Save The Cow Children
Irradiated by LabRat
Via Popehat, we come across the high drama of an eight-year-old girl with Asperger’s syndrome being cut out of the group, herded into another room, assaulted, and eventually led away with her hands bound to be indefinitely held in a cold room away from her family. By her teachers and the local police. And no, I am not kidding or exaggerating. They even levied criminal charges against her before prosecutors dismissed the case, being presumably far too embarrassed to take it before a judge with a straight face, unlike the arresting officers.
According to the school- remember, this is what THEY said, not what the girl’s mother said- the school was having a Christmas party, for which the girl in question refused to take off her “cow hoodie”, which has ears and a tail on it. (There are pictures of said cow hoodie at the article. Frankly, it’s quite cute.) For some reason or another- maybe the school had heard alarming rumors of the deep penetration into grade-school snacktime by the notorious Holstein Gang- the teachers found this so objectionable that they isolated her in another classroom. When she tried to leave, they tried to physically restrain her… which then degenerated into the kid melting down into a blind screaming panic and “hitting and spitting on” her teachers, until which point they claim they had absolutely no other option but to call the police to haul the kid away for battery. Which they did, handcuffs and all, up to the point of booking her in the juvenile detention center despite being two years under the minimum age limit for such. What her captors made of the cow costume is not reported.
Now, the article goes a bit into what an incredibly and epically bad idea it is to approach a discipline problem with any kid on the autistic spectrum- Asperger’s is on the high-functioning end of that- with attempted physical restraint. One of the features of disorders on that spectrum in general is a hypersensitivity to unwanted touch. (And, in more severe versions, being touched in general can be problematic.) What I want to know, however, is who in the fucking world thinks it’s a good idea to deal with any child’s outburst by attacking them and forcing them to the ground for a four-point restraint of their arms and legs? It’s an eight-year-old- Asperger’s or no, responding with a screaming flailing panic isn’t exactly all that drastically unpredictable a response. She didn’t launch herself at them in a pixie-stix-induced drug-fueled rage, she tried to leave the room- they couldn’t have closed the door? Just stood with arms and legs spread really wide? Assuming some scenario where grabbing her and holding her down was the only realistic response, they couldn’t have called her parents before they called the police? As for the police, what mental process did it require to evaluate their choices between option A- arrest, cuff, and charge the little girl in the cow hoodie- or option B, tell the school to find a handle, get a grip on their shit, and call upon them again when their problem was slightly more dire- and choose A?
The mother says her kid is “traumatized”. I normally roll my eyes at that claim more or less as a reflex, but in this case I’m not even a little bit surprised. All they would have had to do would be to call her pediatrician to drug her while they held her down and a firefighter to put a bag over her head while they led her out of the school, and they would have managed to give her a terrifying and painful experience with absolutely every single adult authority figure in her life other than her parents.
Hell, maybe I’ve just given them an idea for the next “child in inappropriately whimsical headwear” crisis that crops up. God knows you have to put your foot down on THAT shit early, or who knows where it could lead.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
The rage I feel cannot properly be expressed by the human voice. Even a scream of demonic proportions probably wouldn’t cover it.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
You’d think an outfit like ABC News would have access to spell check.
“At a hearing on the case Tuesday, the prosecutor “said that he didin’t think at this time it would be beneficial to pursue it becauase of her age and, of course, her condition,” Towry said.”
February 8th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
I defiantly hope there’s some sort of consequence for the school in this. If thay were having that much trouble with the child the thing to do was re-visit her teaching plan (for instance maybe she need to be in less mainstream and more special needs). Also frankly when you have a hysterical kid (not tribally unlikely even with a standard non-asbergers 8 year old) the best most useful response is to disengage and try and let ‘em calm down.
However i really hope there’s also going to be some sort of consequences for the police department. at lest some indication that somebody some ware in the chain of command is going to sit those officers down and explain that thay -SCREWED UP- in there response to the vicious and no doubt highly dangers….8 year old girl .
February 8th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I suppose they’re worried about what the kid might be hiding in the headgear. My daughter, who’s corpse-pale, like both her parents, tried to wear her floppy hat during lunch outside on a sunny day. A hall monitor accosted her immediately and made her take it off. So she got sun-burned, of course. (She says the sunblock she uses is almost impossible to wash off her hands, and she didn’t want her sandwich with a side of sunblock!)
