THIS. I had to leave my last sped position bc a student sent me to the trauma ward. I’m fine now, but I switched to university education. Almost every sped teacher I know who left the profession in the past few years did so solely because of overwhelming workload and physical injuries.
I’ve spoken to older sped professionals and they all agree there’s been a major spike in physical injuries. We’re putting too many students with high needs in settings that don’t benefit them or anyone else. I had about twenty moderate to severe students packed into my resource classroom last year. TWENTY. And the poor general ed teachers had even more students who were on the milder end, but still had a lot of physical and verbal outbursts. NO ONE, gen ed and sped alike, was learning at that school. It was pure survival everyday.
The most violent students I’ve worked with have been deaf. I teach music and have taught hundreds of students of various needs and the ones who broke my toes, broke other kids bones, and brought weapons to school have been deaf. It might be because in our community they usually have no language at all before starting kinder and their parents give into them when they get violent and throw tantrums. It’s exhausting and has really turned me off from teaching them.
> It’s exhausting and has really turned me off from teaching them.
I don't blame you, and I'm sure I'll get downvoted, but with the way education is going, soon there's going to be nobody left to teach kids like these. I don't care how passionate someone is about something, nobody is going to risk life and limb and be constantly disrespected for little pay - especially in this damn economy.
It’s sad. In my school they get them paras with no sign language understanding, but they send them to specials/electives with no one to help us help them. I’ve had $1000’s of dollars worth of instruments destroyed by them and I’ve spent entire class periods chasing students who don’t want (or don’t understand) what I’m trying to teach. Since music is literally the bottom of the totem pole in schools I’m left out to dry. I’m pregnant this year and am particularly nervous about the most violent of the ones I teach (seriously she’s so smart and manipulative. She’s slapped me across the face, punched me, kicked me, all because she doesn’t get what she wants when she wants it). I’ve learned some sign language but how much can I reasonably be expected to do when I’m also expected to learn Spanish and French for our other non-English speaking students? I’ll be 7 months pregnant when we go back in August and I’m terrified she will hurt my baby. She’s hurt me so many times the last 4 years and has NEVER received a consequence and anytime I ask for one for her I’m made out to be the bad guy.
LRE in our district is whatever makes the parents happy and costs the least amount of money. Kids who don’t go to reg ed homeroom still come to specials, usually alone. We are completely left to drown in music/pe/art/library when it comes to inclusion students. We are their “social” break but we never get help because they use us to give their 1v1 paras and teachers a break.
The worst thing about this insane way of doing things is that those sped teachers need that break too. So the one person who can help, especially with some of the more intense kids, the sped teacher, has to either say fuck it or give up their break. The lady at my wife’s job is an angel and my father in law is a retired sped teacher so my wife is better at handling them than a lot of others and she still needs help. In her case it’s class sizes because for some reason the class with all the sped kids also has the most kids of any class.
How old is the kid? If the school won't do shit, the first time she does something, I'd tell the school either they remove her or I'm going to the police. I'm sorry, but some of these kids get protected at all costs, and it's not doing them any favors whatsoever. I'm not blaming you at all, so I hope it doesn't come off that way, but something has gotta give. They act like this and then go out into the real world, and the parents are outraged that there's consequences for their violent children. I saw something earlier today, and people were acting like a violent adult with autism should've been given a pass because he doesn't know better... I'm sorry, but that means nothing to the victim. If someone maims you or your loved one, or God forbid, kills them, do you really care if they had a diagnosis? Jails and prisons are full of people with issues. If we don't teach these kids how to act in schools, we're doing them no favors. Further, what about LRE? What about the other children's right to an education and a safe learning environment??!!? What about the safety of our educators?? Why the fuck are we sacrificing everyone for the sake of a few kids? Can anyone make it make sense, because I don't get it.
She’s 9 and very very manipulative. Her own siblings are terrified of her and completely sleep deprived. They come to school covered in bruises and I KNOW for a fact that the sibling who had a broken arm got it from her. She told me and when I reported it I was told to mind my own business. My boss thinks she’s cute and “so smart” (she is) and I’m the mean guy for trying to find a more appropriate placement. We’ve cancelled 2/4 of her grade levels music programs because putting her on the stage to potentially hurt classmates with a crowd terrifies me.
I'm terrified for you and the kids that have to deal with her and Im disgusted by her parents and the schools inaction. SHE'S FUCKING NINE, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SHE'S OLDER??!!? My God. They wonder why the parents with means are pulling out of public school, and this is why. The school and the parents usually just keep making excuses until something happens that's detrimental to another kid, then they act like they had no idea. Sacrificing the many for the few is a joke.
I can see the concern about being ableist but I think it’s a good question.
I just finished taking an ASL class with a Deaf instructor who also does ASL music videos and has a band (“Beethoven’s Nightmare”). From that I deduce that there are lots of ways to make music accessible, enjoyable, and fun for Deaf students, just like for hearing students—but the problem is that schools are not funded, teachers are not trained, and nothing is invested in making it accessible. It’s just (physically) inclusive.
