Maintain order? After suffering more than one assault, nothing was done. Maybe teachers should just accept an assault as part of the job? Better yet, file charges against the kid and the parents.

Its called Special Ed. classes for a reason..that teacher needs more training for that position...before she comes back.

Mike special ED is not just for kids who are mentally challenged, there are kids who have ADHD, DYSLEXIA and many other forms of learning disabilities, yet have all there main functions and know right from wrong. Plus I take it you don't have kids, if you do will you allow your kid to hit, slap or kick you, your wife or there teacher?

Sorry, but if my kid ever slaped a teacher and the teacher slap my kid back. I would not be mad at the teacher or calling for her or him to step down. I would ask my kid if they learned there lesson.

Posted Twice

First of all, my 12 year old son is in special education and has been mainstreamed since kindergarten; he has PDD-NOS and ADHD and while, for the majority of the time, he is polite and compliant, he needs redirection. He had a classmate this year in his in-room resource Language Arts classroom that could have been this boy. My son was constantly pushed by this kid and the kid would get in his face and "pretend" to take a swing at my son. The boy had been reported, but I understand this child had problems and I asked my son to be more tolerant of his behavior, surmising that perhaps he actually could use a friend.

I can understand, though, the teacher's actions - not condoning them - just understanding. Here's a post from a parent on the NJ.com website where this story was reported to give another view of this teacher:

July 06, 2012 at 9:52AM

My son was in this woman's class a few years ago (along with another teacher because it was an "inclusion" class that was mixed with special ed. students). I met with the teacher several times. She was nice and pretty calm and collected. My son liked her and never mentioned anything remotely negative about the way she responds to students in the classroom. He liked her as did his friends in the class. The article mentions the fact that this little cherub repeatedly hit the woman. While I don't condone the smacking of children, why was this teacher put in this place to begin with? I'm sure it was on file in multiple reports that the kid is violent and hits. Why was she subjected to this until she finally snapped and had enough? This school is known for having certain families that give the administration hell and getting the teachers, principal, and superintendent to bend to their will by threatening with lawsuits and media attention. Now that the teacher had enough and responded the wrong way, all of the sudden the poor little, violent kid is the victim?

Discipline in schools has gotten ridiculous and it starts at the top with the state. Statistics are kept for how many violent incidents and suspensions take place in each district. The higher the number, the more negatively the district is reviewed. Superintendents therefore put pressure on all of their principals to keep those statistics low, because then the schools don't appear to have violence and bully issues. The principals then refuse to suspend kids and won't let them be written up unless it's a last resort. Amazingly, all of the schools are deemed successes because the numbers say it's so, but in reality the kids who need to be removed from the classroom are kept there and get the reinforcement that they can get away with it....especially if mommy makes a phone call. We don't need to hit the kids, but kids like this need to be removed from classrooms to make everybody safe. That teacher should have never have been subjected to being hit on a regular basis by that student.

Sorry, but if my kid needed to be in special ed. I wouldn't expect for him or her to be slapped by the teacher, even if they were acting out. Of course, if they are acting out they should utilize the minimum amount of force to restrain and calm them down- but striking them is a major no-no. That's what they call "hazards of the trade" and if the teacher isn't able to act professionally then they have no business being in such a job. If you can't swim the tide get out of the water!

My dad is special ed teacher, and many times he gets students just like this. He would be fired right away for just touching a kid roughly, and he teaches it in high school. This kid was 8. Many of them simply cannot control themselves. Some hit others because they have a panic attack any time someone comes close to them. This teacher should never be allowed to teach special ed again because she cannot deal with the situation.

Teachers don't hit kids and keep their jobs. that's the America I grew up in.

Renerman,

I had a chorus teacher throw a music stand at us and sprain a girl's wrist. The principal told him not to do it again. That was it. Teachers could hit and keep their jobs in the America I grew up in.

