This term I have been assigned 1-1 to support a child in KS1 who has no diagnosed SEN but has extreme difficulty coping with the classroom environment. (Obviously I'm not going to give any more details about the child.)
A few days into the assignment I had to physically restrain the child. The whole episode lasted about an hour and other members of staff were involved. I was withdrawn from supporting the child while the situation was reassessed. This was not punitive. Next week I will be working with them again.
At first I felt that I could have handled the situation better, and avoided reaching the point were restraint became the only option. My colleagues are not of that opinion - at least, not to my face. They feel that, if I did make mistakes, they were reasonable mistakes given the circumstances.
Over the past week, however, I have come to the conclusion that, in fact, my actions were irrelevant. The child was going to behave that way whatever happened and whoever they were with. It was unavoidable, and I was just the lucky or unlucky person who was there at that moment. Everything I did was containment and damage-limitation.
What I'm struggling with is: is this an arrogant attitude? Am I swerving my responsibility?
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Anyone work in SEN and had experience of positive handling?
57 replies
Mustrum · 31/01/2018 16:57
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