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.

If you’re not trained in challenging behaviour then you’re not the person for that job. It’s also unfair if you are not told what is going to be expected of you beforehand.

If behaviour is that challenging, then the person concerned should really have 2:1.

Challenging behaviour is almost always a sign of unmet needs as well.

That's very true. But at the very least, those people need to be given all the information they need when they're brought into the classroom. Absolutely no-one should be working with a child with complex needs without being given access to their behaviour plan at the very least. Apart from anything else, a lot of the work done by the class team can be undone in minutes, and the child caused unnecessary distress if the new person responds to the child in the 'wrong' way.

Yes, we do get hurt. Everything we do is aimed at minimising situations that lead to physical responses from the child. But there is no (acceptable) way of preventing such episodes completely.

In an asd specialist school particularly with children who are non verbal with severe learning difficulties this type of behaviour will happen.

You shouldn’t be working with this child, it is unfair to him and unsafe for you both.

his needs are clearly not being met and resulting in behaviours. If his needs were met he wouldn’t be violent, he may be restrained because of his behaviours which if not done properly could physically hurt him and cause trauma.

he is being let down and you wouldn’t be putting yourself and more importantly this incredibly vulnerable child at risk.

It was unfair situation. You would have to get to know the child’s triggers. They could have really hurt you. Only by spending a considerable time with them you would know their behaviour and even then they could lash out for any number of unknown reasons.

I have done supply in special schools but not encountered physical aggression thankfully. I am secondary though. Was also a 1-1 aide, again secondary.
I have had the behaviour you describe from my own child so I probably could have handled it but remiss of both agency and school to send you in with no prewarning or learning plan. Were you given any arm guards for example? An LSA I know looks like the Michelin man as they handle all the biters, so have arm protection. Yes - all communication is communication - but reverse headbutting puts you particularly at risk. The school must be aware of that.

My children grew up living amongst children and young people with some very challenging behaviours. They weren't trained and were never injured or hurt. They picked up a few ripe words quite early on, but it wasn't a problem. Even the year 1 teacher in the church primary understood that the goody two shoes, studious, little girl saying 'F this' wasn't really being difficult.

Most of the training for staff was on the job. Few were ever assaulted. I thither issues be in the schools behaviour management rather approach if children are getting away with thumping staff or being disrespectful.

I think it was unfair to both of you and potentially dangerous
You cannot do the job if you haven't been given the tools
It's a specialist job
I'm so sorry you had a bad experience

Its important to recognise your limits so you don't put yourself and a pupil in a difficult or unsafe position. But it sounds like you need to get yourself further training especially in challenging behaviours. There's plenty of rich valuable training out there and to me you shouldn't be in an environment where you're expected to use those skills without having been taught them in the first place. I have previously worked with very challenging behaviours (been held at knife point etc) but I know my training is solid and extensive and that the team I worked in at the time were very supportive. I loved that job and stayed for a really long time but honestly the training is key.

"thither issues be in the schools behaviour management rather approach if children are getting away with thumping staff or being disrespectful."

With the level of need here "getting away with" doesn't apply. The OP was out of her depth and didn't have the necessary training.

Haven't read all replies but depends if you are restrictive intervention trained? The benefit of supply is you can request what you want the drawback is you get put anywhere. I work in SEN school, sounds like you aren't trained so that's unfair, there should be strategies in place to remove yourself from that. Maybe have a look at some before going again and always ask for a profile of the pupil so you know what to expect.

It would make sense, with a potentially violent child who might not react well to things being different to normal, to try and make sure that he was looked after by one of the regular staff, who might know his triggers and also be less of a change for him to cope with. Since it sounds as if not all pupils were in this category, I think you did the right thing in asking if you could swap, and maybe the school might have a think about the best way to deploy supply staff.

@cw112 How do you deal with a knife held at your throat out of interest?

Autistic teacher here. You are not being unreasonable. I certainly wouldn’t want to spend my days earning minimum wage by letting other people with my neurotype physically assaulted me.

@Freehotchocolate
You absolutely should not be put in danger like that.
That is serious assault, headbutting could have broken your nose.
I don’t know what kind of restraints can be used against aggressive autism ( Or other aggressive people)
but it’s clear it should not be an untrained person on their own.
A young adult with ASD that lives nearby has two strong , tall young carers - and the Young adult is frightening when he kicks off in public, and needs two capable adults to manage him.