Well Mr Burns, that kid was only 8 but he was barely smaller than the teacher. I bet your dad might change his mind if it was an equal sized student kicking HIS arse! He might rethink how things need to be handled. My kid has NEVER received a break from discipline related to hitting, kicking, etc. He is punished the same as any kid when it come to physical agression. And rightfully so. He's been in school 9 years now, with IEP etc, but he's had a few suspensions. If he hit a teacher and got smacked back, I too, would be asking if he learned something from it. Especially if he regularly abused the teacher, I would not be surprised if the teacher finally snapped. My son's most recent teacher was a miracle worker, but he still had times he was a nightmare. I had much empathy for her and let her know it. I LOVE the kid, but sometimes I'd like to bop him a good one. And I have hit him back on occasion when the hitting was intentional. I've tackled his butt and restrained him too. You can't expect a teacher to have more patience for your kids than you do. I doubt this boys parents just sat around and let him kick and slap them all evening after school. If they did, shame on them. A toddler can be taught that hitting is wrong and most of the kids in special ed are no where near brain dead. That kid should have been kicked out for at least a day every time he hit someone. Bet the parents would get that hitting and kicking under better control in no time.

Renerman, you must be 20 years old. Our schools had corporal punishment until the early 1990s. In my school days (1960s & 1970s) EVERY teacher had a formica covered paddle with holes drilled into it. Anyone past about 2nd grade was fair game. This is public school. Younger ones were hit with rulers. And my parent's rule was if you got spanked at school, you got another after arriving home. Most of the kids I knew well had the same rules at home. Disrepecting ANY grownup had swift consequences. Yes, it was pretty harsh sometimes. But we knew EXACTLY where the boundaries were and most kids behaved. Special ed kids were treated differently but none of them were particularly aggressive. Somehow their parents taught them right from wrong to some degree.

@blondeness, 1. How old is this kid? 2. what was the circumstances? 3. Where does this kid get the idea they(male/female) can hit an adult? This story is 1.5 years old or the writer doesn't know what year it is. No I don't believe in corporal punishment like the old days. I will say this IF I was the teacher we would be going to the office and I would get his father to the school or visit him. The first thing I would do would be to knock him on his Ass! Which is what his father should have done to him.

If the parents know there is issues with their child there is medications and therapy to help the child work through the root of the problem. yeah yeah i have heard all the arguments, medications are bad for the child because the parents don't want them on it. Well @!$%# you, your child needs help and you deny it because it's not for YOU.. You aren't having the issues, you aren't suffering because in school kids don't like you because of how you behave, it's for your child and their well being.. I hate parents that make excuses to be poor excuses for parents..

I went through hell.. My daughter started to show signs of ADHD, explosive disorder, and high anxiety. Talked to the school because the kids were alienating her and her behavior was steadily getting worse as she was getting older.. The school sent her to special ed. The school called DHS to get my attention that there was a real problem, I was an ignorant parent that didn't want to put my dear darling on meds to help her because I didn't feel it was right. She struggled and wasn't learning, her spelling went to hell and she was dyslexic.. I went through parenting classes and took my child to a therapist, we had a psych eval to see what exactly was going on.. Well we got the diagnosis and struggled with the decision to place her on meds.. I finally did and OMG she started to excel, the kids started to like her, no more explosions, and anxiety. She was allowed to live and not be trapped by her mental status.. Kept her in therapy and found out the root of the change, her biological sperm donor was molesting her.. We went through 7 years of therapy and i went through years of parenting to better parent a child with disabilities and one day it just snapped, she didn't need the meds anymore, they had worked through all the problems and gave her the tools to better control and maintain her behavior.. This was between the ages of 3 and 11 and she is 17 now and getting ready to graduate high school with honors..

Lets get one thing straight, I work with teen-parents and their kids.. Holy hell I have seen it all.. One kid came up and slapped me in the face and the mom sat back and laughed.. I told her he does it again not only would her child suffer for it but she would as-well.

I feel for this teacher there is only so much a teacher can do, they are not your child's step parent..