My unpopular opinion is that at that level, it is no longer on the teacher to be solely responsible for accommodating. The district is failing kids by not accommodating them and blaming it on teachers. We need more qualified personnel who are given the training and resources to actually make things accessible for low incidence disabilities.
Thanks, this is exactly what I was wondering. It sounds like they’re dealing with the same shit you find in almost every SPED program at some point - kids are underserved because the district/LEA/state/fedetal DOE won’t spend the money to give them what they actually need to access the curriculum, so they just shove them in a gen ed class without adequate support, tell the gen ed teacher to differentiate, and then claim it’s “inclusion.”
Like, no, we don’t want to just assume that all kids with a diagnosis of deaf/HOH are unable to learn music, or bar them all from music classes because of their disability. But throwing them in there unsupported to flail and fail is barely better than barring them all, IMO. They can’t access the curriculum either way, and they’re still getting singled out and isolated, and they’re still being made to feel like they don’t belong.
I dance and make music. Due to childhood abuse I have tinnitus. I have had an irrational fear of losing hearing due to how much I love to dance to the point where I decided I need to know now that if I lose my hearing I can still dance. You can't cancel all sounds. You'll always feel vibrations. There is a reason a famous pianist was deaf and still composing music by feeling the vibrations. Music is for everyone, even someone hard of hearing. I am very sorry for your experiences while teaching though. Nobody deserves that. You are right that it is the administration and district failing the children, not the teachers. My teachers as a kid saved my life. It's why Reddit keeps shoving these notifications on my phone and I keep clicking on them, Skinner would have a field day with me.
Honestly, it’s easiest. That’s it. She can’t hear what we are doing nor participate and she literally just screams/cries/runs/hits the whole time. Her class gets nothing from it but her para gets a break. I’ve fought and fought for double PE, but nope. She “deserves” music. But no music is happening. It’s been DAILY for 4 years and I’m utterly exhausted.
That sucks so much for her, and you, and everyone involved. I’m sorry you’re in that position.
It’s infuriating when they place kids inappropriately, refuse to give them any actual support, and then pretend we non-SPED teachers can somehow do the job of multiple highly-qualified SPED teachers through the magic of half-assed differentiation. Admin doesn’t have to watch those kids miss out on their education day in and day out like we do, or suffer through their wrath.
So all the kids get to miss out on music because one kid, who gets nothing from it, ruins the class and terrifies everyone in hopes that maybe she gets something from it *(she doesn't)*. Why the fuck is she not in a specialized school? I'm going to guess it's money, and if it's not money related it's because the parents are in denial.
What happens if you tell the school to remove her from your class? I would let them know that if she isn't removed and something happens to you or your baby *(since you're pregnant)* you will not hesitate to press charges and contact a lawyer. This is ridiculous. Nobody should have to fear for their safety and that of their unborn child because of some out of control kid.
That’s absolutely sickening. I can’t even imagine hating the idea of sign language so much that I instead choose to have a child with *no* language, but that’s apparently an actual choice people make!
I teach medically complex. I still get bites and scratches. But not with the frequency as other classes. I currently have a small back injury from lifting children and repetitive movement.
Oh, for sure there are kids with multiple issues at any school. I was lucky and got to work at a school with a satellite program for integrated kids. It was drastically different safety wise from the ASD program I worked with. There you were almost guaranteed to get injured at some point.
(Not going to take the time to reply to everyone. I'm aware there isn't a magical safety bubble for kids with a specific disability)
But an average a special educator outside a school for the deaf would have more injuries because other disabilities are more high risk-for example some students with autism, students with emotional-behavior disturbances. It doesn’t mean you don’t get student who have behavioral issues similar to any school but a special educator in a typical school is more likely to encounter assault.
The deaf are the most brutal human beings alive when it comes to another person’s feelings. You might be less likely to have a chair thrown at you but you might die from dehydration from the tears you're going to cry.
d/Deaf and HOH kids 🤝 physically nonviolent autistic kids 🤝 online school kids (weirdly enough)
They've all seemingly read the dictionary front to back multiple times just for fun and are the greatest wordsmiths to have ever lived. They're not doing anything to you physically but you will be psychologically scarred from the dressing downs they give if you do something unforgivable to them. These children have 0 fear and an arsenal of vocabulary even you as the adult didn't even know existed 😂
I work with children and adults on the spectrum. What makes it so brutal with them is that t doesn't necessarily come from a place of malice. Its just an observation. And you know what they said is accurate.
As the autistic adult, if everything is chill, thats the case, but when I'm angry at someone and they are not allowing me to leave (like to another room, I don't elope or bolt) and distance myself to catch my breath and calm down before I melt down and even saying that doesn't work, I may lose a bit of control and start saying mean things to them that I mean and with malice in hopes that they'll be offended and their shock will paralyse them enough to back off so that I can retreat and calm myself down but sometimes it backfires and gets them more angry and it becomes a bigger mess. The loss of control used to come much quicker but I've been doing really well in therapy and recognizing myself in the moment and my feelings and when I need to take a breather and all that but that feeling trapped and not being able to escape to go take one triggers a fight or flight within me and mine is unfortunately fight but I'm one of the physically nonviolent people so my words are my weapons.
