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Parents Angry After School Put Autistic Son in Bag

:2mad:

My son is autistic and if a school ever did this to him, the teacher who did this would be meeting my lawyer as well as my fist.

There is NO EXCUSE for this kind of ignorant approach to special needs children in the modern world. They are not animals that you can do whatever you want with. They are real people.

This story INFURIATES me!
 
The parent just based upon the article doesn't seem to have a problem with the lycra bags. As a general statement, sure you would want to know. It's great that you could just come get him also but what about those who can't? Or that might take an hour to get there? Should a teacher have to take an hour out of the days schedule to watch this one kid until you get there?

Removing a disruption from a classroom is not hard. Teachers all over America do it without putting children in bags. If you're just playing devil's advocate I understand, but if you're seriously trying to defend this approach then you're just out to lunch. A child isn't an animal. You don't just cage them when you can't deal with them.
 
I guess if the parent can't come and get them, the kids stays in the lyrcra bag. Is that okay if it were your 9 year old and you couldn't come get him?

I don't know. I would be more educated on this I would hope if it applied to my kid.

It may take 3 hours... so the kid should stay in the bag in your opinion?

Again, I do not know what is acceptable here but my gut feeling is that a teacher or administrator can't regulary be assigned to one kid for three hours.

Absolutely - the teacher is responsible for that child while he/she is at school.

I disagree. So the other 19 kids loose out on classroom time?
 
Even if this bag were the "proper" lycra one, or whatever, as a parent, I want to know that putting my kid in this bag is or is not an option for the teachers. In other words, I don't want to show up to school surprised to find my kid in a bag, even the lycra bag. That's the issue, here. As a parent, I should be able to tell the teachers, no, don't put my kid in a bag, just call me, and I'll come get him.

We talk about teachers be ill equipped to deal with these sorts of things. Um. What if, as a private sector worker, I told my boss I was ill equipped to do my job? What would happen, do you think? I mean, they have special education teachers...these are the so called pros for this sort of thing. And they resorted to putting that kind into, as described by the article, a gym bag? Sorry, but seeing as getting a refund for these obviously unwanted "services" is not in the cards for the parents, then, you're god damn right some heads should roll.

Except that the school may need to restrain the child before you can get there, which with some parents could take more than an hour. We also do not know if such information is available for the parent to have known, and just failed to read. I think that any notion that the parent has to approve first fails, for by choosing a school for your child, you agree to the policies of the school in how it disciplines, providing it is within the law. There is no accomodation that a parent can leave a chlld, but then dictate that if the child is unruly, or out of control, the only option is to "call me"

We also have no indiction that the article was objective in how it presented the information..
 
Removing a disruption from a classroom is not hard. Teachers all over America do it without putting children in bags. If you're just playing devil's advocate I understand, but if you're seriously trying to defend this approach then you're just out to lunch. A child isn't an animal. You don't just cage them when you can't deal with them.

The parent seems to acknowledge (for a lack of a better word) that the "bag therapy" is an acceptable practice. I can understand the concept.
 
:2mad:

My son is autistic and if a school ever did this to him, the teacher who did this would be meeting my lawyer as well as my fist.

There is NO EXCUSE for this kind of ignorant approach to special needs children in the modern world. They are not animals that you can do whatever you want with. They are real people.

This story INFURIATES me!

And you would be meeting the back seat of a police car, a magistrate, etc. There is much that we do not know here, and not a one of those "outraged" has provided us with a viable option as to what is to be done with a child that is unstable and out of control. Some form of physical restraint can be necessry, and I like to think that the option is to not always call the police, and have them subdue the child, which is enormously traumatic.
 
I don't know. I would be more educated on this I would hope if it applied to my kid.


Again, I do not know what is acceptable here but my gut feeling is that a teacher or administrator can't regulary be assigned to one kid for three hours.
I don't understand what more education you need in order to have an opinion if this were your kid? The question is what is acceptable to you. You put yourself in the shoes of a parent and form an opinion.... you can't do that?