I have an interesting story.. The school called dhs on me for slapping my kid for kicking my husband in the balls. DHS came in and seen we were working with services and they dropped the case. Well a few weeks later i get a call from the disciplinary at school that they had to remove her from class because her behavior was intolerable because she was being argumentative. My daughter had a foot bruise on her back and finger bruises on her arms from being drug. Oh yeah I let the school have it about being hypocrites that it wasn't okay for me to spank my kid for hurting another person but they were allowed to bruise the @!$%# out of her because she was arguing.. The disciplinary @!$%# didn't have a job when I was done with him. At the time they had her on a non-speed form of adhd medicine and it wasn't working, we had to go over to extended release adderrall. What i had done was picked up my kid and she said mom my back hurts the teacher stood on it, i didn't believe her til i pulled her shirt up and there was a red/purple bruise forming. I sat in the office called the police and had them take pictures and made calls in-front of them so they knew what i was saying and who I was saying it to, the police documented the school had in fact abused my child and they gave the pictures to the state to see if they wanted to prosecute the disciplinary asswipe for child abuse.

I would love to see how well you "maintained order" if a child about the same size as you hit you on multiple occasions. It sounds like she took the abuse for a long time and then just snapped one day and hit back. OMG, she's human! I have no problem with what she did and I seriously doubt she would ever do it again. As for the student, I would expell him from that school immediately.

HaHa! Good for her! Hope she bitch-slapped a few teeth loose. Maybe the little sh*t will think twice about being such an ass in school.

Oh, we need to reform the whole system of protocol for violence in the schools because some of you have no clue how bad it is today and it's a problem in EVERY school in the country.

Thank You to those who pointed out that such a violent child should never have been allowed to stay in that classroom to continiue abusing others. We don't know what his disabilitites are, but I'm willing to bet the chances are greater that he enjoyed hurting and upseting others with no repercussions. Not only was that teachers slapped mulitple times by this kid but she was nearly helpless to watch him hit and kick another small child. With this going on, there is NO learning happening in that room- I promise. At the very least, this teacher should have had an aide, a sizable man to react and restrain this kid. I feel badly for her. I hope she sues the school system and wins. She's more than justified.

As for bullying and physical abuse in our educational system in general, kudos to the 'NJ Mom' who poited out why schools turn their heads and do nothing. I went to school in central NJ from K-College, my Mother was a teacher in a NJ Urban school district (middle school) with some violent kids. We have some experience. When they say middle school is the worst, they know what they're talking about. I was hit, kicked, had books thrown at my head, by mostly one boy in particular. He had choice sexual remarks and asked why didn't I do something to make myself look better. I was 11. That was just one problem. Some of their teachers were a whole different issue. My Mother had to go to school time after time to address this with the Principle. I was doing everything to avoid going to school. I wasn't learning because I was so overwrought with anxiety. The school called this boy's father in a few times and he was a big, fat, loud, arrogant, nasty, Italian guy who gave my Mother the impression he probably smacked his wife every time he didn't like the look on her face. He gave hell to the school administrators instead of disciplining his kid and the school became afraid to deal with him. My Mother finally had to pull me out of the school and temporarily put me in the middle school where she was teaching. But this wasn't really a better situation and it was costing her a lot of money to send me there. From there she spent the money to put me in Catholic school which was a little bit better.

The point I want to make is that the parties responsible aren't being held accountable. The schools are not being held accountable for enforcing the means necessary to maintain a safe environment for the children and teachers. If the Parents are notified and decide to do nothing, they are not held accountable, and the kids who decide to abuse others aren't help accountable. There was an article the other day that went viral about a school bus monitor that was being physically and verbally abused by four kids. Luckily a fifth kid video taped it on a cell phone and put it on the Internet. All of the sudden, the school had to start answering questions and then so did the Parents. Violent, abusive kids need to be escorted out of the school in handcuffs by the police. Their age does not and should not exempt them from the law. The Parents will then have to fork over bail money to get their kids out of jail and then reappear in court. Meanwhile the kid isn't on on a mere suspension playing video games while the Parents are at work. That would a good move in the right direction. The schools who don't want negative stats would win b/c it would be a great deterrent. It would be a win/win situation. The kids taken to jail and charged with assault/battery, etc... would have to serve time in Juvenile detention, do cmmunity service, etc..The Parents would face fines, be required to make alternative arrangements for their kids education...Don't you think these inevitable consequences would put a fire under the tails of those apathetic Parents whom aren't implementing effective parenting? I certainly beleive it would. Most importantly, there would be a reasonabl overhaul in changed attitudes with kids who will think twice about such deplorable behavior and Parent's will once again deal with early signs of bad behaior before it's destroying the life and education of another kid or the career of an adult working in the educational system.

