If you have a child with autism that can be violent..

[Colouroutsidethelines]

How do you feel when you find out they have attacked school staff? How do you respond?

I am a teaching assistant. I was playing in the garden with another staff member and four children who all have an autism or ADHD diagnosis.

The child I was playing with in the construction area is in year 4 and very articulate. We were conversing nicely, talking about his favourite cars. He then got up and walked off and before I stood up, he had gone behind me, picked up a large wooden log and cracked me hard over the head with it.

It caught me completely off guard and I did cry with the pain as I ran inside to seek first aid.

Curious to how you would respond if this was your child.

It’s just the reality of being a poor country isn’t it? If there are limited resources then you have to choose where to spend money. At some point hard decisions will need to be made.

It’s quite ironic to criticise me for implying that a particular child is more “deserving” when you seem to be aligned with a PP who wants to ‘warehouse’ (presumably “undeserving”) SEN children rather than waste an education on them, on the basis that they will ‘never work’.

In that context, imo educating any articulate or intelligent child is not a waste. There are plenty of highly articulate, sensitive and intelligent autistic children who can’t cope in mainstream.

Adult social care is also “bankrupting” LA’s btw, but I don’t see anyone suggesting that granny just stays in her PJ’s all day and doesn’t brush her teeth to save money on care. Or better still, that her and her mates from bingo spend their last days in a cheap warehouse waiting for God. It’s almost like children are an easier target for sadistic bullies… 🤔

Or better still, that her and her mates from bingo spend their last days in a cheap warehouse waiting for God

LAs put people in care homes if the cost of at home care is more than they are prepared to fund (I believe it’s generally if the person needs more than 4 care visits a day?), so I am not sure that is quite the argument you think you are making. Granted, it’s not “cheap warehouses”, but it’s still collective rather than individualised.

What are SEN hubs at state schools if not “collective” @Algen ? The vast, vast majority of SEN children are in LA-funded education eg a hub, mainstream with support and (more rarely these days) a LA special school. It is vanishingly rare for any other provision to be agreed, except when there is exceptional acuity in terms of the child’s needs.

The illusion of “bespoke education of every SEN child at the cost of the NT majority” is right up there with flatscreen TV’s and daily takeaways for those on benefits (ie bullshit).

Why do people always quote this £150k a year figure. Is it the biggest number they can imagine, or is it quoted in the press a lot.

The vast majority of SEN support is not 150k per child.

It feels like its just said pick an extreme figure to make people think its routine.

What about if a paranoid schizophrenic hit you over the head with a log while you were sat in a park?

The same applies, the person who committed the act has a serious illness and disability but yet gets no compassion or empathy from the general public when they hurt people.

You weren’t in a park. You were in a school that is known to have children with challenging behaviour in.

Can we not pretend that’s the same thing, please.

Tell that to my very autistic brother who earns a six figure salary as a Coding Architect in the computer industry. Or my friend who earns similar wages as a Computer/Console game designer. They've probably paid more in tax than you or most people could dream of earning.

Do you even have an inkling of a fathom of how many people in the Tech & Arts industries have autism?

Whether OP was in a park or a school does not change the consequence of the incident or what it was objectively, just gives some context as to how it occurred. There’s two elements aren’t there - the act and the mental state of the person who committed it. Assault is assault whoever the perpetrator.

How old was he at diagnosis?

I was thinking the same.

My son used to need round the clock nursing including a ventilator, it's why he is now disabled. Way more than £150k, especially when he was also on dialysis and needed 2:1 around the clock care in intensive care.

The world is known to have mentally ill people in. I’m wondering why they are not shown the same compassion and understanding in society when they commit violent acts.

Just us school workers that are supposed to put up and shut up eh?

The same applies, the person who committed the act has a serious illness and disability but yet gets no compassion or empathy from the general public when they hurt people.

There is much more nuance when it’s a child, though. I am thinking specifically of the Bulger case.

17, back in 1995. He was tested at College, when, like a lot of us who were diagnosed when older, he had a mental breakdown, and they thought it was depression.. it wasn't, it was ASD & ADHD, both of which significantly impact his life, but he does manage to function and hold down a job, despite failing physical health these days that most people would give up work over (he has severe ME/CFS, but he just works from home from his sofa and a lap desk, because he loves his job.

Just us school workers that are supposed to put up and shut up eh?

Im sorry for the attitudes on this thread, like school staff have less value than a person on the street. Even if you accept it’s more likely to happen in your setting you should still be met with respect and compassion from the parents and other people.

I think there’s an element of choice.

I chose to work with vulnerable children who may present violence. So do you. I didn’t choose to have one, but I did choose to have a child and that’s an associated risk.

A random attack in a park isn’t the same on that basis.

I would also say that on the vanishingly rare occasion my son did push a child, for example, when he was younger - people were more accepting because of his obvious disability. The reactions we received told us that.

He targets his aggression towards his familiar adults now, when it does happen, so wouldn’t attack a stranger in a park, but we do see sympathetic faces and “ooh it must be difficult” etc when he does “kick off.” People actually are quite accepting.

This wasn’t just a push though. It was a large log at full force on my head.

I didn’t choose to work with such violence actually. As I’ve said it’s seeped in over the years. I used to love my job. I am actively looking to leave education.

SEN is increasing can’t attach chart sorry

Right

Your OP was on the 29th, it is now the 2nd October.

I’m not sure if you are still deeply affected as it appears, or are just engaging in the thread?

But 3 working days later I would hope your employer knows if you are still affected and have taken steps to take you out of what is evidently a very stressful situation for you.

It has seeped in. But it has been AFAIK for about a decade. And I’m assuming the decision to work in the library/hub was voluntary and not forced.

I’m absolutely staggered that working in the environment you do, this is “news” to this level, for this long. Children with evident SEMH hurt people. Who knew.

There hasn’t been such a large increase as some try to portray.

If you dispute the official statistics I linked to, you should take that up with the government (and schools who complete the census data).

https://www.sigplus.co.uk/2024/03/send-in-numbers/

Am I not allowed to engage in the thread I created?

I’ll got back into my box and be quiet then.

That only goes back to 2015/16. It also doesn’t cover the last 2 years. It is based on data from an old version of my first link. The data I linked to in my second link goes back further.

As I mentioned, the latest SEN statistics from 24/25 show there were 1,766,942 (19.5%) children and young people with SEN. The official government statistics from January 2014 show 1.49 million (17.9%) pupils had SEN. Down from 1.55 million (18.7%) in 2013 or in terms of percentages down from 21.1% in 2010.

So, no, not the extreme increase some like to portray, especially when you look at percentages.

I asked if you were still deeply affected or if you were just appearing so for the purpose of the thread.

I asked because if you remain as bothered as you were on Monday, your school should really have given you the opportunity to not work around children who so evidently bother you, by now.

You working in that environment still deeply upset about the log incident won’t benefit you and it won’t benefit the kids either.

What do you want to happen, out of interest?

You keep saying the job has changed, which I agree it has, but do you think inclusion has pushed you out of wanting to remain in education?