To ask not to be assaulted at work

[WearingThin]

Bit of a rant really but also to see what 'common sense' thinks because I am beginning to doubt myself. Have namechanged to try and keep confidential.

I work as a TA in a primary school and since September I have had a child in my class (year 1) with a volatile temper. When she hurts other children I have to remove her from the classroom and she hits and/or kicks me.

How long would you expect a TA to put up with this? Do I have no rights to be safe at work? If this was your child, what would you expect to be done about it?

Senior Management seem to think it's part of the job these days as it's a growing problem and is only expected to get worse.

I'm afraid it IS part of the job these days. After all, the Government wanted 'inclusion' and that's what you've now got.

I only thank whoever that my child eventually went to a school that especially deals with this sort of thing, because his years in Primary (with Autism) were a bloody nightmare for him and me.

It is part and parcel of your job, unfortunately for you.

Since it's such a regular occurrance it's even more important that each and every incident is documented and formally reported. If the LA get enough of the forms they will be asking questions. Your HT has a duty of care in terms of your safety.

I'm afraid I have no advice OP but I am appalled at a) the child's parents attitude and b) that even the headteacher panders to her too. No wonder she kicks off and is violent so often, most children would if they knew they would get lovely treats once they've misbehaved! Disgraceful. No wonder there are so many spoilt brats these days

I'm afraid I have no advice OP but I am appalled at a) the child's parents attitude and b) that even the headteacher panders to her too. No wonder she kicks off and is violent so often, most children would if they knew they would get lovely treats once they've misbehaved! Disgraceful. No wonder there are so many spoilt brats these days

Well said. I also agree with startail that it will probably be a different story if she assaults the SMT.

If the ed psych agrees she has no special needs, I would put her nest to a big older child with a short temper, and when she hits him/her ( as it sounds like she is guaranteed to do) I would wait till she gets hit back before I interfered. And then ask how she feels.

You'd manipulate a situation to get another child to give her a smack back to teach her a lesson talkingnonsense?

Living up to your MN name.

She clearly has needs of some sort, even if it is just a need for a consistent and boundaried approach. If this girl is being enabled to be regularly assaultative, without proper attempts to address this then she is being let down.

If this girl is being enabled to be regularly assaultative, without proper attempts to address this then she is being let down

Agreed - as are the staff who have to work with her, and the other children.

Well I know I wouldn't really but I would want to! And soon enough some natural justice will happen on the playground- and no doubt the child who hits back will end up in all the trouble.

The child categorically has addtional needs. She may not have SEN, and she may not have a diagnosis, but there is some kind of EBD or something there.

I'm afraid I would not be making her apologise. Having worked with children who display such anger etc - what the apology does is remind her of the feelings and risks restarting the meltdown behaviour.

Prevention would be better than cure, and supporting the child to manage her own behaviour. Does she have anything like time out cards? The idea of those is that she starts to learn when her feelings are getting out of control, and she has a safe space to go to (without questioning.)

She needs none judgemental debriefs too, to start to understand why she is behaving as she is.

You need to document everything. It's all evidence that will help the school to get additional support or get the child moved to an EBD unit if that would be a more appropriate placement. And make sure there is a debrief system in place for you too.

I do have experience, in my first teaching job I was bitten and beaten by one of my pupils so badly that I had to go to casualty for treatment. I didn't document every little incident, so didn't get the support - the child didn't get a more appropriate placement until they attacked one of the SMT!

SMT and the class teacher need to work with you to have a decent strategy in place, including reporting. Even things like the language you use with her should be planned and totally consistent. There should be consequences, but not punishment and certainly not apologies at this stage.

Hi OP, you say "Senior Management seem to think it's part of the job these days as it's a growing problem and is only expected to get worse".

Well, they are reneging on their responsibilities to Society then aren't they? They are part of the problem rather than the solution. This simply allows bad behaviour to persist, and in fact encourages it.

I believe you should stand up for your right not to be assaulted. How you do this is another question - through the school, the governors, local authority or legal channels. But it sounds like you are the only person who is looking at this issue responsibly.

it is not part of the job. one of the downsides of teaching/ta work is that the 'child first' approach puts the adult at a constant disadvantage. you need proper training in restraint techniques (a firm called cpi do it, i think) or you need the school to take proper action.
see your line manager immediately, make it plain that this is happening and you want some advice on how to get it to stop. confirm all that is said on both sides, in an email. then if nothing is done in a fortnight, go back, say nothing has improved and ask to be deployed in a different group etc.

If you have had Team Teach training then it is part of your job.

Not strictly true, coco- you can opt out at any time, and team teach used correctly should not result in staff being hurt on a regular basis. It should also be used by all staff to avoid precisely this situation whereby one member of staff has to deal with it all the time and reaches breaking point.

Legally, every physical intervention needs to be recorded, along with every injury sustained (by anyone). A written physical handling plan should be in place for thechild detailing strategies to deal with her behaviour and outlining appropriate physical intervention. Is any of this happening, OP?

What I mean is why did she think she was being given TT training if not for situations like this?

There should be forms to be filled it for every incident. I work as an Additional SN Classroom Assistant in a special school. I work in the class for young adults with severe behavioural problems and I fill in 2 forms and the teacher another 2, after every incident, not matter how small. This should be the same in any school in my opion.

You must document everything, to cover yourself from comebacks and it will assist the child in getting any extra support.

Join your union.