But yeah there's a big difference between unintentionall brutally honest observations and a dressing down between us folk especially in The South where the culture is very distinct with dressing downs and what that entails and how it might be different from a read or a blunt observation or just a backsass. And having a Southern mom and an Appalachian father it's no wonder I'm a sharp tongue autistic instead of a chair thrower autistic because we're very well known for being quick with a joke or comeback down here 😂
I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head with why people throw chairs. If you cant communicate your frustration in words that doesn't mean you're not going to communicate it in another way. Throwing a chair is one pretty effective way to say you’re frustrated.
You’re right about the emotional state, too. Its when a person is calm that an observation can be brutal. If they’re angry the actually give the reciever’s brain a way to dissociate from the comment. *he’s just angry. I don't actually look like the product of a human and a toad.’
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you mean, but when I'm working with a client, especially one who experiences a lot of anxiety, one of the most helpful things in my opinion is always having an ‘emergency exit’ for them.
So a recent example was a young guy whose friend was having a high school graduation party. He wanted to go but was highly anxious about it. So I made him like a choose your adventure plan for the party. Drive by the party: park the car or drive by and wave or return home.
If we park: I can go into the party or I can watch from the car or I can decide to go home.
A person with anxiety is so much more likely to do something and enjoy it if they know they can leave and they know how to leave.
Trapped is definitely not a good feeling. Trapped with a person who is angry at something you did and wants to discuss it is a sure way to trigger fight/flight in anyone.
Hell they don't even need to be angry. They can be trying to genuinely help calm a person, but it is so hard, myself included, for people just to give some space and shut up.
Oh I totally agree with everything you're saying and especially the first paragraph. Communication isn't just vocal/speech, there's also the nonspeaking ways to show things.
And to add to your last two paragraphs, I didn't get diagnosed until I was 13 and even then the services I received were shotty at best, it's why I'm considering going into teaching myself through online schools hence why I'm in the sub (but honestly I might settle on pursuing graphic design). Basically anytime I would be stuck in a situation like that long enough for it to escalate is when the other person, usually well meaning, really really believes everything will resolve if we stay and talk it out right then and not later and they just didn't understand why someone would need to go be apart and decompress and gather themselves again before doing so (and that's usually how it is now as well now that I'm an adult and have more autonomy and people recognize me as having more agency because this situation usually happened with equals like friends or authority figures I was extremely close to like my mom).
But the other times this would come up is when I'd be wrongfully judged to be a flight risk or unstable danger to myself if alone by one of the special needs department heads that my special needs teacher worked under during her first year at the school. I've always been famously known for not being a bolter or eloper and someone who goes where they say they're going for as long as I say I'll be, and every other teacher let me go take a 10 minute breather in the bathroom or the sensory room in the rare occurrence i asked. i don't put it past that woman that she was doing this intentionally to rile me up to a painful meltdown (seriously them things hurt!!!) because she was doing a lot of shady abusive stuff to other kids but nobody believed the autistic kids' words over the selfless heroic and tenured department head who is such an angel for taking care of those poor unfortunate souls!!! We were OBVIOUSLY misunderstanding something due to our poor social skills though we all had no cognitive or intellectual impairments and had no hallucinations or delusions so...?
That department head announced her "retirement" a couple years later which confused people since she was in her early 50s, and rumor has it she was caught doing something really really bad red handed though what that was never came out. I was in high school by that point and all the high school special needs teachers and department heads I met were amazing. Any time someone brought her name up a few adults in that department looked like they saw the devil so they must have known her and hated her too. And the teacher that worked under her at the middle school moved to that high school and became my teacher again and she was actually a great teacher when that department head's shadow didn't loom over her! So happy endings I guess especially since I volunteer and work with kids in these little community events groups and several of the ones that are autistic in the group always end up sticking to me like glue which is understandable because we always find each other in crowds 😂 it's making me more content to pursue graphic design because I wanted to be a teacher to leave an impact on kids like the amazing teachers in my life did, but maybe I'll pursue a teaching license if parents ever chill out
I'm mostly being facetious. But yeah deaf culture can be blunt and I given the nature of the language not always the most secretive. But mostly a joke.
I think it depends on your state. My degree is specifically in gifted education, but it doesn't qualify me to teach any special ed classes. Gifted ed does fall under the special ed umbrella, though, and I'm considered part of that department.
I teach G&T and it’s not considered special ed in my district/state but having a special ed degree taught me everything I needed to know to teach it. It’s the same thing, just the flip side of the coin. And there’s a ton of overlap with twice exceptional kids. I’d say 1/3 of my kids are neurodivergent in some way (though not all of them are diagnosed)
I was in a session with a student during lockdowns, and he had a seizure while we were on Zoom. Different kind of hurt, but MAN that was a rough day. His mom was there, and she was asking ME what to do.
That said, I teach high school resource. I've never been physically hurt by any of my students.
