7 year old ADHD student handcuffed for 'acting up' and sent to hospital

Where else but New York? This is absurd. Why is it these stories always have some random unnamed person saying he had scissors? (well, the 2 stories that I have seen)

www.dailymail.co.uk...

reply to post by ReadyPower


What a waste of taxpayer money imo. Why even call the police? Unless this 7 year old is 7 feet tall, it couldn't have been THAT hard to restrain him without "outside assistance" and handcuffs ...

I remember in first grade, there was a special needs child that was apart of our classroom. Sure, sometimes she would throw tantrums and even get a little violent with teachers, but she was 6! There's hardly a threat there. I am glad I grew up in the 90's ... while there was still some sanity left in the world.

I really don't think people get it...

I work in the mental health field, I am a dual diagnosis therapist.

I often do rounds on the adolescents floor of an in house clinic, I once took myself out of the pool we have to just work on that floor -- this only lasted a few months as it is much more mentally.

What I am getting at is I've seen what children can do when in a hysteria or black out rage which is common with ADHD, certain degree of autism and many other cognitive/behavioral disorders will cause and it is simply mind blowing and I don't think those who have not been exposed to it can truly understand or fathom what a person in that state of mind is capable of doing.
I've seen 70-90 pound kids have the same power that of a 200 pound man.

There aren't many choices other then to either DRUG them, or restrain them.
Would you like it to be legal for police to carry around needles of benadryl and stronger sedatives and have the right to use them outside of a hospital facility? if not they have no other choice then to restrain the child for his own safety and safety of others.

When you are dealing with children you have to pick the lesser of two evils.
If a child was a grown adult who was doing some of the things that kids are doing while in their outbursts most the time they'd simply get a bullet to the head, there would be no pass go get out of jail free card as soon as a person threatens the well being and safety of another they are suppose to take them out but yet people get all hot in the panties when a person simply restrains a child from possibly causing the SAME outcome and violence as a grow person?

Not everything in the world is unicorns and rainbows, you can't have your children safe while the ones who can be of danger ( at no fault of there own, don't get me wrong) are being fed marshmallows and lemons drops to calm down serious mental health issues and behavioral distress..it doesn't work that way.

I can't blame people for having the mentality "oh they are just kids! they can't do no harm!" ...they just don't see it and aren't exposed to it unless it pops up in a news story every now and then.
It just goes so far beyond that, but for those who want to have opinions on it really educate yourself experience it see if for yourself then you decide what you would do when put in that situation.

Would you let a child with organic self harm traits sit there during an episode and cause serious harm upon himself /kill himself by head banging and not restrain him out of the fear of what trauma the restraining will cause? Does that make sense?

These kids are in your child's school, they are mainstream due to poor special eduction programs not being properly funded and lack of education out there to the parents they never even notice anything is seriously wrong with their child and label it as a "problem child".

This is just sad, how can a 7 year old be of any threat to anybody? This world is getting more unresonable by the day.

If I were a teacher, I'd want to call someone else in too.

I mean, what can you do that's not going to result in you getting fired or thrown in jail?

reply to post by pop_science


one thing I think people tend to miss in situations like this is, kids today are different than they were 20-30 years ago.. they are much more out of control.. these attention deficit diseases were non existent back then.. I NEVER saw any 6 or 7 year old misbehave to the point of calling law enforcement.. ever..

Originally posted by Nurv47
reply to post by ReadyPower

 

What a waste of taxpayer money imo. Why even call the police? Unless this 7 year old is 7 feet tall, it couldn't have been THAT hard to restrain him without "outside assistance" and handcuffs ...

I remember in first grade, there was a special needs child that was apart of our classroom. Sure, sometimes she would throw tantrums and even get a little violent with teachers, but she was 6! There's hardly a threat there. I am glad I grew up in the 90's ... while there was still some sanity left in the world.

Because if they restrain him without police present than they will more than likely get sued or fired or something along those lines. It's also policy for anyone to be handcuffed when being escorted by police.

Originally posted by Mayson
If I were a teacher, I'd want to call someone else in too.

I mean, what can you do that's not going to result in you getting fired or thrown in jail?