That wasn't the case here.

What wasn't the case? The teacher did not appear to have an aide to assist her in this class

Inclusion in NJ provides that a special education teacher and regular education teacher be in the classroom. Please see my comment #1.5 for clarification.

How can you blame the child

Blame the parents. The child assualted the teacher more than once and nothing was done. The teacher should have simply filed a police report and filed charges. Then the parents and school system will be forced to address the issue. some students just aren't capable of being placed in a normal classroom setting.

As the teacher is forced to devote more of her time to one student, what happens with the other students? What happens when this kid starts directing his assualts towards other students? What happens in a few years when this kid is bigger than the teachers?

I see a civil suit is the future of the school;.

I Agree.

Special needs children don't completely know their actions.

Blame the parents? Why? Because the school left this teacher with no help at all with a special needs child who acts out? There is a reason some of these children are separated from the general school population.... they have problems...do you not understand that? The teacher chooses to help these kids..but that is no reason for the school to leave her with NO HELP AT ALL in that classroom.

The teacher acted out of frustration....to blame her and demand her job... the comments about her never teaching again are as knee jerk as her slapping the child. Its easy to sit back and judge her when you don't know what you are talking about.

Assmartech: BS read post 1.3

Blame the school, not the parents. This is a special needs class. And I'll bet 99% of you commenting here have never read one line of the Federal guidelines for schools on what they are required to provide for these classes which are dependent on them receiving federal funds to support these students.

Furthermore, 99% if the schools in this country do not spend that money on the special needs classes. Most of them merely provide a TV and movies to entertain the children and hopefully keep them quiet. If the kids don't comply, a good deal of them are sent to "alternative schools" as delinquents, and usually end up in juvenile courts and on the path to detention centers and from there to kiddie prisons.

Where does the federal money go? Ask your damn school board members. Do you think they campaign so hard to sit on those boards for their health and altruistic natures?

My dad is a special ed teacher. He would have her fired instantly. You know what you are getting into in special ed, and the kid was only 8.

If you work, I hope your boss has the same intolerance for your human characteristics. Note I did not say humane with an e. Every taken a pencil, paper clip, sticky notes home from work? Put a kleenex from the communal box in your pocket for later? Then you should receive the full brunt of punishment your company has for thieves. Karma is real and what goes around comes around. IF it is ever YOUR child that hits a teacher, I hope the kid is expelled for a full year.

My son is a high functioning autistic and has dyslexia, he was mainstreamed in Kindergarten after being in special day school for three years. He acted out ONCE, the teacher called and asked me for advice, I told her to tell him, "I'm going to call your mother if you don't stop"...that was all he needed to hear. He's never misbehaved since. His teacher, during parent/teacher conference asked what I do to punish him...I smiled and said, 'time out, against the wall in military stance, no crying allowed'..and I only did that twice. When he was older, I did book reports, as a dyslexic not only was it a 'punishment', but helped with school too.... I do not believe in corporal punishment, it very rarely works the way you intend it too.

So I blame a lack of communication, but mostly, I blame the parents...

P/S My son is entering High School this September, he is an 'A' and 'B' student, who's been completely mainstreamed since kindergarten, except for getting help for his dyslexia, but he still does the same course work as all the other students in his class. He also has never been in trouble. But then, I taught him morals and behavior his entire life, and expect good behavior and grades from him. I do not make excuses for my child, even if he is (to use your words) "special"...