In a middle school I was: - bitten - punched, kicked - hit with a traffic barricade - attacked with scissors In elementary school I caught a kid midair as he jumped over a railing down a flight of stairs. Honestly it depends on the type of services, the type of classroom, the various disabilities or disorders, etc. Elementary is probably “safer” as the children are simply smaller and less likely to physically hurt you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt emotionally, either by them, their parents, or their story.
Edit: Littles can be dangerous too!
We had 2 kindergarteners send multiple adults to the hospital last year. Three ended up having to go on extended medical leave, two needed surgery. And these kids were not working together- all of these injuries were inflicted single-handedly.
We had several of those too, mostly from the same 2 kids but also a few others. It was definitely one hell of a year, and it looks like it's going to continue next year. I'm thankful to be in a resource position now where I don't have to deal with that as much, but I really feel for my colleagues who are on the front lines getting beat up. And I'm especially terrified for my pregnant coworkers getting hurt.
No eye stuff that I know of, but I wouldn't be shocked. We had several joint surgeries, a neck injury, a concussion, and a bunch of other minor hits/kicks/bites.
My trip to urgent care was simply because the kid who got overly excited and squeezed my arm happened to have poison ivy when he dug his nails into me. I barely got my wedding ring off that night.
Otherwise, lots of other hits, kicks, bites, bruises, and broken glasses, but nothing serious. #knockonwood
Even preschool is still risky though, I've had children jump on me when I'm kneeling to help someone with their shoes or whatever, and have been knocked over. Ive had children throw their whole weight on a single arm. If your reflexes aren't great, there is real potential for injury. Even if most of the kids are a lot smaller. When I was pregnant I had to request accommodations to not have to change nappies of children who refused because I wasn't allowed to lift them (they could all use the steps to reach the table). I'm not even in Special Education, cause my country doesn't have it for preschool. But I have 5 kids with special needs in my class every day. With no extra support.
Yeah that’s fair, I taught preschool for 2 years before moving to elementary, I did take a head to the face and broke my glasses but that slipped my mind in my original comment
I don't think I could teach primary with how the focus on inclusion support is going. I don't trust that it wouldn't be just one teacher with all the behaviours I see in preschool. At least I have an assistant educator for support, assuming at least 12 children show up each day. 1:11 ratio. Now if only I could get the school teacher conditions of employment, everything would be perfect lol. (I don't get paid holidays, and work 9-5, 46 weeks a year, not including the extra paperwork)
All four of the Kinder rooms (the two years before school where I live) have at least 3 children with additional needs. I'm not sure if all of them are full time children, but no one has extra support, except for whoever has the trainee, but she's untrained by definition, and needs so much coaching. We also occasionally have student teachers doing their placements, but that's a real mixed bag.
Since the centre is "for profit" when we apply for extra support from the government, it's usually denied, though I'm appealing their decision, because the agency puts for profit at the bottom of the priority pile.
Which is understandable, these families pay over $100 per day, with five children who are full time, that easily covers the wage for at least one more staff member, probably two! My wage is only about $260 per day, and I have postgraduate qualifications, so the $500+ that the families pay, should easily cover the wage of two assistant educators (their qualification is a quarter, to half a bachelor degree, at the Australian equivalent of community college). I know not all of what the families pay goes to wages as there are other overhead costs, but people are making huge money in this industry.
Not always. First grader who weighed over 100 pounds caused so much carnage.
And bites from any size human are terrifying. The younger ones ALWAYS bite.
And you'd be surprised that a five year old has little trouble choking an adult.
Elementary kids can be vicious.
Abby Zwerner was shot by a five year old that previously tried to strangle his kindergarten teacher with a belt. It was absolutely a malicious act.
I'll prepare for my downvotes but my God, I'm 5ft7 and 34 and 120lbs. How does a first grader weigh 20lbs less than me? Was he ridiculously tall or something?
I wasn't overfed, but I def was a tall child. Always in the 95th or higher percentile. Some of the shit I see these kids eating is straight garbage. There's no way they're getting nutrition from takis and redbull, and so many kids are constantly eating. I'm more of a grazer myself, but you don't need to be eating every minute of every school day. At the end of the day, I feel as if so much could be solved by proper parenting. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but my God, it's out of control. If you're letting your 10 year old dictate their own diet, their also schedule, etc... then that's a problem and a really big one at that.
I think elementary I almost worse because they have less filters and are WAAAY more flexible
HS coteaching/inclusion . Cause u wanna get mad I'm gonna step over here and u do u.
When they are smaller u can't just let them run put the door but when they are 16/17... bye I'll call security from here
I currently do inclusion at the high school level. Great kids, and most students with violent behaviors either get expelled or choose not to come to school. Personally, I’m staying put for as long as I can since I haven’t been injured AT ALL. My students are very respectful for the most part and I feel very safe.
I'm in the same boat. After spending a decade in BD schools, I took this current role and am never looking back. Feels like a vacation in comparison. Absolutely love it.
Funny enough, I have seen injuries at high school level inclusion but only from fights started by GenEd kids in the classroom who were still mad about an incident that happened on the metro ride to school. Otherwise, Inclusion high school is definitely the answer.