This.

Now, I know calling the cops on a 7-year-old is a little much, but you have to realize that teachers are pretty powerless in these situations.

If they even lay a hand on a child now a days, the cops would be called on them. Let alone, the angry parent(s) of the child filing charges. There's nothing they can really do that won't result in the teacher being fired or jailed, so it does have to resort to this.

reply to post by pop_science


pop_science,

I completely agree with your post. I think unless you're actually ever in the situation you can't know how it is. I have a child with ADHD and ODD. When in a rage he, as you said, can completely blackout. He's moved 200 pound desks with virtually no effort. He's been able to "move" me to get out of the house and I'm not a weakling. In the heat of the moment and the height of the rage he possesses a strength well beyond his 80 pound frame should be capable of. There have been 3 grown men trying to restrain him...and were only able to with exerted effort and the possibility of physical harm to my son (fortunately there was none).

I really don't like to discuss my personal family matters on here, but there are so many posts putting down either schools/parents/police when handling a child with these mental disorders. Yes, we know there are many misdiagnosed children that are poop disturbers and raised unruly...but there are just as many kids on the other side of the fence that require intervention into these behaviours. These are not overgrown temper tantrums. These are serious and possibly life threatening situations that have to be handled properly to keep injuries at a minimum (to the child themselves and other students or family members).

The schools have their hands tied in so many situations. A child flat out refusing to do what he's told and then grabbing a pair of scissors CAN be a serious matter. If that child either purposely or accidentally stabbed someone...then everyone would be on here talking about the school not handling the situation properly.

My son's school has had to call the police on him (with my approval), and I myself have had to call emergency services to have a transport to the hospital with police escort. This is no fun, for myself or my son...but it is what it is and it kept us all safe and sound.

I generally avoid these threads and hardly ever respond as like I said, I don't want to air my families laundry on here...but I really feel that most people don't understand the full impact of these situations.

Michelle

Empathy to you Michelle, brave of you to share and my heart goes out to you. My son is 7, he weighs 97 pounds and is 4'4. He is stong as a bull - and fortunately healthy. His cousin is not so fortunate and suffers severe autism. It is a disheartening lottery - this distribution of mental health and well being. I think the mainstream populace is too quick to dismiss this as something that could/should have been handled. In their collective minds they see a 45 pound kid that is just a little "disruptive" and back in the darn dag gone day corporal punishment would have fixed this!!! They forget that "back in the day" these children were sequestered to "state schools" . . .

I at one time worked in a long term psychiatric care facility for adolecents. It was a private, costly place. Our patients ranged in age from 9-24 - I witnessed patients "going off" as we described it - and I have seen a half a dozen strong full grown men have difficulty restraining a 98 pound 4 foot tall special needs child with additional mental health diagnoses. The difficulty comes in restraining them so they do not injure themselves or others. Its amazing what an enraged human being can inflict on others. Arms and legs are one thing, but the head with a mouth looking to latch on and remove chunks of flesh is a terrifying thing to deal with and cannot be comprehended by someone who has never seen the devastating consquence of full blown mental illness in crisis.

I have empathy for the family and the caretakers of the mentally ill - it is a dark and still lonely path, for so few understand.

Originally posted by TheBirdisDone
Empathy to you Michelle, brave of you to share and my heart goes out to you. My son is 7, he weighs 97 pounds and is 4'4. He is stong as a bull - and fortunately healthy. His cousin is not so fortunate and suffers severe autism. It is a disheartening lottery - this distribution of mental health and well being. I think the mainstream populace is too quick to dismiss this as something that could/should have been handled. In their collective minds they see a 45 pound kid that is just a little "disruptive" and back in the darn dag gone day corporal punishment would have fixed this!!! They forget that "back in the day" these children were sequestered to "state schools" . . .

I at one time worked in a long term psychiatric care facility for adolecents. It was a private, costly place. Our patients ranged in age from 9-24 - I witnessed patients "going off" as we described it - and I have seen a half a dozen strong full grown men have difficulty restraining a 98 pound 4 foot tall special needs child with additional mental health diagnoses. The difficulty comes in restraining them so they do not injure themselves or others. Its amazing what an enraged human being can inflict on others. Arms and legs are one thing, but the head with a mouth looking to latch on and remove chunks of flesh is a terrifying thing to deal with and cannot be comprehended by someone who has never seen the devastating consquence of full blown mental illness in crisis.

