT EMPOYEE THEM.
I WILL TELL EVEY HONEST POLICE MAN AND POLICEWOMAN ONCE YOU DO THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE THE HIGHEST DEGREE OF RESPECT AND HONOR THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO A MAN OR WOMAN IN ANY OCCUPATION.
https://www.facebook.com/ZeemanWritesOnPolitics
why the all caps?
I am a social worker in Georgia and I am appalled but not surprised. I am sure he was a young African American. He's lucky he wasn't shot and killed.