A family member was a classroom assistant in a special school for many years. She had all the training going but still over about 15 years ended up with 2 broken noses, cracked ribs, multiple black eyes, bruises and cuts. Yes, everyone should be trained properly, but it doesn't always protect you.

Even though she loved her job she left last year because as she got older things took longer to heal. I admired her resilience immensely.

Not sure what you were expecting but if you are not comfortable with working with children with challenging behaviour then working in the SEN sector is not for you.

You clearly don’t have the right training and are not competent enough to work with SEN children.

I've been an sen teacher for 6 years (I left very recently due to moving country but for the sake of this post im going to write as if im still there) and I have never been told to expect to be physically hurt, but it happens on the daily. Physical restraints are useless, just causes more stress to the child and more danger for the person restraining. It also puts you in a very vulnerable position... physically holding a child who is having a meltdown... if they get hurt your head is on the choping block.

In all of my contracts I have been under the same 'zero tolerance'policy for violence against staff as someone who works on a desk in the town hall, which is ridiculous. Not everyone with SEN is violent and it was a bit unfair of your colleagues to question your experience just because you didn't want to be physically assaulted. It's a bit of a toxic environment in sen schools sometimes. People just think 'well I get battered so why shouldn't you'. I've had windows smashed, my finger cut to the bone with scissors, been kicked, punched, spat on, bit... you name it. All while earning the same as a teacher with a class of 18 'well behaved' children. I've been signed off with ptsd, cried in managements office more times than I care to count, and the sad truth is nobody cares.

I can't believe the difference in my all round wellbeing now that I'm not being threatened and assaulted every day. Nobody should go to work to be a punch bag, I'm not sure if there is a solution though. And before anyone said I was in the wrong job, I was very very good at my job and very knowledgeable about a number of additional needs. Still am, and I'm sure I'll go back to it after my baby/babies are grown, but hopefully when I do there will have been more investment in equipment to keep both children and staff safe.

They should have informed you that he is known to lash out and strike people. Similarly, you should be undertake relevant training.

I missed the deleted message, but I'm guessing the ignoramus stated that 'the vast majority of SEN children are violent'. My ASD 6 year old is the opposite. He's a complete cuddle bug and loves to give kisses and will randomly come up and hug me.

Totally understand this - I worked in a very similar sounding school to your DH. We were told to downplay violent incidents on our behaviour system and were expected to put up with being hospitalised by the pupils (this happened many times to different staff - through biting, being struck over the head etc)

I worked there when I was pregnant and had to stay in class with the most volatile children until i was 3 months pregnant, when I was allowed to go on office duties. Having suffered a miscarriage previously I spent every day worried I'd get a kick to the stomach and that would be it.

I also got covid before the vaccines existed whilst pregnant, as I was expected to come into work (whilst all we heard from the media was about lazy teachers) I suspect through an infected child spitting in my face.

The education system is broken, especially for those most vulnerable children that need the most support. At the moment they rely on the goodwill of teachers and support staff to keep going, that wont last forever. I dread to think what damage the tories will inflict over the next 2 years.

I think you know the answer to this yourself . It will be part of your job description. But there is no way of telling you just do it if you are clearly suffering ptsd from the previous experience . Which as sad as it seems means you probably need to either deal with the last trauma and find a way to deal with situations S with this boy or admit you cannot and find another position .

Staff sound like they almost need riot gear to protect them.. Full face helmets and kevlar padding.
What a challenging job.

@RangerHamzaHasTheRangeDarling
Not heard of “ Reverse head butting “ but Op was put in serious danger here.

Nobody should be physically hurt. I would report the school to Ofsted as they are failing their staff and pupils.

I am experiencing this as a parent atm with my son who attends a SS.

I feel as though the school purposefully ignore my son's explosive behaviour and repeatedly expose him to situations he can't cope with.

Someone may end up getting hurt and there is no need for than. There are ways to diffuse his anger and avoid it all together.

Reverse headbutting is what I used to experience with my own child if I had them on my lap or was restraining them from behind i.e trying to hold their arms. If in full meltdown mode, my son would bang his head backwards so you had to keep your head away or risk getting a nosebleed, smashed chin or broken glasses. If the pupil is doing a full-on Glasgow kiss that's even more concerning.