I have empathy for the family and the caretakers of the mentally ill - it is a dark and still lonely path, for so few understand.

Thanks so much for your support and your post. It is exactly as you say...a disheartening lottery. We ask ourselves continuously WHAT is different in this child that isn't in our other 2 children??? But having beaten and thought that out to death we've come to realize it just is and as his parents it is our responsibility to deal with it and do our best for him.

These children and later adults in this meltdown mode is extremely scary and devastating...especially when 20 minutes prior you were cuddling with them and telling jokes on the couch...and the guilt, shame, embarassment and the constant questioning rules our every minute of every day. It can be a dark and lonely path especially in the early diagnosis stages. We were too embarrassed to tell anyone, too proud to take help offered, and too scared our son would be whisked away to some mental institution (although later on down the road we were asking just that after he tried to jump from our moving vehicle 3 times).

I hate that this situation is in our lives and I hate that our son has to live like this, and I hate that our other 2 children are afraid and confused, but I love him to death and I will do what it takes to help him lead as successful a life as he can. I wish there was more help and compassion for families in this situation...rather than people just claiming we didn't raise him properly or were lazy. If they only knew how many hours of my day are spent on the phone, on the internet researching, at the health store trying new supplements, at the grocery store reading labels making sure to not buy anything with too much sugar, processing, red dye etc , at the doctor's office, trips to the pharmacy, sitting for hours in the emergency psychiatric ward, 4 trips a day to the school, laundry at 3am because he's done "something" to his bedding, or can only wear a certain shirt because the others "feel bad on his skin"...I'm far from lazy...I wish I could be lazy somedays!!

Anyhow, I guess my message is, please have some compassion for those going through this situation...or at the very least learn some of the background before making judgement calls. I guarantee you the parents, family members, and school staff legitimately going through this are the least lazy or uncaring you'll ever meet.

Michelle

Originally posted by Nurv47
reply to post by ReadyPower

 

What a waste of taxpayer money imo. Why even call the police? Unless this 7 year old is 7 feet tall, it couldn't have been THAT hard to restrain him without "outside assistance" and handcuffs ...

I remember in first grade, there was a special needs child that was apart of our classroom. Sure, sometimes she would throw tantrums and even get a little violent with teachers, but she was 6! There's hardly a threat there. I am glad I grew up in the 90's ... while there was still some sanity left in the world.

Probably because we did not have the extent of vaccines as well as chemicals being added to our foods compared to back in 90s.

reply to post by Michelle129th


Michelle is it possible your son is suffering siezures? It came to mind when you wrote how fast it can all change and I remember that from working at the Hospital. We had one patient who would come out of her room and and announce "I am gonna go off!" and sure enough - would. This was years ago, maybe she was having a type of siezure and could sense it beforehand? This young person was especially thrifty with biting. When she would finally be restrained for a period of time she would "let go" and cry and apologize and eventually could just be let up. As I think of this, and when I read your words - it occured to me, a sudden siezure might cause a rapid shift like this. You do not have to share you location but I hope you have the ability to have your son fully worked up by a pediatric neurologist that might help you understand if there is a brain cause behind what is happening to your son.

It sounds as if there might be a problem with his autonomic nervous system. (I have problems with mine, and it is a result of a vaccine injury) Being overly sensative to stimulation, like from clothes - and attempting to jump out of a moving car speaks to certain autism/ashpergers symptoms . . . these children often being to have noticeble seizures as they grow and mature. Autism is a spectrium disorder and what this means is your son could have minimal symptoms - or they could be masked as mental health symptoms.

When I first became ill from my vaccine injury it was devastating to realize my life had changed. Denial, anger and depression - but to witness your worst fears in a child that you Love and strive to protect I believe would be even more difficult then facing your own personal limitations. I am so sorry you are going through this. I hope and wish for you to get the support you need - and that goes for your entire family.