If you still cannot -- what would your parent opinion (do you think?) and if you didn't have parents, what about friends of yours or other people you may know - what do you think their reaction would be if they did NOT know their child was going to be put in a Lycra bag and found their child t


I disagree. So the other 19 kids loose out on classroom time?
Of course not... you see teachers commonly have to take care of multiple children at one time, commonly called a "classroom", and if one child is acting up, they need to be able to address and control that child without letting the other 19 children get out of hand or get distracted. This is called "being a teacher". You see, many generations before Lycra bags were invented, happened to teach children in this manner.

Are you being serious here? Jezus...
 
I'm not sure what to think. On the surface I'm inclined to freak out and want someone's head.

OTOH... I recall a documentary I watched once on autism. There was an autistic adult, semi-functional. In her home she had a device of her own design that is hard to describe... it looked like a largeish exercise machine with lots of heavily padded arms. When she felt overwhelmed or like she was going to lose control, she'd get in the machine and pull the levers, and the padded arms would close around her, kind of squeezing her slightly. She could get out on her own by pulling the lever anytime, but she said that being squeezed lightly and feeling as if she could not move somehow had a strong calming effect on her and helped her keep it together.

:shrug:

Seems to me that this is something they should have discussed with the parents in more detail, before it became an issue. Also, I understand that autism is a spectrum disorder and not all autistic persons respond in the same manner to various treatments like sensory deprivation or movement deprivation.

If I'd never heard of "bagging" an autistic person before and came upon that scene, I'd of freaked out and likely done someone some harm. Communication issues here at the least...

You are thinking of Temple Grandin, I believe. Cool lady. She sent my family blueprints to the same device you are discussing, for my brother.
 
Of course not... you see teachers commonly have to take care of multiple children at one time, commonly called a "classroom", and if one child is acting up, they need to be able to address and control that child without letting the other 19 children get out of hand or get distracted. This is called "being a teacher". You see, many generations before Lycra bags were invented, happened to teach children in this manner.

You haven't actually taught, especially special ed, have you?
 
I don't understand what more education you need in order to have an opinion if this were your kid? The question is what is acceptable to you. You put yourself in the shoes of a parent and form an opinion.... you can't do that?

Are you speaking about this particular instance or the idea of the bag therapy in general? It read to me like you were stating that keeping him in a "lycra" bag until you got there was not acceptable. In that it seems that maybe, perhaps this sort of thing is an accepted therapy, I would need to be far more educated on the subject before making a statement. Is 20 minutes acceptable, what is acceptable? Until the child calms down? I would need to know how my kid normally reacts. Off the cuff I wouldn't think it should take three hours but I also believe the acceptable therapy would have been discussed with the school.

If you still cannot -- what would your parent opinion (do you think?) and if you didn't have parents, what about friends of yours or other people you may know - what do you think their reaction would be if they did NOT know their child was going to be put in a Lycra bag and found their child t

Posting error I'm guessing but I know that when I was a kid and got swatted at school (only happened twice) that I never told my parents. No way was I going to get it again when I got home. I find it odd that we have so many kids with problems today that I simply do not recall at all when I was in school.

Of course not... you see teachers commonly have to take care of multiple children at one time, commonly called a "classroom", and if one child is acting up, they need to be able to address and control that child without letting the other 19 children get out of hand or get distracted. This is called "being a teacher". You see, many generations before Lycra bags were invented, happened to teach children in this manner.

Are you being serious here? Jezus...

I'm assuming you've never seen an autistic kid act up.
 
T Should a teacher have to take an hour out of the days schedule to watch this one kid until you get there?

Absolutely - the teacher is responsible for that child while he/she is at school.

No, a lone teacher in a classroom full of kids shouldn't have to attempt to subdue an out of control child for an hour until the parent gets there. The child should be taken immediately out of the classroom so the other kids can learn.
 
I don't understand what more education you need in order to have an opinion if this were your kid? The question is what is acceptable to you. You put yourself in the shoes of a parent and form an opinion.... you can't do that?