I work in a special secondary school for students with severe ASD and moderate/severe learning difficulties and/or complex needs. This behaviour would not be tolerated. The student would be reprimanded where appropriate and in a fitting manner depending on the student involved and later the class staff, or in some cases the entire staff, will meet to analyse any triggers or message the student was trying to communicate and come up with a behaviour plan to try and break the cycle.

I have been slapped once by a student with severe autism, down's syndrome and severe learning difficulties in the 9 months I have worked there.

I have had the CPI training about defending yourself/escaping from a student's grasp but seeing as even we were not given the restraint training I doubt someone in a mainstream primary would be but you should ask.

Someone at your school needs to come up with a behaviour management plan to try and wean her off this behaviour. It will take a lot of consistent, hard work but, as another poster pointed out, one day someone will punch her back.

Can I ask how your getting hurt? Is it when your using team teach techniques to remove her? Is she going for you out of anger and hurting resulting in you using guides and steering her away to safety?

YANBU. DM is a teacher and has a child in her class who is like this. No documented SN (yet). She deals with the child every time they kick off because she does not want the TAs to get hurt.

I think this is a really grey area btw. No-one should accept being hurt in their job and should be able for ask for measures to be put in place but I work as an LSA in a school for pupils with severe profound and multiple learning difficulties so I know that a risk of my job is getting hurt --quite badly at times.

After each 'incident' we review the behaviour plans and our actions during debrief. This should be happening for you too.

tethersend - it was the 6 hour training and it was the whole school. We learned how to get out of a hold, including strangle hold and biting. We did learn how to restrain but this involved two people and I am usually on my own with her once I have removed her from the classroom. I don't know about a positive handling plan - I have a few things to raise on Monday I think. Thanks for the offer of help, I'll bear it mind.

fuzzpig we do have a nurture group in school and she goes there for part of the day. She assaults the staff and children there too, they don't really know what to do with her. I asked for a meeting with all parties but was told we could not all get together at the same time.

CrunchyFrog I'm afraid I would not be making her apologise. Having worked with children who display such anger etc - what the apology does is remind her of the feelings and risks restarting the meltdown behaviour this is the bit I struggle with. She can hit and kick children, and not be expected to apologise? Because it might make her feel bad about herself? I think this is how the SMT feel as well. That approach does not seem to be working.

Prevention would be better than cure, and supporting the child to manage her own behaviour. Does she have anything like time out cards? The idea of those is that she starts to learn when her feelings are getting out of control, and she has a safe space to go to (without questioning.) Yes she does, she can opt out of the lesson any time she wants and go and do an activity of her choice, provided she is not disrupting the lesson.

She needs none judgemental debriefs too, to start to understand why she is behaving as she is we do this with her.

You need to document everything. It's all evidence that will help the school to get additional support or get the child moved to an EBD unit if that would be a more appropriate placement. And make sure there is a debrief system in place for you too we do document everything but there is no debrief for me or any other staff who are assaulted.

youarekidding - as soon as she is out of the classroom, I will let go of her and then she will hit or kick me. I will talk to SMT tomorrow about whether I can restrain her.

If you are team teach trained you should be able to use a single person wrap/ elbow and escort (etc) - preferably to to chair (personally I feel if your sitting it can sometimes feel like a hug for the child and make them feel safer and therefore calmer) - if you have had to use a restraint technique to remove her then usually the restraint is upheld until the person is calm and not likely to cause further harm or damage. This should all be on the behaviour plan. It should state the techniques you feel you will need to use, why, when you'll use them and what indicators there will be the child is calm again and the restraint will end. Ultimately no-one really wants to restrain a child longer than is needed but there are times when it feels best to release the restaint - eg you've safely removed the child from the class - but if your still in a confined space the risk is still there. Could you remove her into the playground, school hall? There's far more scope for you to distance yourself from her there than in a corridor iyswim?

If not have you tried the deflecting techniques to stop her actually having contact with you by hitting and/or kicking. If you do this whilst backing away she may stop. There is a risk she could escalate the behaviour if the behaviour is to cause a reaction.

And you should have a debrief. The is the big thing you must flag up. It is part of the team teach procedure that all persons involved have a debrief. Are you also filling out violent incident forms for the country so they have the information on this pupil. These will help in your case for getting her the support she needs and hopefully ultimately decreasing these incidents.

I think this girl needs to be seen by a peadatrician.

Op have you got a chill out zone so when she feels angry or upset she can go there

Someone upthread said this thread should be deleted as it's giving too much information, but I've just read it right through and there isn't.
Good luck with SMT OP.

I disagree with your reasoning behind the apologies, as you seem to think the apology is a key element in her changing her behaviour, but for whatever reason, whether SN are involved or not, it sounds like she is not at a point where there is a connect between apology, regret for behaviour, and not repeating the behaviour. Am sure many of us with children that age have encountered the sort of sing-song insincere rote apology that is v irritating!

I do appreciate you are in a v difficult situation, as the class TA you did not choose to be dealing with pupils with this sort of challenging behaviour, and are ending up being the main target.

The reason is that the apology is meaningless (to her), and is very likely to restart the behaviour.

I've worked with lots of TAs who felt as you do about apologies. They don't work. A coerced apology is a waste of time and restarts behaviour. It has nothing to do with making her feel bad about herself. The point is, the situation is being mismanaged in the first place. Team teach should be a last resort. You should also never be alone while handling a child. It sounds as if you are?

I can't overstate how important the language issue is, and consistency. A child in a very high state of arousal, as this one is likely to be to display the behaviour, cannot process language effectively. Simple, clear and consistent language, delivered consistently, will make a difference.

Very clear consequences and rewards should also help.

What are the flash points, usually?