Kids with Special Needs

One of my co-workers came up to me recently and asked if I would be interested in babysitting her eight year old son this Tuesday and next Tuesday. She told me that he had been suspended for 10 days, so she was kind of in a bind. I was extremely hesistant until she explained the story. The incident is about her son, Paul.

-Paul is eight years old, and he has autism. Paul occasionally gets upset, or throws fits to which he needs to be removed from the classroom. The last couple times they have taken him to the principal's office, where he become extremely overwhelmed and upset. Paul's mom and dad have talked to the staff and asked them to take him to a conference room, or a counselor's room, but not the principal's office. Last week, Paul was having one of his fits, and they took him to the principal's room where he became, like usual, very upset. A local police officer was called to the school, and eight year old Paul, with autism, was handcuffed because he was said to be a threat to the principal and teachers. Paul was suspended from school for 10 days. A couple days after his suspension, Paul's doctor reported that his incident was the cause of a bad reaction to his new medication. Even though the school was notified of this, the 10 days of suspension was not shortened or even thought to change.

This story really upsets me because I don't feel that the school district was meeting the needs of Paul. He is a child with special needs, and one request (not to take him to the principal's office) was completely ignored. Not only that, but an eight year old child should not be put in handcuffs unless someone's life is in extreme danger... not for throwing a temper tantrum.