February 8th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Christina: What the fucking fuck was the objection to a kid wearing a hat outside? I can see taking it off inside (even though I’m apparently the only one that still performs that courtesy), but seriously, the fuck?
February 8th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
See, this is why me having kids of my own would be a bad thing: in most of these stories, I wouldn’t be able to keep myself from sending an “educator” to the hospital.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Rope.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:27 am
@bluntobject
Rope.
Rope, tree, idiot – some asssembly required.
There, FTFY.
@walkerhound
I defiantly hope there’s some sort of consequence for the school in this. … However i really hope there’s also going to be some sort of consequences for the police department.
Let’s do the math on that shall we?
Teachers + Police + Respective Unions = NO CONSQUENCES EVER
I hope I’m wrong but past experience tells me I’m not.
February 9th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Robert Anton Wilson referred to this as something like “the no-good shit syndrome”. Everyone is rushing to judge and “screaming” their outrage at the “power-drunk” athorities. I’ve come to attribute this to a societal case of oppositional defiance disorder but my perpective, and I was taught to recognize this, is biased. I’m one of those assumedly incompetent public school teachers. I’ve only got 2 degrees and passed tests of both content and pedagogy but have to listen to ignorant, uneducated, and maladaptive parents critique my technique whenever things don, go exactly as their delusions claim they should.
Those who insist on judjing without empathy or second thought or considering th BILLIONS of productive iteractions that occur every day between students and teachers, please put your balls on the line and come try to teach — and do it in a non-union state like me.
Rather than get too bitchy (like I haven’t all ready) I’ll just stop and suggest that you try to withold judgement whenever you can, especially about things which you may have little to no first hand knowledge.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Bob, like you I have a professional interest in failure analysis (I’m a lawyer), and I have some sympathy for folks who get tarred and feathered in the media or elsewhere without being able to tell their side of the story.
But try as I might, I cannot keep in mind the billions of successful interactions between good teachers and their students when I read of an 8 year old girl with autism being pinned, handcuffed, and driven away in a police cruiser because she wouldn’t remove her cow hoodie.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:13 am
The summoning of the police, I’ll bet, was due to some kind of zero tolerance policy, and it’s associated insanity. “Once the kid gets physical, we have to arrest them and handcuff them.”
These teachers were incompetent to deal with this situation, by which I mean, they didn’t know how to handle it. As the parent of a boy with Asperger’s, I can say that physically blocking a door, for example, as was suggested above, is going to be more effective than physical restraint, and the teachers should’ve already known that if they spent any time around this girl, which is why I used the word “incompetent,” Bob’s snarky attitude notwithstanding.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Bob: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
When shit like this happens, it makes me suggest either homeschooling or private schools even harder.
Don’t like it? Clean up your act, and see to it that teachers and police are punished when they fuck up.
As for teaching is SOOOO HARD!!!1111!!!!! … if it is that fucking hard for you, then get another job, and stop hiding behind your union and the government.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:12 am
What kind of idiot can watch a group of state workers bully a little girl, then call in another group of state workers to lead the little girl away in chains, and then insist that we should withhold judgment on the two groups of state workers who were abusing the eight-year-old child?
A teacher, that’s what. And not just any teacher — one with credentials!
And they wonder why they’re held in such low esteem…
February 9th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Teaching IS very hard — if you’re doing it right. I do it because I’m good at it and I was raised with the belief that I should contribute at least as much as I get out of my society.
Kristopher, you’re being offensive and generally rude. Please speak politely or not at all.
I attacked no one. I tried to be a voice for thought. I merely expressed an alternate point of view that, I thought, would give others the opportunity to reflect and consider that there are many sides and issues to look at in any situation. I suspect that the inflamatory nature of our mass media inclines us to snap judgements and to perceive that these seemingly horendous incidents are proportionately more frequent than they are. As I mentioned previosly, I wonder if it even inclines us to forget or ignore all of the good.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I’m willing to see Bob’s point of view to a point – this news report does seem awfully sensational. There is a whole raft of questions sitting on my mind after reading this:
- Why was the cow costume a significant enough distraction to convince the teacher to isolate the student?
- Why was the child physically restrained?
- What child, autistic or otherwise, would handle forcible physical restraint well?
- Why were the cops called?
- Is “acting up” in class really all it takes to be diagnosed as high-functioning autistic?