If you still cannot -- what would your parent opinion (do you think?) and if you didn't have parents, what about friends of yours or other people you may know - what do you think their reaction would be if they did NOT know their child was going to be put in a Lycra bag and found their child t


Of course not... you see teachers commonly have to take care of multiple children at one time, commonly called a "classroom", and if one child is acting up, they need to be able to address and control that child without letting the other 19 children get out of hand or get distracted. This is called "being a teacher". You see, many generations before Lycra bags were invented, happened to teach children in this manner.

Are you being serious here? Jezus...

We have seen that bag therapy does exist in professional circles. What I do not see in your post is a solution for what may be an out-of-control special needs child that the school is obligated to provide. Do you have one ?
 
People have not gathered enough info. "OMG, that kid's in a BAG!!!" No, it's not just "a bag," but a special bag used in a certain type of therapy, AND the mother seems to have understood the therapy. Cut the hype.
 
People have not gathered enough info. "OMG, that kid's in a BAG!!!" No, it's not just "a bag," but a special bag used in a certain type of therapy, AND the mother seems to have understood the therapy. Cut the hype.

Even though I've never seen something like that before, I have to agree. If it's a professional therapy device and the parents were aware of it, I don't see the problem.
 
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/parents-angry-after-school-put-autistic-son-in-bag/



My oldest son is mildly autistic - when he was younger we had a lot of issues with the school he attended. As he grew older some of his issues sort of faded - he learned about to be in more control of his self, etc. . . making it easier to teach him and he distrupted the class less.

However frustrating it might have been for the teachers - they did NOT treat him like ****.

If I had come to school at some point and FOUND him in a ****ing bag in a hallway - I'd likely lose my temper. I've been on edge of losing it several times with teachers concerning just how they talked about him . . . I don't think I would have maintained control if they violated his rights, physical self and dignity. I would have beat the **** out of them.

This story INFURIATES me - and more so: the school DEFENDED their actions by saying "bags are used to control . . . they're a gym bag that they can get out of" **** YOU YOU **** - let me stick you in a bag and leave you there and see how you like it you disgusting pigs.

More so: the mother heard that they 'used bags to handle them' and just didn't know 'how' they used the bag - that's bizarre. . .obviously you can NEVER EVER assume that they're doing what you THINK they're doing. You must ask question and lots of them!

I think this is exactly WHY the dissolve of special-needs-only classrooms was horrible. . . regular teachers have 20+ kids and special needs children require extra attention that the average teacher can't provide, doesn't have instruction in . . . I think it sets everyone up for a poor and failing school experience.

As special needs children grew THEN they should be in a regular classroom more IF they can control their selves on their own and with less interaction from the teacher.

I found that my son being shuffled to and from classroom 4 times a day was more disruptive than anything else - and this was so he could have individualized instruction time. At least years ago they would have a small classroom for one-on-one cognitive (etc) related activity to strengthen their skills in school but now they just stick tehse special needs kids who have attention deficit and physical issues in the hallway - with countless others shuffling past all the time (yeah, they're going to focus and learn then) :roll:

Schools are failing miserably to keep up with the growing number of students who have issues.

As awful as this sounds, I think I need to know more about the circumstances...about protocols, policies and procedures. Surely popping this kid into a bag didn't come out of the blue. Then the question becomes how does one restrain a child who is, as an example, banging his head against the wall? Throwing himself down on the ground and beating his head against the floor? Lashing out at others? Handcuffs? Ankle restraints? Physical restraint that would likely result in twisted arms and a myriad of bruises?

I think there's more to this story than meets the eye.
 
People have not gathered enough info. "OMG, that kid's in a BAG!!!" No, it's not just "a bag," but a special bag used in a certain type of therapy, AND the mother seems to have understood the therapy. Cut the hype.

It doesn't seem like this was anything except a regular old bag. As in a ball bag.
 
Of course not... you see teachers commonly have to take care of multiple children at one time, commonly called a "classroom", and if one child is acting up, they need to be able to address and control that child without letting the other 19 children get out of hand or get distracted. This is called "being a teacher". You see, many generations before Lycra bags were invented, happened to teach children in this manner.

Are you being serious here? Jezus...

I don't think you understand that this isn't just a kid being ornery.....

Let me give you a for instance...

