Principal filmed assaulting an autistic 11-year-old boy

Yeah, it probably is relevant. There’s just a level of frustration kids on the spectrum can handle, and then they can’t handle it anymore, and they go into a meltdown. That level is lower than for kids not on the spectrum. By far the best way to deal with this is to recognize when they’re about to go off the rails and head it off. Get them into a quiet place, get whatever’s triggering them out of the picture. Better still, get them to start to recognize when it’s beginning to be too much for them, and get them to reach out for help or take other actions (that takes time, and maturity to achieve). Once they’re in that bad state, though, it is much harder to deal with. Escalating and putting more stress on the kid sure doesn’t help. (Yes, I have first-hand experience with this). Of course, shoving a kid is never acceptable.

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