Hi everyone I am new here and needed a friendly ear or two.
My name is Gina. I am a single mom with 3 kids. Frankie 10 Adam 8 and Sara 6. Adam my 8 yo has PDD-NOS....with a possible upgrade to Aspergers.He is being reevaluted in a month. Anyhow at school he is becoming more opp/def.
Just this past Thurs. we set a new IEP in place and a behavorial plan up. So on Friday my son had a melt down 10 minutes before school ended. His special ed. teacher said Adam behavior was not a manifestation of autism but a deliberate behavior so now her and the principal think it is time to start to paddling Adam on days like this.
Here is my thing I do not want spankings at school.
He already does not like school. We are also going through a lot of personal changes at home and the school knows it.
Also who decides when Adam is having a "related" autism meltdown or being a "bad" kid? I do not have much of a support group where I live so I would so appreciate any advice you all could give.
(Please excuse any spelling type o's...LOL.)
THANKS!
Gina

If anyone so much as laid a finger on my child I would phone the police and charge them with assualt.
i am completley gobsmacked, I thought this type of behavoir in schools was done away with years ago.
i had a similar issue with my sons school "not over smaking" but over issues of, was my son being disobedient or was he unable to comply due to autism.
I argued his case and explained to the school how to manage his behavoir and got his educational psy. involved. you have to speak out. you are the only one who can fight his corner. Do not leave it up to them to deciede. Is he in a special needs school and do his teachers know what Aspergers is?

I thought that I must be reading this wrong...
Isn't corporal punishment at school against the law?????
It is very sad to read that people, teachers no less are that uneducated about autism and the behaviors of affected children.

Please contact the police and child protective services. What state do you live in? What gives them the right? :eek:

Gina..............You are absoutely right. I would tell them that under no circumstances should your son EVER be spanked. How dare they even suggest such a thing.
Bless his heart. Do they have any idea how hard this world is for our children? Hang in there Mom. You have support here. Drew is never hit............ever. It would scare him to death I'm sure.

Social problems are one of the major issues with autistic children and sometimes with Asperger's it may be the only obvious problem the child has. How can a 'special ed' teacher make such an ignorant statement? Furthermore, if his most recent IEP has only been in place for 4 days now with a behavior plan, why isn't the team using the plan and where does corporal punishment fit in with that plan?

I'm pretty sure that the school would have to have your written permission in order to spank your son. It amazes me that the teacher would even approach that option with an autistic child!

Just wanted to echo the other posts - I am horrified that this is even being suggested and quite honestly would rip the head of anyone who ever touched my boy (I am not, of course, suggesting that you do this!!).

I don't know if you're in the UK or the States but wherever you are I would make as much fuss with as many people as possible about this, in writing as much as you can so that there are no 'misunderstandings' and make it absolutely clear that if he is ever harmed you will press charges against them. I can't believe this is being suggested. I smacked my son twice before I knew about his problems because I thought he was being 'naughty'. I am so ashamed of myself because of this and it breaks my heart to think what he must have felt when that happened - to be so confused anyway because nothing was making sense and then to have me slap him. You are right to be concerned about this and right to think that this will cause untold damage to your little boy. Stick to your guns on this one.

in PA, this was just outlawed like 2-3 mos ago. You are now NOT allowed to spank in school. I personally did NOT believe in it and if ANYONE is going to spank my child, it would be me, Though I do not do this.
It sounds like that school needs to really eval there "special ed" teacher and see if she is capable of handling these type of children.
When and If my son has a meltdown in school, he is taken to the learning support class room if it is that bad, and yes he is dx with AS. He is also not quite 6. Don't let the school push you around.@!

I, too, thought that corporal punishment was against the law in this country, but perhaps I was wrong. Is it at all possible that the teacher was threatening this to get it across how much your son "misbehaves"? Even if it was, if the teacher is not qualified to handle caring for children with special needs, then they should not be teaching. If the spanking was, in fact, a serious consideration, it would be wise to find out (just to be sure) if corporal punishment is somehow allowed where you live.

Does this teacher have a superior who you may speak to? If so, by all means, speak to this person about the teacher's behavior.

I agree with the other posts as well.You might want to read Wrightslaw yellow pages for kids with Disabilities, Directory of legal and Advocacy Resources your state and give them a call.There is also alot of other info as well. Spanking and even yelling leads to more aggression in children and is un healthy for a positive developmental future.The school needs to find a positive way to help your son deal with his shifiting, from leaving school to going home. Spanking is not the solution. For the benefit of your son i would want someone educated in autism spectrum disorder teaching him.I would think spanking is not a course taught to a special education teacher in college.My daughter in the spectrum had problems with shifting when younger .Her school had a board up in the class with pictures ex at 9:00 we do this 2:00 etc and it was done daily over and over its called a structured enviroment its taught at school as well as at home .

spanking is still legal in the south, if you don't want your child spanked you have to write a note telling them NO! they will comply, you the parent has a choice they can't just paddle without your permission, if they do you have a lawsuit on your hands, especially where he has a disability.now when my son became 6 feet tall and 250 lbs and wanted to stab a teacher and was totally out of hand I let the school paddle him,he learned. high function autism or not he is not to threaten or hurt anyone, but when he was small i didn't let anyone touch him but teen years were absolute hell,but now at 17 he is so much better. but with the school you have to stand your ground.

I am truly curious...
How does one paddle a 250 lb 6ft boy/teen?????

rotflmao, a 6 ft teacher lol, thats a funny comment juliennes.

believe it or not he actually allowed it, he knows I am the boss. but he is so nice now from 12-16 he was really violent, but now you would never known it.

in PA, this was just outlawed like 2-3 mos ago. You are now NOT allowed to spank in school. I personally did NOT believe in it and if ANYONE is going to spank my child, it would be me, Though I do not do this.
It sounds like that school needs to really eval there "special ed" teacher and see if she is capable of handling these type of children.
When and If my son has a meltdown in school, he is taken to the learning support class room if it is that bad, and yes he is dx with AS. He is also not quite 6. Don't let the school push you around.@!

Hey 2cute I am also in PA and would have flipped had I known they could have spanked my children. You said 2-3 months ago for real? I should know better than to question it in this state.

No paddling!

Many children with autism perceive pain differenty. Corporal punishment is not an effective means of modifying their behavior. What does it teach? It's ok to hit when someone does something you don't like. Bad lesson! (For what it's worth, I don't see it as being very useful for NT kids either.)

How are they determining if it's autism or behavior? It sounds like they don't have a very emphathic point of view. A teacher once told me the same thing about my daughter who has always had trouble with transitions. When we put a behavior plan in place to help her know what was coming and give her things to look forward to after activities she didn't enjoy, the "naughtiness" just magically vanished! Doh! :rolleyes:

OMG!!! Is there a special education advocate or attorney you can call? Is there a center for persons with developmental disabilities you can call??? I would also contact the state board of education. Hang in there!!

I forgot to add that each district should have a behav specialist. What the heck is wrong with them?

It's illegal over in the UK except for a few places! I, for one, find that hitting students doesn't help at all! Around where I live if someone was hit by a teacher, they'd damn well hit the teacher back causing a lot more damage!
The Education Board should find more appropiate ways of handling students instead or resorting to violence, its ridiculous.

Kayleigh x

Are these teachers experts? How do they know if his meltdown is autism related or not? Unless they have expertise in this area I would definitely tell them not to lay one finger ( or other foreign objects) on your child. This is abuse and is especially harmful for a child that has communication problems already.