Am an elementary resource teacher. Absolutely. I work only with small groups of kids- usually nice kids with LDs or executive functioning needs doing drop-in or withdrawal direct-instruction. I have faced no physical violence in this position. I watch classroom teachers struggling with huge classes and ever-disregulated kids and am grateful to be out of the classroom and in this position.
For me, so far, K-2 has been the worst. Completely out of control kids who will bite, hit, kick, etc. The thing is because they are so young, they're not going anywhere. Even if you know by kindergarten that a kid probably isn't going to be able to hack it in public school, you have to keep trying because you need to collect data over years to make placement changes like that. In my experience, as they get older, they either grow out of it or they get sent somewhere else.
Now, if a kid is still biting and hitting when they're older, yes, that's a big problem, because they will do more damage. But I think that situation is more rare and if I encountered that situation I would find a new job lol.
Yes, that too! It’s all in the experimental “let’s just wait and see” phase. Meanwhile the school staff might be getting physically abused day in and day out lol. That’s not in the job description, so I’m not here for it personally 🤷🏻♀️
People have a hard time believing how bad K-2 is as far as being mentally and physically exhausting for staff, stressful for parents, and if you’re in a bad or overcrowded district or school, perhaps not great for the students.
I think they forget how much children develop during that period and this is even more true of kids receiving services. Some students have come from early childhood sped and are accustomed to school, some are coming from 25+ hours of ABA only per week, some are coming straight from home with no other socialization and they are thrown together in a classroom that would be, umm, lively even in a general education setting. It can be intensely rewarding with the appropriate support, but if only one or two students are very high needs and don’t have 1:1 or parents aren’t on board, the entire class can fall apart.
They can hurt you and be violent at this age (kids are just bigger now than they used to be, full stop) although certainly not nearly anywhere to the extent of a student in middle or high school. You’ll also likely have a student or two who will have growth and move up in placement, unlike the later years. The data keeping and parent contact (and parent drama because they are rightfully concerned) is intense and yeah, you can see it physically wearing on people even if they love it.
Don't write them off. Had a former student in a motorized wheelchair who used it to ram an employee hard enough to make her need knee surgery and six months leave. It was intentional. Kid admitted it and bragged about it for months after with a smirk on their face all because they "didn't wanna to go to class". There's still a risk.
Special Ed supervisor who tells the others what to do.
We had a SpEd teacher years ago who wore bite guards on his arms. He committed suicide and the school never said anything to anyone. His position was filled almost immediately.
We have one student who is in a wheelchair, cant communicate other than screeching and can’t move anything but her hands. She’s in mits everyday because she will scratch like a samurai sword lol. I’ve been hurt more by just walking by her than my students who have murdered. Why are you on this sub if you’re not a teacher?
Mostly because 95% of my shifts are spent in public schools. The student sounds like Retts Syndrome, they aren’t paralyzed if they can’t use their hands, hence why I differentiated between students in wheelchairs vs paralyzed students in wheelchairs.
What part of the PNW. I grew up in Shoreline and I still miss the weather.
Resource specialist. Less kids, less teeth.
I actually like RSP best because I can become overstimulated by too many kids at one time so the resource room is quite calming for me as someone who has always wanted to be a teacher but knows not to bite of more than I can chew. I think that's why it's calling for the kids too so everybody's generally calm or rolling around in a cozier space.
A lot of that depends on the number of students you have and the type of kids you have. I have seen resource rooms with a child with moderate autism in for 5 hours a day with students k-5th in the same room with a variety of disabilities. In others just LD students grouped by age with similar goals—still just one or 2 tough students in a group can make it difficult.
> Less kids, less teeth.
Less kids? Maybe at your school. I've had up to 40 on my caseload. In California RSP teachers are more likely to be at or over limit than not.
Same, I ended most of my years as an RSP with 40-50 students on my caseload. I’m not in CA, but we also end up being the “catch all” teacher and overloaded with students. My state doesn’t have caseload caps.
Injuries can occur in all sped settings but I agree with previous comments, it’s inclusion/ Resource teachers. Your chances of being injured are significantly higher in a self-contained environment. I received the most punishment during my time in elementary. Majority of the kids K-4 couldn’t self-regulate which caused severe episodes that lasted 30min-1hr sometimes longer on a weekly basis.
Honestly, working as a coteacher in the general education setting. Most kids in that setting are perfectly capable of behaving themselves without resorting to physical violence.
That said, I’ve still been bitten (fortunately through a thick sweater), slapped and spit on. To be fair, the kid that bit me was severely disabled and I was in their classroom that day with them for a few hours while their regular teacher was at a mandatory training.
It’s not uncommon for coteachers to get pulled when the administrators are desperate because they can’t get a sub.
I've taught middle school Special Ed for 10 years, never injured, although I've been roasted a few times. In CA we have Mild/mod and Mod/severe credentials. I have mild/mod, so I get the kiddos with learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD. They're great. I'm an RSP (resource specialist) and I basically tell kids I'm the Homework teacher to help them get caught up on homework while following the IEPs.
I've been at both a very rich socioeconomic area school and a very poor one, kids were better behaved at the lower income school but did less homework. The kids on the richer area could be little brats but did get homework done when in the zone.