There’s just so much that must be missing for any of this to make sense. It’s easy to assume that the school administration and the teachers are idiots (probably some truth to that – the cops having to get involved is a testament to that), but there’s no way that anybody could be THIS dumb.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Actually David, people, even teachers, are this dumb all the time. If you click the Popehat link above, you’ll find (within) a link to a story about a 13 year old girl who had to undergo a full strip search because her teachers were looking for … ibuprofen.
None was found.
The litigation that arose from that case is now known Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding, and it’s before the Supreme Court.
Bob, of course this story inclines us not to discuss the good. That’s because this is a horrible story. When I write about some rogue lawyer or cop, I don’t feel the need to preface every entry with “Of course, most lawyers [cops] are decent and honorable people…”
Nor are comments to that effect particularly helpful when one is discussing an outrage. You may be a teacher, and so you may be used to patronizing your audience, but I’ll bet most readers here do appreciate that teachers in general try to do their best at a hard job, even without having to be reminded of the fact.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:40 am
[sarcasm]If it saves the life of just one child, we should restrict their interactions with teachers…[/sarcasm]
Sorry, I’ve been reading too many arguments about gun-control. The above statement has no logical value, it is entirely feelings-based; the effect is true if it is pointed at educators or at firearms-owners.
With that said, Bob, you might wish to note that the original post directed anger towards a particular teacher, and a systemic fault known as zero-tolerance policy.
There is also plenty of anger to be directed at the sensational news sells advertising space mindset of many news editors. They would prioritize a sensational news story over an accurate one.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I too can agree with Bob to a limited point. That point, regardless of sensationalism, is when some teacher (probably credentialed and degreed, more on that in a moment) said “Fuck it, just call the po-po. This eight year old is just too much.”
There is absolutely no reason what-so-bloody-ever to call the police on an eight year old child unless the kid has a knife or gun *and* just put someone else in the hospital or morgue.
As for teachers with degrees and credentials, you’re going to have to ‘splain to us exactly what those degrees are and which field(s) they’re in before that carries much weight around here, Bob. Look here (mostly in the comments on that one for the relevant stories) and here for a few examples of why that’s the case, and I’ve had my own similar experiences in line with the ones linked. I will happily grant that there are still some good and capable teachers in the system, but there are a whole lot more with degrees not worth the paper on which they are printed.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
and a systemic fault known as zero-tolerance policy.
It’s not a fault. Not really.
It’s a logical reaction to the environment.
For example: Right now in this thread people are questioning the discretion of everybody who had a choice. Under ZT, there is no discretion. There are thresholds, and penalties.
As stupid as it might be, it’s far more “fair” and a direct result of abuse of discretion – or it’s presumption.
It’s a pet peeve of mine for people to call out ZT, and then prove why it’s such a logical result.
There certainly seem to be a lot of mistakes and dumbassery all he way around in this story.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:07 am
There is absolutely no reason what-so-bloody-ever to call the police on an eight year old child
Sure there is.
Off the top of my head: “Here, we can’t handle the hellion, you’re paid and trained and ‘Only Ones’, you deal with them.”
Teachers aren’t trained or paid to deal [or insured for] with violence, even 8 year old’s. Police are. I can easily see where if I was writing up policy, *any* use of restraint or force would require an outside agency to witness (the result of the force) and to take the child away.
It removes the school as the direct physical adversary – I presume the parents of this child are going to want to put it back into a school somewhere?
Let’s change it and ask it this way: If *you* had a raging 8 year old that *you’re* the teacher of, how do *you* deal with him or her? Anything you’d do, now think how you’d react if it were your kid treated that way, with the kid repeating the story, and what would you say, do, or sue the teacher for?
February 9th, 2009 at 11:32 am
A lot of this is the result of the wet headed attempt to ‘mainstream’ children that would be better off with specially trained personnel.
That said, this is outrageous and we should be just as zero tolerant of authority misbehavior as they are of student misbehavior. No, more intolerant, after all, they are supposed to be adults.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Well folks, thank you for discussing this in a more amicable and thoughtful tone.
As I mentioned, I work in a non-union ie. Southern state. I witness disgusting and offensive behaviour on a daily basis. I see the tragedy of the commons here where those who actively destroy the education of others enjoy more rights than those who come to learn. Just like this horible story, the examples and consequences of poor parenting stand out in my own mind. They truly are the few but those few ruin everything for the many. I look back at the wonderful public education I received and wish it for all my students but it can’t be. Education is a right here rather than a priviledge. Students and parents have little respect for teachers but demand it at all times. I grew up with a reasonable repect for athority and that helped me to reflect and think before jumping onto someone or even just questioning their motives or competence.
