How are schools supposed to handle meltdowns?

pattyb

New Member
Hi all. I wanted to hear some other parent experiences on how meltdowns are handled at school, like among upper elementary age kids or older? By meltdown I mean yelling, running away, throwing things, throwing self on floor, etc. At this point I am sometimes being called to school to help, and at times taking my son home. I'm currently asking for a 1:1 aide to be added to his IEP. But can an aide physically remove a child from a room? Principal mentioned sometimes they can use restraint techniques but only under certain conditions (harming self or others) but what about getting a child out of the room to make him go to resource room, etc.? Or when a child is running through the halls? Just trying to figure out what else could be done to help. Thanks!
 

HMBgal

Well-Known Member
My district does a form of safety training. They teach you steps and what to look for at different parts of the melt-down--ramping up, full-blown, then coming down. There are different techniques for each stage. We hardly every use restraint unless it's going to be a 911 emergency. Even if a kid of is eloping and goes into a street, we can't stop them. We have to stop traffic, call the police, and stay there shielding the student with our bodies. If they are tossing a room, we clear the other students out and let them have at it. If they flop down and start screaming, we just stay with them. I don't know. It's a very controversial topic in my school district and it's complicated. But you can ask the school personnel what they do, because if they don't have a plan, it won't go well. They need to be able to share with you what they do. And even when they do have a plan, sometimes it doesn't seem very intuitive. Why on earth would you let a student run into a street. It's not even common sense.
 

HMBgal

Well-Known Member
PattyB, no, never allowed to force a child to go anywhere unless it's because the building is on fire or something. No kidding. I've seen a kid refuse to move for 3 hours. He flopped on the playground. He didn't want to go to speech.
 

Feeling Sad

Well-Known Member
I am a special education teacher...mild to moderate.

The holds can only be used when a child may endanger themselves; ie running into the street.

We can never forcefully remove a child. If a 'meltdown' occurs, we are to evacuate the room to keep the other children safe. Then we let them kick and scream.

If a hold is used, it is very rare. I have never used one, but I have seen other sp. ed. teachers or paraeducators use one. If this happens, a full very detailed report must be filled out.

The most important thing as a teacher, is to quickly and calmly evacuate the room. Then, I have to stand back and watch supplies and books be destroyed. I have had desks and computers thrown across the room. We just block the exits so that they do not run away or hurt another student. We use techniques to help them calm down. They are usually exhausted after they are done. I learned quickly to keep my cherished things up high.

Last year I had to evacuate the room 8 times.

Again, the holds are used very rarely and only to protect the child.
 
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sartist

New Member
I'm sorry you are going through this. My son is four. He too has started doing strange finger posturing with twisting of the fingers or pinky finger over the ring finger. This posturing only presents itself when he is sick, tired or stressed. 90% or more of the time he is what one would describe as a typical child, but he is a completely different child the other 10% of the time. These features seem to come and go. He has experienced aggression, high emotion, insomnia, finger posturing, sensory issues, possible Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (he may very infrequently answer a question with a number) and I have very reluctantly been able to pull a conversation from him where it seems that an inanimate object may be contributing to his moods and coercing his aggressive behavior (possible auditory hallucination). All of this is onset after a recent hospitalization back in April where he experienced anaphylactic shock in response to a viral infection. Things have changed in a big way since that day. I am very interested in following your posts because of the similar features with hand posturing and that he seems to function on a high scale despite showing occasional autism symptoms. Wishing you the best for you and your son.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Has he been evaluated? Sounds like a very poor school fit for for him. What is his diagnosis?

As for the child with the finger posturing, has he been seen by a neurologist? This doesn't sound ointentional...does he have tics?
 

sartist

New Member
Has he been evaluated? Sounds like a very poor school fit for for him. What is his diagnosis?

As for the child with the finger posturing, has he been seen by a neurologist? This doesn't sound ointentional...does he have tics?

He had vocal tics after he left the hospital, but it lasted only 2 months or so and has since gone away. He became sick with another virus this fall and that's when everything hit the fan. Finger posturing started, insomnia, emotional break downs, etc.

He has seen a neurologist who performed an MRI, two EEG's and some bloodwork. The only thing they did not do was a spinal tap.
 
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