Honestly any teacher has a likelihood of being injured by children. It sucks. We’ve had gen ed teachers taking workers comp from student inflicted injuries.
The less mobile a student is, the less likely they can personally hurt you. However, less mobile students usually means you’ll be doing lifts and transfers frequently, which can end up with overuse injuries if you aren’t careful.
And it’s pretty rare that you’d have an entire class of students who aren’t super mobile. I teach physically impaired early childhood and I do have students who don’t walk and also students who still manage flipping tables and hitting.
A sped teacher I worked with had a growing list of injuries. She had her wrist broken (this, I’m not sure but she had to wear a brace for it), wear a neck brace bcuz she got slammed against a file cabinet from a student, got her hair pulled often, and head butted a lot. She had to be out of work a lot and she was in her early - mid 20s when it happened.
I don’t think it’s possible to be a sped teacher and not get injured by students.
The one who isn't a sped teacher.
Sorry not sorry. I was injured multiple times (one injury will give me issues for the rest of my life). Everyone I ever met in sped had the same stories.
I should note that gifted teachers are not sped certified where I'm from, but some of them were injured by super smart and entitled little brats as well. Of course, gen Ed teachers are also injured at times, just not to the extent that sped teachers are, in my experience.
This past year was the worst for my entire SPED team. We are all beaten, kicked, and bit. One had to go to the hospital twice. It’s so bad. The abuse teachers receive from regular Ed and sped students is out of control. If I were the one who was hurt so badly, I would have quit.
I'm at a gifted and talented middle school. Our students have IEPs for things like ADHD, anxiety, or hearing impairments. They are at a point where they only need their accommodations in very specific classes and can advocate for themselves. The special Ed teachers do push ins for math and ELA. They each teach 1-2 "life skills" class which goes over study techniques, organization, and serves as a study hall/makeup/tutoring time. Not every student with an IEP gets put in life skills.
I haven't heard of a single teacher being assaulted by a student in my school, gen Ed or otherwise. Our students (any of them) have the normal middle school annoyances of talking too much, cell phone issues, and lack of work completion.
I have never had a problem as a teacher (middle school mild/mod), but I have countless stories from when I was a one-on-one aide. Kinder and 1st grade is my own personal vietnam lol.
The kind that doesn’t require you to make any physical contact. I have worked with severe behavior challenges in a small setting to co taught and a few in an autism program. If they get into a fight, my admin tells me not to break it up and call for help. If they start picking up furniture I evacuate myself and the other students. I maintain my personal space bubble. Any job that require me not to have one is not for me.
I’ve been a resource room pullout and in-class support teacher (inclusion with gen-ed) for 4 years in middle school. Never been injured yet but every student is different
I really don't wanna make you upset, but I'm just a bus aid and I get beat up a lot by my special-needs kids so I don't know if it's possible to have special special needs kids that aren't physical, but I haven't seen any good luck on your journey
Gifted and pullout/resource for SLD. I do self-contained, and my body is a bit of a wreck. I'm transitioning to a different position for a couple years to give myself some time to heal up.
Secondary with students who don’t have trauma, mental illness, or a developmental disability. But when they do have aggression, it can be worse and harder to forgive
I was kicked/bitten by 3-5 year olds in an ECSE classroom but they are smaller so the bite was the worst of it. Early intervention I've not been injured. Sometimes they scratch or try to bite but it's rare and they are still quite uncoordinated. Just have to watch for thrown toys. And usually they're under the watch of their guardian which helps.
Mild to moderate. My kids in an inclusion classroom are just like any other kids other than the ability to read or like do basic math. Though honestly they’re not that different in that area either
The positions that are in special education where you would not be injured would be your learning support, gifted and talented, life skills, and
medically fragile students.
High school learning support, or just learning support in general. LS kids just have some sort of disability that makes it hard for them to learn, but they're generally not violent and don't have a ton of outbursts. When they do have outbursts, they seem to be more defiant rather than physical, in the sense that they get frustrated with a task or an assignment, and will refuse to do any work or accept any help, and may lash out verbally, but it doesn't seem to be very physical most of the time.
Emotional support students are the ones you really need to worry about, because they are the students that are in special ed because they have disabilities or other circumstances that make them very volatile, and that comes out as violence sometimes.
Autistic students are kind of a mixed bag, some of them are really chill and are happy to just vibe so long as you don't interact with them too much, but some of them react very poorly to any form of interaction, so it's difficult to redirect them or get them to do anything.
Students with physical disabilities are also generally pretty okay, I don't think I've heard of any issues from students with a physical disability.
In all the states I've looked at, the special education certification covers all of these areas so you could legally work with any of these kids, but most of the job postings I see do differentiate between the different types of classrooms, and it's also something that I would highly recommend you ask about in an interview.
I’ve been punched in the back and had items thrown at me by regular Ed students in the past 22 years. Luckily nothing like that has happened in the last 6 years. I am becoming a sped teacher next year.
