What upsets me about these kinds of articles is the focus is
always on the teachers and staff - what they do wrong, what they
should do, blah, blah, blah. Yes, in many of these situations,
they staff are not using correct restraint techniques, which
results in injuries. If the staff didn't receive appropriate
training, then it is the school districts responsibility to be
providing the training and they should be held accountable.

If classrooms are overcrowded and understaffed, the school
district should also be held accountable. I have students who
need to be restrained who probably would not require this if
they were in a smaller group of students and had a 1:1 staff who
could monitor the student's program. This just can't happen
with more than a dozen students with various disabilities
ranging from autism to behavior disorders. Students are
constantly setting each other off and there are too many
transitions with students coming and going throughout the day
and not enough staff. Even with more staff, it would be a
challenge because there are so many kids in the room.

Yes, teachers need to be trained, but they also need to be given
the optimum environment, curriculum and support they need. wasub

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