There isn't enough information in this article to make a judgement about the kid. There are so many levels of problems that can put a kid into special education. My niece was diagnosed with ADHD, she has also never had consistent discipline. As a result. I won't babysit her and really don't even want her in my house as she breaks everything she comes into contact with. She is in special ed, if someone slapped her I'd applaud. I don't care if I'm judged for that either, as most people who are on here shouting the loudest about what a monster this teacher is do far worse things to their children. Most people should learn to be suspicious of people who protest too much. I also have an autistic nephew if someone slapped him it would be slightly more difficult to understand but he has hit, kicked and bit people before and if someone reacted to be slapped I probably wouldn't blame them either.

Did you miss the part about how the teacher had been hit multiple times by this student?

brendan-4......

You have (previously) made it abundantly clear you disrespect (particularly public sector) teachers. Now, you propose violence against them. Obviously, you have little idea (or concern for) the difficulties teachers face educating (y)our children some of whom are fed a steady diet of misinformation and propaganda at home.

BTW---Back in Sept. of 2011, you offered the following comment to an article titled "Will SCOTUS hear challenges to health-care law in '11 or '12?":

Quote.....Obama taking the chance that this is ruled unconstitutional before the elections? LOL YA RIGHT. Its going to be pushed after 2012, and once its ruled unconstitutional, the libs will have no rebuttal to the stagnant economy because of the Obamacare bomb. This is going to be all theatrics......EndQuote

Well, it seems your prognostication skills are no better than your logical faculties. Let's see how many points you were wrong on: 1. The decision DID come in 2012. 2. ObamaCares was ruled CONSTITUTIONAL. 3. Democrats point to republican obstructionism to explain the lack of full economic recovery.

Essentially, ALL of your points were WRONG.

Would you here now like to predict the outcome of the November election?

Ian Emdee, having trouble sticking to the subject at hand, are we!! On your meandering off-topic comments, are you seriously proposing that the Democrat talking point to explain the lack of a coherent, effective recovery is to be read as fact? Really!! WOW!!!

Completely agree. It sounds like this was out of character for this teacher. She had been struck repeatedly, was overwhelmed, and finally struck back out of reflex (and not hard enough to hurt the child, either.) She needs a break, and needs to take a refresher on how to recognize when she is near her limit and needs calm herself, but I don't think she should lose her career over it. It sounds like she is dedicated teacher and this was really out of the ordinary.

Amen 2Wylde. This teacher should have had an aide. I can tell you in our district, that kind of violence to other students and teachers would not last long without a solution or the child having to go somewhere with more specialized conditions. And if there was any medication that would help, the school would demand the child get it. Too many parents have been given a diagnosis for a "regular" level kid or special ed child, then turn around and refuse to try meds. Or try it a few days. Or let their kids decide whether they want it. Maybe never take the kid to a neurologist to start with. Teachers cannot fix our kids!!!!! They can hopefully teach them to well enough to reach their full educational potential. It is NOT the teachers job to teach them every social skill, potty training, etc like some parents expect. Just like a normal child, inappropriate behaviors and training have to be addressed starting at age 2 or earlier. Spend those first 5 years teaching your kid something instead of waiting for the kindergarten teachers to do it!! They don't have to have a high IQ to learn some basic social skills and that hitting hurts and is wrong.

You are so right. Glad you advocated for your son. Sometimes you have to really raise he!! to get things done. My kid is more like the one who tried to stab your son with the pencil. But I had to fight to get him OUT of the mainstream where he couldn't learn because of mental illness and sensory issues. He blossomed in a BD class. No switching classes every hour, no hustle and chaos in the halls, no pacing teachers, no gum popping etc. that he could not deal with. The BD teacher is a saint and focused more on what my son CAN do and worked with that. He plowed through tons of work in her class.

If YOUR kid is the one with issues, advocate for the correct type of help. Saying a teacher ought to put up with beatings isn't doing that kid any favors. That's not advocating for your kid. That's leaving everything at the status quo and teaches your kid nothing (or teaches them to make no effort to control themselves).

Time out is wonderful for children with special needs and it give them a calming period. The parent should have been educated more about their child. ADD or ADHD is not a liscense to have bad behavior with out appropriate consquences. My child is special needs and time out works wonders for her.

I often say that my son's PDD/ADHD dx is a reason for his behaviors, but not an excuse. Shame on that mom not teaching her child right from wrong!

