Was I being too sensitive here? Pupil with autism

[Freehotchocolate]

I do supply work and I went to a specialist ASD school for a day, it was my first time there.
I was placed to work with a year 7 boy who was non verbal. The boy would become very distressed in certain areas, presumably due to noise or not wanting to do that activity.
Within an hour he had headbutted me, pinched me hard on the arm and whacked me over the back.
I'm not blaming him for it, I know he was frustrated but I didn't feel comfortable at all.
I've worked in a similar setting before but with a 25 year old male. I wasn't informed this man had challenging behaviour beforehand or I would not have accepted the assignment.
He punched me in the face a couple of times and ran upto a child and bit them.
Anyway going back to the boy, I ended up asking the team leader if it was possible to have another staff member support as I felt uncomfortable.
They did swap me which I appreciated, but a couple of staff were then asking me, "Have you never worked in special needs before?"
I do have a lot of SEN experience but I am just not comfortable with challenging behaviours. Part of me feels ashamed to say that, I'm not blaming the children though.
A female colleague told us how the child had bitten her 3 times and broken her skin but she just got on with it.
All for minimum wage too.
I don't know why I feel like I was useless. I haven't had training in physical behaviours but I just couldn't do it.

I haven't had training in physical behaviours but I just couldn't do it

If you have not had training to deal with such challenging behaviour it was really unfair and wrong that you would be placed there.

There is a saying, Don’t set yourself on fire to keep someone else warm.
Work with people with SEN by all means but if you’re being physically attacked just decline the assignment.

I have a friend who worked for a long time in a specialist school, before they are allowed in a classroom they received incredibly detailed training which did include things like safely restraining a child so they won’t get hurt but neither will you.
It was totally unfair on you to be in that situation.

Thanks for the support. It just annoys me when they place you with pupils or adults who are likely to assault you but don't disclose this beforehand

I think you need to avoid specialist schools in future but you weren't wrong

I mean this nicely but if you are not comfortable with working with children with challenging behaviour then working in the SEN sector is not for you.

You should get training in dealing with physical behaviour and it will help but what works best is prevention by working out what triggers it and avoiding/minimising those triggers. And building a relationship with individual children.

Yeah, maybe if I received specialist training beforehand I may feel better.
However at one point I was just sitting down and another child came up and punched me hard in the back then started laughing, there was nothing I could have done to diffuse a situation like that..

You are absolutely wrong there. I've taught in specialist schools for more than 30 years. Yes, I've taught some very challenging and violent children, but they are on the minority

I think ‘the vast majority of SEN children are violent’ is both inaccurate and offensive frankly.

It probably didn't help that the boy didn't know me and wasn't used to me

I'm assuming you have no SEN experience?

That is so untrue and very ignorant.

No, what you do is sit in such a position that no one can come up behind you. I'd also question why a child who randomly strikes out was free to wander unsupervised .

What utter claptrap @SafeHeaven. My DD attended a very large SEN school and the majority of students did not display this behaviour. I volunteered at the school and attended many events there so not just basing it on my DD.

Your agency needs to be better informed, and you and they need to be more communicative with each other. If you’re not Team Teach trained, be clear about what you are able to deal with.

Were you not given his behaviour plan beforehand?

It's appalling practice to give someone a child to manage without any information on their needs and the strategies that are in place to manage them.

Are you a supply teacher or TA? I'm assuming the latter if you're on minimum wage.

I used to work at a school as an LSA for kids with autism / SEN / severe behavioural issues and there was no training, no support from SLT, no consequences for the children for abusing staff (talking about kids with behavioural issues).

It was hell and for minimum wage. Couldn't stick it, went to a much higher paid role in marketing. You're strong to keep on OP.

Putting you in that situation without warning or appropriate training is unfair and dangerous for both you and the pupils.

Do you work for an agency? If so I think you should put in a complaint and ask them to change how they assign staff to jobs… surely a skills matrix showing which agency staff have had what training isn’t too much to hope for.

I don't think it's appropriate that they're placing unqualified/unprepared people with autistic students, it's not fair on anyone. He's in the school because he needs specialist support, then they assign you to him who isn't able to provide that specialist support.

I think that they're assuming that because you accept the role that you are capable and comfortable caring for individuals with SEN who can be volatile. I think you need to disclose before accepting roles in SEN settings that you don't like supporting individuals that have aggressive tendencies. It's not unusual for children in SEN settings to lash out physically. But its not unusual to not be comfortable with that.

I'd be very unhappy with his care if I was his mum.

Does the child tend to target females? If so I would be questioning why a male was not assigned to support him.
To be fair, I have heard of staff in SEN settings being hospitalised due to their injuries and behaviour seems to be getting more challenging lately
So yes, as others say, maybe look at more mainstream assignments in future

A lot of these responses seem to assume that there are lots of specialist, fully trained supply staff all waiting for jobs to come up in special schools. In the real world, that just isn’t the case.

This boy and others like him need to be cared for by trained workers who know exactly how to handle his disability and physical aggression before someone gets hurt. Working with SN people does not equal accepting that you will come home battered and bruised. Imagine if the OP had a back injury or was pregnant - this boy punching and heatbuttking her could have led to HER becoming permanently disabled.

I feel mixed on this.

On the one hand, you shouldn't have to experience that for min wage and it's not nice for you to feel unsafe.

But on the other hand, you don't seem to have the experience or training to be in this role. If I were the parent of that child, I wouldn't be happy to have you looking after him as you just don't have the experience and skills. I have an autistic son and his keyworker has 20 years experience working with children like him, she understands what he is communicating when he pulls her hair and we are working on it.

My dh was a supply teacher and had training with holds etc He'd worked in PRUs and many special needs schools and was absolutely fine. However, at the last school he taught at the children were extremely violent, more so than anything he'd experienced before in over 20 years of teaching. He was attacked frequently, bitten, kicked, spat at and strangled. It absolutely broke him and he became mentally ill. He gave up teaching completely. I admire teachers who can work under those conditions but I also completely understand why a lot of teachers can't and it doesn't mean they are not competent teachers.