First grade classroom of 24 kids. In the middle of a math lesson, a child starts screaming, banging his head on his desk, rolling around on the floor, running around the room hitting other kids on the head.... and you think the teacher should have to keep that kid for AN HOUR until the parents get there? Do you understand that there will be absolutely NO LEARNING in that hour because the teacher will be constantly trying to stop that kid from hurting himself or other kids?
 
It doesn't seem like this was anything except a regular old bag. As in a ball bag.

It's a bag used in autism therapy. The balls are used for sensory purposes.
 
Again, to those who criticize the school, or bag treatment, when we clearly lack the knowledge to know if they followed an approved procedure, or cut too many corners .... what is your solution for the scenario's posed ?

I have seen special needs children dealt with in legal ways that were far more traumatic than what seems to have happened here.
 
Of course not... you see teachers commonly have to take care of multiple children at one time, commonly called a "classroom", and if one child is acting up, they need to be able to address and control that child without letting the other 19 children get out of hand or get distracted. This is called "being a teacher". You see, many generations before Lycra bags were invented, happened to teach children in this manner.

There are many times where such a suggestion would work. Other times, however, not so much. With some outbursts, what you suggest is impossible without help. Some children need a great deal of one-on-one time when an episode occurs, and it will be quite the distraction. Even at local conferences, when the outburst occurs, and I am leading a group of kids with various needs, it takes a lot of coordination among other group leaders and parents to keep the games rolling. That example is much more lenient, because all of us had grown up in families where such outbursts were normal and we know what it is like for a parent to have to spend 20-30 minutes or more figuring out a way to get the atmosphere a bit more pleasant. However, in the classroom it is a different story.

Of course, at the very least, the situation the news brought up was not proper in the slightest and it would be completely justifiable for the parents to be upset at the sack.
 
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I have seen special ed teachers pinning kids to the wall. They stand there holding the kids firmly to the wall with their bodies. If you just walked in and saw that not knowing the situation, you'd probably be calling the police. But... it's a therapy method for autistic kids. Some of them calm down if they're in that position (or if they are rubbed all over, rolled around on the floor, etc.)
 
I don't think you understand that this isn't just a kid being ornery.....

Let me give you a for instance...

First grade classroom of 24 kids. In the middle of a math lesson, a child starts screaming, banging his head on his desk, rolling around on the floor, running around the room hitting other kids on the head.... and you think the teacher should have to keep that kid for AN HOUR until the parents get there? Do you understand that there will be absolutely NO LEARNING in that hour because the teacher will be constantly trying to stop that kid from hurting himself or other kids?

If the child is that disruptive, he goes out of the classroom and to the principals office, or to another room where someone has to watch him so he doesn't hurt himself. I don't see that in this case... and while your example is an extreme one, I cannot see any... let me stress again... any circumstance in which a school, without my permission or knowledge before the fact, puts my 9 year old no matter how disruptive, in a lycra bag. By the way, there was kid (when I still went to grade school) who was just like that. His name was Marc Sanchez, and we were in 5th grade. He was corrected a few times, threw his tantrum, was removed from the class and sat either in the nurses office, or the principals office quite often. If he calmed down (sometimes he did) he stayed in the classroom and participated. The teacher (Mrs. Kidder) knew how to control children, and knew how to teach you see.

What I see as this lycra bag thing is akin to locking a kid in a closet. It's stupid, it's a cop out and it enforces the wrong behavior and lets the teacher off without having to deal with children. News flash - kids act up! Kids are hyper - they are disruptive... it's all part of being a child. Even when kids are extreme in their behavior, tying them in a lycra bag and not dealing with their behavior issues shows how ill prepared and clueless this particular school system is.
 
It's a bag used in autism therapy. The balls are used for sensory purposes.

The article is not clear as to what type of bag it was.
 
If the child is that disruptive, he goes out of the classroom and to the principals office, or to another room where someone has to watch him so he doesn't hurt himself. I don't see that in this case... and while your example is an extreme one, I cannot see any... let me stress again... any circumstance in which a school, without my permission or knowledge before the fact, puts my 9 year old no matter how disruptive, in a lycra bag.

I agree that the bag is pretty extreme. I have never seen that and I've seen a lot of autistic kids.
 
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