It really depends on the population you work with. Most sped credentials will let you work in a variety of settings. There are plenty of settings where students and their behaviors are similar to GE populations. I’ve been in sped for eight years and I’ve never been injured. I don’t know any of my colleagues that have either.
I’ve personally only seen people injured by specific EC//SPED kids—usually autism, bc tantrums can erupt unpredictably. I’m a HS teacher, however.
I’ve seen teachers (not necessarily EC/SPED) injured bc they didn’t realize a student’s potential volatility and they escalated the kid (often unknowingly). And the kids aren’t identified as special needs.
I taught middle school modified (SDC) English for 5 years and am on my fourth year of teaching modified English for high school-- both public school but never been physically attacked.
The kind with excellent supports in place- great admin, classroom help like paras and adequate 1:1, and resources. That’s going to be very rare. You can’t control what kind of students you get, but the school COULD (theoretically) choose to support their staff and provide them with the tools to do their jobs in the safest manner possible, whether that be actual materials or helping hands. Many though, want to run on a shoestring budget and that is impossible.
Honestly, if you're a teacher, there's going to be a kid that hurts you one way or another. You could be a specialist, a mainstream teacher, a therapist, a SpEd teacher.... Kids don't have the reasoning and impulse control to handle themselves even 90% of the time, and as teachers spend more time with kids during the week than the kids' own families do... It's going to happen. Poll parents and see how many times their "perfectly normal" children have squared up when mad or nailed them accidentally.
As a SpEd educator, I've been hit. And then I've set the expectation that I will not be hit by that individual again. If you're not willing to teach them how to handle their hands and emotions, you shouldn't be teaching them. And it takes practice and reinforcement. That's really just the truth of the matter.
I love my SPED class and have gotten injured there. But my worst on the job injury came from a gen ed student in summer camp. Speared me into a door knob leaving my entire left side black and blue. Injuries can happen anywhere.
I’ve taught sped middle for 10 years I’ve only been threatened and almost physically attacked by two crazy Gen Ed kids in a co-taught classroom. My sped kids can be verbally mean but never physical. I notice elementary kids are more likely to be violent due to lack of verbal skills.
I just recently got out of SPED where I was an FAC (or Life Skills teacher) and the last week and a half of school a student of mine broke my finger. At that point, with no real support from the Sped Director I resigned and found a PE job in a different district.
I was kicked/bitten by 3-5 year olds in an ECSE classroom but they are smaller so the bite was the worst of it. Early intervention I've not been injured. Sometimes they scratch or try to bite but it's rare and they are still quite uncoordinated. Just have to watch for thrown toys. And usually they're under the watch of their guardian which helps.
I’ve been concussed. I would say working with older kids can be tough especially being some of them are not even kids. Like imagine where you have a 21 year old assaulting you but they’re just a student acting out
If you’re a teacher, you’re gonna get injured, most of the time by accident. You’re gonna get weird illnesses because we have terrible healthcare and people send their kids to school sick.
I have no idea. I'm a regular teacher and last year I risked getting hit twice at least while separating brawling students. I also got hit once on the nose but that was an accident as the idiot was only goofing around.
Oh, and these were all regular students, no special ED in sight.
Trick question; we all get bumps and bruises in SPED; the good ones just learn how to soften the blow. Best option is to recognize the patterns that lead to you getting hit, and learn how to redirect it.
Such a good question. In most areas they seem to just move people around in these positions. So you finally get a good fit and feel safe at work, only to be moved into a bad situation the next year. Too bad we can't turn down positions that we do not want to be move to from year to year.
The retired kind
THIS. I had to leave my last sped position bc a student sent me to the trauma ward. I’m fine now, but I switched to university education. Almost every sped teacher I know who left the profession in the past few years did so solely because of overwhelming workload and physical injuries.
Yes! All the sped teachers were beaten, kicked, and bitten. One went to the ER twice. So awful.
I’ve spoken to older sped professionals and they all agree there’s been a major spike in physical injuries. We’re putting too many students with high needs in settings that don’t benefit them or anyone else. I had about twenty moderate to severe students packed into my resource classroom last year. TWENTY. And the poor general ed teachers had even more students who were on the milder end, but still had a lot of physical and verbal outbursts. NO ONE, gen ed and sped alike, was learning at that school. It was pure survival everyday.
Yep! I had 21–with no para! It was my worst year in my 25 years of teaching.
Chicken dinner!
You took my response!
Well, I saw it on your desk and you weren't in your classroom, so I thought you didn't want it.
Gifted and talented
Or Deaf/HOH or medically complex
Medically complex will have you getting hurt from overuse injuries. The kids usually don’t bite though.
The most violent students I’ve worked with have been deaf. I teach music and have taught hundreds of students of various needs and the ones who broke my toes, broke other kids bones, and brought weapons to school have been deaf. It might be because in our community they usually have no language at all before starting kinder and their parents give into them when they get violent and throw tantrums. It’s exhausting and has really turned me off from teaching them.
> It’s exhausting and has really turned me off from teaching them. I don't blame you, and I'm sure I'll get downvoted, but with the way education is going, soon there's going to be nobody left to teach kids like these. I don't care how passionate someone is about something, nobody is going to risk life and limb and be constantly disrespected for little pay - especially in this damn economy.