P.S. Time-outs work for some kids, but not for all. I know that when he was little, if time-outs didn't work, a swat on the buttocks worked wonders for my son. Each kid is different - whatever works use ut!

He does have mental issues. He's in special ed. Did you not read the article?

I think steff was referring to mental illness vs mental retardation. Low IQ or having a learning disorder is quite different from mental health issues like bipolar or serious depression (even schizophrenia). And a learning disorder does not necessarily preclude the child from having a high IQ. Some kids have only one of these issues, some have more than one. Low IQ does not make a child act mean. Autism sometimes does. Sensory issues that aren't addressed can overstimulate a kid to the point of being out of control. But by the time a child is 8, the parents should have a good idea of what the issue is. If they don't, they need to figure it out. So there might be a mix of special needs kids in that class, but most of them will not be very aggressive. It doesn't necessarily go with the territory and no special ed teacher should expect to get beat up by elementary students.

@MrBurns: There is no guarantee that the boy has any mental issues. Being placed in a special education class does not always equal a learning disability of any kind. Where I went to school, children that had no self discipline at all were placed in the same classes as children that truly had special needs, as the class for children with behavioral problems was removed. Some of those kids need nothing more than a good, old-fashioned trip back behind the wood shed! IF that school is anything like mine was (and still is, unfortunately), chances are that if his parents had tanned his hide once in a while, he would not behave like he did. And before you say anything about not knowing what I'm talking about, I am a parent. I also have a brother that was ADHD, though he outgrew it and is now only ADD. If either of us had done what that little brat did, we'd have had our butts whipped. And if my daughter ever does it, she will not just get whipped, she'll be grounded from everything, including books (reading being one of her favorite passtimes)!

GET A CLUE!!! Special needs child. What part of that do you the MORON not understand. How do you discipline a child that doesn't UNDERSTAND what they are doing and why they are doing it. My child is special needs and sometimes will pull hair and hit; it doesn't make her out of control I am a BSN, RN so I am pretty sure I am not the vulgar word you used. I am educated and educated on my child's illness and how to deal with her just like her special education teachers are. If an adult hit my child; regardless of the reason; I would press charges. IF you were a parent you woud feel the same because as a parent it is your job to protect your child.

If your child hit my child, I would press charges.

And you would be laughed out of court! Please educate yourself before you make such ignorant responses.

BRmama, I agree with John C, After seeing children with violent behaviors, such as pulling hair, pushing and shoving, intergraded into classrooms, she is out of control. By age 5 most children know that hitting and pulling hair is not an acceptable behavior. I am sorry that your child has these issues through no fault of her own, but she does not belong in public school unless the entire school is for special needs children. And even then, if she were to hit my child or pull hair, I would call the police and have charges pressed and you would be paying for any medical bill I may have due to her actions. In this case, the needs of the many (such as safety) out weighs the needs of your child.

No, he wouldn't be laughed out of court, at least not where I live. Assault is Assault. Most of the time when you do press charges, that is what is needed for the schools to remove the child from the "regular" classroom and have them put back into an all special ed class.

BRmama- keep up your attitude that your child has no control or accountability, and she will end up in an institution. The real world is very different than school. You are not doing her any favors.

BRmama: They said Special ED not special Needs there is a major difference. Read my Post 1.3 and you will see you need to calm down.

BRmama take a chill pill, in fact I am a father!. And if someone disciplined my child when my child needed to be disciplined, I would thank that person. Special needs children have special schools for them, here the conversation is of Special ED students. These students are usually those who either don't learn or misbehave mostly because of how their parents have raised them or how their parents behave at home.