The zero tolerence discussion is spot on. Like just about everything else, folks demand equal treatment (unless the bias goes their way and regardless of whether they deserve it) but when you treat them equally they complain about the decision rule that allows this.
Anyway, I would like to encourage anyone who thinks this job is less than strenuous to call a school and ask to shadow a good teacher — to include all the prep time before and after school. I did 4 years in light infantry and didn’t work this hard.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
U-J: under those circumstances, the teachers need to keep hands off the kids, then. If you’re going to delegate authority to the cops, then let THEM try to restrain the kid. Given the girl’s Asperger’s, the teachers probably caused the situation–or at least created the escalation–by trying to restrain her.
What I got from the article is that her regular teachers did this. Having been aware she had Asperger’s–they were the ones who brought the behavioral issues to the mother’s attention, which led to the diagnosis–they should’ve been at least minimally aware of the procedures necessary to try to prevent this from happening. Kinda like how the lion tamer doesn’t go into the cage without a whip and a chair.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
This is exactly why getting into a pissing match with a little kid is almost invariably a bad idea.
And as far as ‘OMG what should we do, oh noez there’s an 8-year-old attacking us because we tried to hold her down, we could be SRSLY INJURED what do we do???’–
My brother has Asperger’s syndrome. When he was nine, he got sent to the principal’s office because of a fight on the playground. He flipped out, started tearing things off the walls and punching people. Instead of restraining him and calling the police, they frog-marched him into the nearest empty classroom, held the door closed, and called my mother.
Problem solved.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I apologize for the explosion, Bob.
That mine was planted by a particularly sadistic HS teacher in my past … who tried to justify his crap to my parents with that very same statement, that teaching is hard, and that they should be grateful that he is enduring this for their benefit.
Being on the receiving end, I still stand by the second half of my statement … this goes for cops as well as teachers: if your job is so damned hard that you are tempted to use this to justify bad behaviour while you are in state-mandated loco parentis for others or their children, then please quit.
Now.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
What’s the teacher’s name? What’s the principal’s name?
When a middle school teacher was discovered a few days ago to have put up a profile photo of herself on a social networking site, holding a perfectly ordinary rifle, her name was splashed all over the news. She had brought harm to no one at all. The TV reporter made the extra effort to tell viewers that the photograph had been posted in a place where it would have been accessible–Gasp!–to Chilllldren.
Hazing children, by contrast, is protected behavior?
Yeah, it’s obviously best to have teachers corner the geeky kids and start the mental torture early on; let ‘em get used to it. {/fury}
February 10th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Stingray, it’s just school policy. Part of the dress code, I guess. “No headgear to be worn on campus.”
Even if everyone thinks it’s stupid, the policy is going to be enforced. And it’s school district-wide, too!
Who knows, maybe they’re worried kids will start smuggling weapons or drugs under their hats!
February 10th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Christina: I expect that some headgear was deemed “gang-related clothing”, and in the interests of not being “biased” TPTB banned all headgear. After all, melanomas are operable, but gangs are scawwwy!.
Well, that’s how it’d play out around here.
Tom: No tree required; I was thinking of an eye bolt at the bottom of a swimming pool. Piano wire and lightposts could perhaps be substituted in a drought.
Bob and Kristopher: A respectful, rational discussion? On the internet? Kudos to both of you.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I realize this post is late coming to the party, but I have to say that Unix-Jedi is absolutely right. Calling the cops on an 8 yo is extreme, but in America, today — what’s the alternative? Someone from the school restrains her, etc. and *bamf* the nightstalker lawyer pops in to sue the district. She has a meltdown and DOESN’T get restrained but my little Johnny
gets all belligerent when they don’t have chocolate milk and
*bamf* another lawyer is conjured into existence to convince us all that treatment is arbitrary, unfair, and something about civil rights, blah blah blah. (Who needs the fucking lottery when we have the courts?)
Now, please, NO ONE take my statements as endorsing the situation as it played out. Quite the contrary, I assure you. However, I fear the law far more than just about anything else these days and I could see where someone in the school might be coming from.
On a more personal level, I think that girl (cow hoodie and all) is absolutely adorable and I sincerely hope that all of this will be but a distant memory very soon.