Written by Paul Dix
Marlon likes routine, hates change and interprets life differently. He is a lovely child but needs careful management. In moments of desperate frustration he will attack wildly. Scratching and biting anything in his way. His behaviour swings from the utterly predictable to the impossibly bizarre. In recent weeks your rotating seating plan has caused daily outbursts resulting in displays of extreme behaviours. In a class of 30 with no support he is sapping up your time and energy. Marlon has no intent to harm but this does not wash with the parents of the injured and anxious. Parents have complained bitterly that Marlon must be punished, isolated and excluded. They are openly challenging your classroom management and you are beginning to think that they have a point. The daily patching of children who find themselves in the wrong place at the right time is becoming difficult to explain.
In the staff room the looks of sympathy have given way to mutters of annoyance. You regularly find yourself having to explain Marlon's defiance and unexpected violence. It must be a coincidence but your special mug has gone missing and you are sure that your secret stash of Hobnobs has been raided. Unless you act quickly you fear that the staff will turn against you and the stern looks of senior leaders will translate into ‘quiet words' and the inevitable ‘targets' in awkward performance management meetings.
A. Punish
Enough is enough. Give the other Parents and less enlightened colleagues their pound of flesh. Go down the punishment road and see if it holds the answer.
B. Secret diagnosis
Assume that Marlon is somewhere on the spectrum and treat him accordingly. Use the strategies that have worked with children with autism.
C. Appeal to Parents
Call in the Parents (again) and demand that they seek expert support and a diagnosis. Marlon needs more support in class than you are able to provide.
A. Punishment Party
The punishing doesn't begin well. By lunchtime Marlon is curled up in a foetal position outside the Head's office picking paint off the wall with steely determination. The punishments that have been thrown at him have had no positive effect on his behaviour. To be fair they have had no impact whatsoever. When you explain to Marlon that he may not see another break time until he starts shaving, he doesn't blink. You begin to realise that your own break, lunch and after school time may forever accompanied by Marlon. He is a lovely child on a one to one but you do have other responsibilities. The Head, keen to support your attempts to bring Marlon into line, makes stern and serious noises. Marlon is much more interested in the photos of her family on the desk than accepting a telling off with grace. The arrival of the Deputy who bares his teeth and tries to play Mr Nasty is futile at best. The pantomime of punishment ends with more threats, raised voices and Marlon commenting that he has really enjoyed meeting everybody and asking if they could do it all again tomorrow lunchtime. As you herd Marlon away to the segregation block (formerly the caretakers office) you know that your instinct was right. Punishment on Marlon is a weak and soggy strategy.
Key Questions:
- Does Marlon deserve to be punished?
- Does harsher punishment have more chance of having an impact?
- Is it right to punish children for behaviours that emerge from their additional needs ?
B. Secret Diagnosis
Marlon is not the only child you work with who struggles with transition and interpreting instructions accurately. You begin to introduce a visual timetable and clear routines for key moment of transition for all of the children. There is a great deal of discussion about how to present the routines and the children decide that it would be better if they had photographs of themselves demonstrating each one. After seeking permission from parents you create photo stories with the children that are laminated on tables and at key points in the classroom. In order to give Marlon a little more protection from the noise and general ‘business' of the rest of the class you bribe the site manager (Jack Daniels, obviously) into building a screen onto three sides of a few desks. Spurred on by the thought of free booze and the outside chance that he may get his office back the site manager does a fantastic job. There are now 4 desks with curved screens, cork board on the inside. You introduce them to the children as your 'quiet desks' and allocate one to Marlon to see if he finds it useful. Marlon loves the screen and may have found his happy place. You invest time in teaching Marlon transition routines, one to one. He soon takes control of his own mini visual timetable and routine checklists. Marlon begins to settle, incidents of violence reduce dramatically. You would still trade everything for a good Teaching Assistant but now feel that Marlon has turned a corner.
Key Questions
- Is the extra time invested in Marlon now, ‘one to one', likely to pay off later?
- Could you extend the ides of screened desks for the whole class? What might the effect be?
- How can you prepare Marlon for unexpected changes to the school/classroom routine?
C. Appeal to Parents
You have taught enough children to suspect that Marlon might be on the Autistic Spectrum. His parents are similarly unique individuals with their own views on Marlon's differences. They are educated, well read and well prepared. Although you attempt to steer the conversation they have their own agenda. Mum is appalled at the lack of support for Marlon, Dad will not countenance a referral to support services. The mention of Autism sends him into a tirade of vitriol against the school, the system and your classroom management. The meeting deteriorates despite your best intentions. By the time Dad storms out you wonder how Marlon has become the victim in all of this and how you seem to be promising to ‘try harder' with him. You suspect a follow up letter to the Head will provide further headaches and resolve not to invite the parents in again.
Key Questions
- How far should you go in trying to persuade parents to agree with your view?
- Is it your responsibility to point out that Marlon may exhibit some traits of Autism?
- How can you mend the relationships with the parents now?
Your style
A. Punishment addict
You can't punish a child for having additional needs. It is cruel, perpetuates a damaging cycle and utterly futile. Marlon's behaviour needs a more intelligent and empathetic approach. He is not behaving badly to annoy you or to intentionally hurt others He is behaving badly because he doesn't interpret your instructions as you think you are delivering them. You mustn't be bullied into punishing a child just because other parents think that you should.
B. Inclusion engineer
Doing everything possible not to humiliate Marlon is a worthy pursuit. You are still successfully communicating with the rest of the children. All that has changed in their eyes is your style. Many of the children who previously looked to you for their next instruction will take the opportunity to take more responsibility for their own timekeeping and transitions. What was designed for Marlon's benefit may steer other children towards more independence and less learned helplessness in the classroom. It is never going to be plain sailing, but that with an inclusive attitude, you can face problems positively and deal with them proactively.
C. Amateur interpreter
Parents who refuse to accept help for their child may at first glance appear selfish and unreasonable. Yet they have every right to make their own decisions. Leave diagnosis to the professionals. Instead focus meetings on small steps and collaborative approaches that are manageable. Marlon's behaviour will not be ‘solved' by a diagnosis and you need to be able to work with the family and not against them. Although many of the traits that Marlon displays are ones that you recognise in children with Autism, Marlon is Marlon. Not a replica, not a stereotype.