And in your case, I have relative he has ADHD as well as bipolar disorder and dementia, he would always hang around with us, and every morning he has to take medication that keeps him cool as a cucumber. His mother had a bright idea and decided to take him off of his meds for a little while and because of that he started to attack people. Someone complained, the state came and took him away, thus if your daughter attacks my child I will press charges and the state will take her away as they should! We cannot and should not tolerate violent individuals in society, there is always a solution.

brmama -- SOME kids really don't understand. The are infants mentally and infants do pull hair and scratch. But not all, and I dare say not most kids in special ed are that limited. Not in the special ed classes within a grade school anyway. Our schools don't "babysit" kids that have no learning potential. They provide special ed for kids that have at least some capacity for learning. A kid that can get up and move around to hit and kick others is not helpless and has enough of an ability to try to modify that behavior. You can catch a 1 year old baby's hand as she reaches for eyeglasses or to smack your face and teach her to not hit and grab eyeglasses. That 8 year old boy can be taught better and should have been taught better at a young age.

You are obviously not a parent to say "tossed out of school". That child has a right to be there. The SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND AIDES should be trained to deal with the child. I am sure if this was your child you wouldn't be so quick to have them tossed out of school.

I'm a parent, and I think hitting a teacher should be an automatic suspension, special needs or not. Multiple assaults should be reported to the police.

In NJ, the children and staff have a right to a safe environment. If this child is displaying behaviors that would make a classroom environment unsafe, then the child can be removed. Homeschooling is an option in that case, and perhaps a special school is in order for this kid.

That is why they are in special ed classes. Is this hard to understand. It is not just A kid. It is a kid with a disability. Some have disabilities that make them attack whenever they feel threatened, which could be at any time. He is not just some bad kid, he has a handicapped, and the teacher hit him for it. Please know what you talk about before you say stupid stuff.

I understand that this child has a problem of some sort that may make him violent. However, he will need to not hit at some point in time. Soon, he will be an adult and adult-sized and hitting people could cause serious physical damage, and instead of someone slapping him, they may shoot him in self-defense.

I don't think the teacher should have slapped him back, but he should be disciplined and taught right from wrong and that violence is not acceptable.

No BRMama, the violent out-of-control child does NOT have a right to be in same classroom as the other children. Surely, their right and the teacher's right to not be subjected to assault and battery outweighs the right of the uncontrolled assailant.

If can't calm your child, why do you think anyone else would be able to? "Triggers" or not, it sounds like she is still violent.

You are clearly insane. Violent because she pulls hair or hits. PLEASE. Educate yourself on special needs. I "control" her fine. When she does the behavior you simply sign "NO and STOP" and she calms. Her teachers are exceptional and are educated and deal great with her. That is my point...why was this teacher not educated. My child goes into the regular classroom and the children and all her teachers love her. Thankfully they are not as blind sided as you. I assume you would be one to say institutionalize all the special needs and keep them out of society. My child travel, goes on planes etc and has not problem but as her parents we know her.

BR......

It's pretty easy to see why your child has a hair trigger. You immediately resort to name calling when someone disagrees with you.

Think how the parents of the other children in the class might feel when their kids are getting short shrift because the teacher must devote so much attention to yours.

Yes, brmama, hitting is violence. And if you don't know enough to teach your child that, no way does she go on to live in society the way that you imagine she will. You think you are being kind, but you are doing her a huge disservice. She will never survive outside of school with your attitude because the real world doesn't come with an IEP. People won't care, and you better prepare her for that.

If my "normal" child pulled someones hair in the check out line t the store, that person wouldn't have to smack him, I would. But if they did hit him, I'd look at him and tell him he deserved it for his behavior and I'd apologize to that person for his behavior. Again, I find myself agreeing with the above people. You seem to enable your childs poor behavior by making excuses for her.

What is your definition of violence if hitting isn't included? Do you have to have a weapon before you're considered violent?

Also, if you don't consider hitting violent, you should have no problem with someone hitting your daughter.

Got to agree special needs does not mean an acceptance for violent behavior. It does mean the teacher needs to extend appropriate communications, but if the child can't fit into the classroom he or she needs to be placed into different learning environment.

BRmama...your zealous (over)reaction is so typical of many parents. It's the self-righteous attitude, and I know that nothing anyone including myself, is going to change your mind. Still, I will attempt to give it some effort. So, let me ask you this: if a man attacked you, would you defend yourself? Suppose that man was mentally deranged, would you still let him attack you? If not, what will you do if your child grows up and attacks someone? Will you say that your child did not know better, and therefore should not be held liable for any criminal intent? Would the man who attacked you, and possibly maimed you, not be held for any criminal intent? The areas are becoming exceedingly grey, aren't they?

