His Teacher Put Him in a BOX...

Post Reply New Topic

As a parent, how aware are you of what happens to your child at school when you're not there?

"The mother of a fourth grade special needs student has filed a claim for damages after her son was made to spend quiet time in a classroom cabinet and, later, in a cardboard box brought in for that purpose."

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 13983.html

This kind of story makes me livid.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeSJ9loxFgI[/youtube]

WTF?! I have no words.

This is why I always say if you child suddenly starts having more meltdowns, maybe stimming more or their personality changes and there have been no changes in the home, start looking at school. Its straightforward, if they suddenly don't want to go to school and they liked it before but not if they have always not really liked school.

I mean having a quiet place where the child goes him or herself when they get overwhelmed is one thing but, firstly it should not be in the classroom and second, the child should not be "placed" there (as the word they used)....and a closet??? I think they should shove the teacher in a box or a closet and let the kids laugh at her and she if that helps her feel better about her issues !

One would think with the rising Dx of Autism and Asperger's, they would put more time into teaching these people about our kids.

Looks like a box is one of those sensory needs things after watching the video. I think teachers should at least consult parents or ask them what they can do to help their child relax so this doesn't happen. Some things for the child that is supposed to help them is humiliating because they know it will give kids another reason to bully them.

I need more information.

I had boxes when I was a kid. First the box my grandparents' new refrigerator came in-- when I was still so small Grandma had to give me a chair to climb up and jump in or lift me in and out. Then my Dad bought himself a 36-inch CRT television. I kept the box for YEARS-- until I decided being a teenager meant I was too big to curl up in a cardboard box. I cried when I let it go. The TV has long since gone the way-- but I'm 34 years old and I still think of the box.

It was never some place I was ordered to go-- always a matter of choice-- but I LOVED my boxes. Used to fantasize about taking them to school with me. WISH I could have them to crawl into when things got bad.

How big a box?? Where is the box?? Does the child like the box?? Did the child ask for the box?? Is the child being stuffed into the box, or does the child go willingly??

We can't afford to be reactionary. This could be a good thing, or a very bad thing.

As for being exposed to ridicule-- KIDS need to be exposed to people with obviously different needs. It's the only f*****g way they're ever going to learn to see those things and NOT MAKE FUN. Living with difference every day is the only way people are ever going to learn that DIFFERENCE DOES NOT EQUAL DEFICIT. As long as they're shielded from it, it's going to be viewed as something they need to be protected from, something that is not to be seen, that is therefore bad.

They ABSOLUTELY should have been working WITH the parent(s) on this, though. That should totally NOT have come as a surprise.

Aspies aren't the only ones with a lot of learning to do. There's plenty of stuff the NT world needs to learn to change too.

Like not flipping out when a kid rocks. Or cries too loudly or too easily. Or sucks their thumb.

Or crawls into a box.

I agree with BuyerBeware, the box COULD be a safe, quiet place for the child BUT it should always be the child's choice to go there, never used as a punishment. That is the crux of the problem because so often "time-outs"are used for young children as punishment and teachers who lack training in autism could easily slip from allowing the use of the box as a calm down place to forcing the use of the box as a punishment or when the teacher is overwhelmed by the sutdent's behavior. My son has a space place in the classroom where he can go to calm down when overwhelmed but I was emphatic with the teacher and adminstrators that this was NEVER to be used as a punishment. I think this teacher made two MAJOR errors, first she did not discuss the use of any kind of confined space with the parent first and second she, apparently fromthe story anyway, forced the child to go into the box. Handled properly, the box could be a good tool, unfortunately, it would appear that in this teacher's hands, the tool became a weapon.

Oh lovely brings me back to my childhood experiences...I was never made to sit in a box or closet in front of all the other kids though, but teachers did have other ways to single me out and they didn't even know I had AS but knew there was something off about and some of them did not like me for that.

Also it does not surprise me that the sherriff department determined a crime was not committed, that is bull sh*t what about the anti-bullying policies? I bet if this kid got in a fight with another kid over the other kid making fun of him for being made to sit in a box in the middle of the classroom there would be no hesitation for everyone to accuse the child as being a bully...what when it comes to normal students and the teachers I guess they get a free pass from those rules.

I can see how a box would help with sensory overload, but I think that the school is going about it the wrong way.

A box would have been helpful for me to stay inside to ward off sensory overload to begin with, but once the meltdown has already started, shoving me into a box would have made things worse for me.

I'm not going to follow the links, because I'm already angry enough over the stupid things that happen to kids at schools.

I will say this, though: I remember being horrified when a SPED teacher described giving her ADHD kids time to hang from the monkey bars wearing a weighted vest; even though she talked about "helping them feel where they are in space," it sounded like torture to me. It is entirely possible that a successfully therapeutic intervention may sound bad, but actually does good.

Do I think that's what happening here? No. That's why I'm not going to read the articles.

I agree that a box could be therapeutic - I loved the big boxes my dad used to bring home when I was little. With 8 siblings, it was hard to find solitude - time in the box was premium - but if a teacher is going to order my child into a box, they'd sure as Hell had better talk to me about it first.

Honestly I have serious doubts that any special needs child should go to public school. Having ADHD it was terrible for me, and my fourteen year old did not fare well either. At one he was made to hold books over his head until he could barely hold a pencil after. In another he was babied to the point that he felt everyone in his life should just let him do as he pleased and modify everything to be easy for him. Not exactly building him up to withstand real life at that point. We finally gave up on that and have home schooled him for a couple of years. We may let him do an online high school program, but I do not think we will put him in a physical school again.

Like I said.....if this is the childs idea then that is different but it should not be IN THE CLASSROOM! Also they did say that he was placed, meaning he was forced to go in the box or the closet before the box. I also dont like that he had to bring his own sissors to cut a hole. He can have a quiet spot but he should be able to ask or the teacher or aide could lead him to the hallway and ask if he wants to go there. Doing it in front of everyone is humiliating.

I think I read something else about this and that the teacher was having the other kids decorate the box and they were making fun of him but that may have been another story I read.

Here is an article which gives a bit more information
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/28 ... y-20120228

This article contains a copy of the claim filed
http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside- ... reated.ece

From the article above:

LOL: DUH. Seriously, we have difficulty keeping my son OUT of the bathroom at school, where he goes to isolate himself (sometimes appropriately, sometimes not.) Can't imagine what life would be like if they provided him an excuse to use isolation all the time.

I don't think this was as horrible as it is being made to sound. She was trying to accommodate his need for time alone. Though she might have abused that in some situations.

As one person commented in the article, isolating children on the spectrum as a punishment doesn't work, not because it subject the child to emotional trauma, but because the child ultimately realizes they can use it to get what they want, which is to be left alone.