Since I have been on a medical journey of my own now for some time I can understand what is like to not easily find the answers to questions you so deperately want answered. I encourage you to not give up on your research and your advocacy. You have taken a big and vital step here - if you know it or not for your own well being - you have begun to share your story, and through doing that you will find some sense and control over a situation that seems to have no boundries. You will also learn you are not alone.
I wish you peace and strength. ~Bird

Let me tell you something. I've seen first hand what a mentally challenged kid can do with a weapon while in the depths of a rage. It isn't pretty. A child can do some serious damage to anyone, not excluding himself.

Don't be too quick to laugh or scoff until you realize that saying "aawwwww, but he's just a little boy" is usually the last thing you'll think before you're mopping blood and fingers up off the floor. No joke.

Violent behavior needs to be met with certain actions regardless of who the perpetrator is.

"acting up" as you put it, is more likely to be when a kid doesn't listen to instruction or they talk in class or make jokes out loud or pass notes.
Waving a sharp object in a threatening manner is not acting up. It's threatening.

reply to post by TheBirdisDone


Bird,

Seizure watch is actually part of the medical journey we're taking right now. As our son is only 9, as i'm sure you know, it is difficult to pin down exactly what he may or may not be suffering from. We have a referral to a ped. neurologist and are awaiting that appt. I'm in Canada so that could be a nice little 6 month wait (hurray for free health care :/ ) I feel he is actually suffering from something completely different than the ADD/ODD diagnosis, however with him being such a young child this is the diagnosis we're all "comfortable" with for now. However the ped. has us watching for seizure activity, logging foods to watch for possible patterns or allergies, logging sleep patterns, watching him sleep for signs of apnea, have the referral to the neuro, an ENT, and he is currently undergoing psychoeducational testing through the school.

I think the ped also feels there may be other things going on here, but is limited in this area, hence the referrals. There are 2 people in my immediate family suffering from BPD and bipolar disorder....but the doctors are very hesitant to even travel down that path at his age ( and I'm fine with that right now....)

For now we have found a great combination of 2 different meds that have done wonders for him. We tried to handle this on our own for 3 years before admitting defeat and starting the long road of drug trials. I wish we had done it sooner....he's a completely different child when the meds are right.

I found it interesting that you said the girl would lash out and then collapse in tears apologizing. We have had MANY meltdowns like that. Also a lot that end in him sleeping for several hours (which had me questioning seizures as well). As of right now I have not seen what I would consider seizures..however he does have facial tics (noticed prior to diagnosis or meds) that I've always tried to watch to see if they got worse or better before a meltdown...since those usually occur so out of the blue we haven't been able to pinpoint anything yet. I'm impatiently waiting for this referral to come through so we can move on and find the best methods for treating him.

Thanks so much for your concern and ideas..if you come up with anything else I'd love if you would U2U me I don't want to hijack the thread anymore

Speaking of which, I guess this post is somewhat on topic. Some children (like my own) are initially dx'd as having ADD when in reality they are suffering something completely unrelated or even more devastating. When doctors are presented with a child with these symptoms at such a young age they are hesitant to dx something like BPD, bipolar schizophrenia etc....and the other dx such as allergies, seizures, abnormal brain activity all take time and other doctors to diagnose. I believe they just "stick" a label on the kid sometimes to make themselves feel better, or in some cases to get a child onto a wait list for special services in the community, school and/or medical community. Everyone gets up in arms about an ADHD child being dragged out of school in handcuffs...believing he's just a kid that can't sit still and perhaps runs around the class when in fact he may have a much deeper mental condition going on that has yet to be diagnosed and is not just a "kid being a kid".

Michelle

Michelle I will U2U. :-)
For others that might stumble across our exchange - it might be illuminating and helpful and therefore not seem as if we hijacked. It might also educate an individual that is inclined to make a snap judgement based on a small clip of media. As always and with so many things there are complexities that reach beyond a 5 minute sound bite. It has been nice to see the development of support and understanding on a thread that might have gone quite another direction.

So often we forget the verbal gems of knowledge that are passed along from generation to generation, the one that comes to mind in this circumstance is that none of us really know until we walk a mile in the shoes.