No, the only thing you are thinking right now is "my child"...nothing else. And that is the problem...that's not parenting, BRmama...that's just breeding.

The true fact is that special needs children legally will never be on their own. They will always have a guardian responsible for them. Might be why you dont' see people with TRUE special needs (I am not talking ADD or ADHD) but true special needs in jail or prison. My husband works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons so I know this first hand to be true.

You're correct BRmama, you don't see them in jail, you see them institutionalized. Children who pull hair, hit or shove do not belong intergraded into the regular classrooms.

BRmama: again this is SPECIAL ED and most kids who have been in special ed do go out into the world ON THERE OWN...............

Leatherneck

You know about special ed. Please tell me the difference. Could you please tell me the different classifications of special ed and different levels that some schools need to have? Its not one size fit all.

MrBurns if you go to the site NICHCY dot org and type in categories of diabilities, it will list them for you along with a description of each category.

As for schools and classes there are different settings depending on the level of students' need. There are also school that work with certain types of disabilities (ex: schools for students with autism, school for students with emotional/mental issues, schools for students with behavioral disorders). Depends on where you live how the school system sorts that all out.

@ amydean: Well said! Nice to see someone who can see the "big picture". The only thing I might add: I believe every special ed instructor should have an aide; the teacher in question apparently did not. My ex- wife has taught special ed for over 20 years and from my unaudied observations, parents fall into two categories: 1. those who realize the difficulty of working with their "challenged" child in a structured setting along with other special needs children; 2. those who do not.

@ BRMama: You have an education, are in a healing profession, and love your child. That's all grand and good. It does not excuse your dismissive attitude toward your child's behavior. Yes, if my "normal" daughter yanked someone's hair in the checkout line and she got a reflexive smack, I'd have said, "See what happens when we don't keep our hands to ourselves?"

John C. - I am the mother to a son with Aspergers and other learning differences as well I have been a teacher. That being said I have seen out of control children with and without disabilities . There are good and bad parents through out society. When people have children have children and adults with disabilites everyday is a challenge. I had to relearn how to raise a son who would fit into society. I taught him boundries which all parents should teach, consistency is critcal so that the lessons are learned. But that also should be true for all parents. Our family has utilized all the resources available and they became a part of my son's team. All the doctors, specialists, teachers , parents and our son were a part of a team. There are children from a neurotypical homes who are violent, break rules and their parents support them in doing so. My son was never allowed to have a pass to be violent.... this is a matter of parenting, utilizing knowledge and even much more. There are parents of childre with and without disabilites who enable them to behave poorly. Not just parents of chldren with disabilities. It is true that the level of cognition often defines behavior but parents help define it too. My son is now entering the adult world soon and is going away to school with supports for his disabilities, our goal is for him to become an upstanding young man who because of good behavior will be able to live in the real world.

As for the teacher hitting him back, she is trained to utilize her training and school supports. It appears that perhaps she was not getting support from the family or the school administration. She is not totally at fault however she should have never hit the child. Of course there is no mention of the parents and that is a big factor as well.

Please, parents who have special needs kids aren't the only one who get to have an opinion.

And there should always be consequences for a child's violent behavior. To say that a teacher could prevent it 100% of the time just proves that you are not an expert on the subject.

John C ---Please remember that how you communicate your views can create a discussion or create a barrier. BRmama you seem to carry a lot of hositility- do you really want to shut down an opportunity for people to increase awareness? I am a mother to a son with Aspergers and comorid disabilites. So I walk the walk and talk the talk but most of all educating others should be a goal instead of anger.

@Sambrown I'd be interested to research the laws to which you refer. Which State and County is in question here? If it is in fact true what you say, then those laws are are obscence and it it's up to the citizens to demand change. Democracy serves us no purpose if the people thus "We the People" don't participate. Apathy is a Democratic Nation's worst enemy.