TKR Bye bye bone, hello chrome!

[BBCG]

Oh, my! What a tough back-to-work you experienced! I would give serious thought to filing a report on what happened, your just-replaced leg being kicked, and explain that if it occurs again, you might need to file a workmans comp claim if they injure you. Your OS would certainly back you up I imagine. Perhaps having the report on file of this incident would prepare them to not put such ridiculous pressure on you and create unreasonable expectations on the part of the parents. Some of us think that it's really amazing there are people like you who are great at working with these young people, and you are miracle workers to some of us who aren't cut out to have the levels of patience and care you possess! But you're living, caring people who need to not get hurt in the line of work you do, too. I don't know what the process for reporting incidents where a violent action is taken against a teacher, but in places I know of, there is such a process, to help when plans are created later for that student... Take care of yourself! (I had a friend who was badly injured in such a situation; that's behind my concern!)

 

[Celle]

I have a friend who works with special needs children and adults. Last year, she was bitten on the arm by one of her adult patients. He bit so hard that, even through her sleeve, he punctured her skin in several places.

He wasn't punished of course, but there were consequences. He and his caregivers were told that he would no longer be seeing my friend, but would be assigned a different person, a man this time.
Management dealt with this, telling them all that, while the centre wanted to help its clients, putting staff at risk was not acceptable.

@LaylaHips - do you have no choice in which clients you see? "No consequences" or not, I would be inclined to tell management that this particular young lady was on a warning from you and you would not continue to help her if she was violent to you again.

 

[Majella]

I'm sorry to hear about your first day back incident...my goodness! Perhaps taking a crutch to work would be a good idea, your may need it for self defense

 

[zzevi]

@birdwatchr My last year in the classroom we were told not to have consequences for bad behavior anymore and to ignore it. That went against everything I was taught. Quoted.
This is what our school system has went to, students have lots of rights and the adults that work with them none. An adult is open to being bitten, kicked, spit on, stabbed at, have things thrown at them, threated and nothing really becomes of it. It's a sad situation. Hopefully change will come again soon, where the teachers, and other school employees have rights again to protect themselves and the other students.

 

[Celle]

I hate this emphasis on Rights. Rights and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin. In my book, you can't claim rights if you won't accept the responsibilities that go along with them.

I hate this new type of psuedo-psychology. I think it's rubbish. You can't say "No" to a child, in case you damage its precious little ego. So, how are you going to set boundaries and enforce them consistently? How is a child going to learn what behaviour is not acceptable, if you don't tell him or her? How is a special needs person going to know that violence is not acceptable, if there are no consequences for being violent?

"No consequences" is a dangerous policy. I'm glad it hasn't reached NZ yet and I hope it dies out soon.

 

[KarriB]

Goodness, I hope your new knee isn't feeling the consequences of that kick!

This kind of day is one reason I retired. There was a kindergartener coming to first grade who regularly kicked his teacher with no consequence. My former colleagues have told me this is continuing with other children in the school as well. This is a new way of thinking in my school and I believe it comes from not wanting to deal with unhappy parents.

Life has consequences and children cannot be shielded from consequences their whole lives. Suffering a consequence for a behavior provides an experience a child can learn from, holding that back from a child or any individual is detrimental in so many ways. Natural consequences are the best, but providing clear expectations for particular behavior can also provide a good learning experience.

 

[sistersinhim]

Boy, have things changed, and not for the good! If we got punished by a teacher, we got it even worse when we got home! I don't think it damaged any of us!

 

[birdwatchr]

Yep. You dreaded the home punishment even more than the school punishment.

 

[LaylaHips]

So today I had planned on working with the difficult girl on table top activities only, like linking chains or drawing a pumpkin. The special ed director brought her in the room and wanted her to do sensory activities-swing on the swing. I told her I hadn't planned that until her behavior was under control because she kicked me last week (it was documented the day it happened, too). She said she would do it (I didn't want to because I thought it would be a reward for bad behavior). Anyway, ends up I have to help the girl swing. At the end of the session I set the timer on my phone so she would know the session was over. She was okay with me an got out of the swing, but then spit right in the special ed director's face. Phew. Most of my other kids are easy compared to her. I had a few kids with autism that were tricky last year but they are my star pupils this year. @birdwatchr the middle school kids are the most difficult. I had a boy last year who committed some kind of crime that they wouldn't tell me about, I hear later some kind of sex crime, so he had a one on one paraprofessional (man) with him all day. He was tired of coming to work on handwriting skills so I took him off OT for his yearly meeting. He used to be so sweet. I also see the toddlers and 3, 4 and 5 year olds. Nice to see them when they are still innocent!
My knee hasn't been giving me problems, so I think I'm okay. At least it was documented.

 

[LaylaHips]

Also, I agree with everyone that it's not okay to ignore behavior without consequences. I used to watch The Dog Whisperer and he would point out that after a dog has a bad behavior, don't give it treats and talk to it with baby talk. I see a lot of people doing just that after a bad behavior!!

 

[mamazipp]

Hi Laylahips. Haven't seen you in a while. I'll be going to your home town for thanksgiving week and would love to say hi for coffee.