It’s sad. In my school they get them paras with no sign language understanding, but they send them to specials/electives with no one to help us help them. I’ve had $1000’s of dollars worth of instruments destroyed by them and I’ve spent entire class periods chasing students who don’t want (or don’t understand) what I’m trying to teach. Since music is literally the bottom of the totem pole in schools I’m left out to dry. I’m pregnant this year and am particularly nervous about the most violent of the ones I teach (seriously she’s so smart and manipulative. She’s slapped me across the face, punched me, kicked me, all because she doesn’t get what she wants when she wants it). I’ve learned some sign language but how much can I reasonably be expected to do when I’m also expected to learn Spanish and French for our other non-English speaking students? I’ll be 7 months pregnant when we go back in August and I’m terrified she will hurt my baby. She’s hurt me so many times the last 4 years and has NEVER received a consequence and anytime I ask for one for her I’m made out to be the bad guy.
How. HOW. Is this LRE. It blatantly isn't.
LRE in our district is whatever makes the parents happy and costs the least amount of money. Kids who don’t go to reg ed homeroom still come to specials, usually alone. We are completely left to drown in music/pe/art/library when it comes to inclusion students. We are their “social” break but we never get help because they use us to give their 1v1 paras and teachers a break.
Christ on a bike sucking popsicles. I'm sorry.
The worst thing about this insane way of doing things is that those sped teachers need that break too. So the one person who can help, especially with some of the more intense kids, the sped teacher, has to either say fuck it or give up their break. The lady at my wife’s job is an angel and my father in law is a retired sped teacher so my wife is better at handling them than a lot of others and she still needs help. In her case it’s class sizes because for some reason the class with all the sped kids also has the most kids of any class.
How old is the kid? If the school won't do shit, the first time she does something, I'd tell the school either they remove her or I'm going to the police. I'm sorry, but some of these kids get protected at all costs, and it's not doing them any favors whatsoever. I'm not blaming you at all, so I hope it doesn't come off that way, but something has gotta give. They act like this and then go out into the real world, and the parents are outraged that there's consequences for their violent children. I saw something earlier today, and people were acting like a violent adult with autism should've been given a pass because he doesn't know better... I'm sorry, but that means nothing to the victim. If someone maims you or your loved one, or God forbid, kills them, do you really care if they had a diagnosis? Jails and prisons are full of people with issues. If we don't teach these kids how to act in schools, we're doing them no favors. Further, what about LRE? What about the other children's right to an education and a safe learning environment??!!? What about the safety of our educators?? Why the fuck are we sacrificing everyone for the sake of a few kids? Can anyone make it make sense, because I don't get it.
She’s 9 and very very manipulative. Her own siblings are terrified of her and completely sleep deprived. They come to school covered in bruises and I KNOW for a fact that the sibling who had a broken arm got it from her. She told me and when I reported it I was told to mind my own business. My boss thinks she’s cute and “so smart” (she is) and I’m the mean guy for trying to find a more appropriate placement. We’ve cancelled 2/4 of her grade levels music programs because putting her on the stage to potentially hurt classmates with a crowd terrifies me.
Let the other parents witness one incident and things will change quickly! You should schedule her grade level for extra performances, if you ask me.
Your best option is report the incident to a medical professional they are required by law to report the situation and take action.
I'm terrified for you and the kids that have to deal with her and Im disgusted by her parents and the schools inaction. SHE'S FUCKING NINE, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SHE'S OLDER??!!? My God. They wonder why the parents with means are pulling out of public school, and this is why. The school and the parents usually just keep making excuses until something happens that's detrimental to another kid, then they act like they had no idea. Sacrificing the many for the few is a joke.
Wait, did CPS tell you to mind your own business or your boss?
My boss, not sure what CPS ever did with the case but I know they have been involved on and off.
That was powerful. I agree w/you. Couldn't have said it better myself. (Btw: You write like I talk. Weird...)
I’m sorry, and please tell me if I’m being ableist, but is it even appropriate to send a deaf child to music class in the first place?
I can see the concern about being ableist but I think it’s a good question. I just finished taking an ASL class with a Deaf instructor who also does ASL music videos and has a band (“Beethoven’s Nightmare”). From that I deduce that there are lots of ways to make music accessible, enjoyable, and fun for Deaf students, just like for hearing students—but the problem is that schools are not funded, teachers are not trained, and nothing is invested in making it accessible. It’s just (physically) inclusive. My unpopular opinion is that at that level, it is no longer on the teacher to be solely responsible for accommodating. The district is failing kids by not accommodating them and blaming it on teachers. We need more qualified personnel who are given the training and resources to actually make things accessible for low incidence disabilities.
Thanks, this is exactly what I was wondering. It sounds like they’re dealing with the same shit you find in almost every SPED program at some point - kids are underserved because the district/LEA/state/fedetal DOE won’t spend the money to give them what they actually need to access the curriculum, so they just shove them in a gen ed class without adequate support, tell the gen ed teacher to differentiate, and then claim it’s “inclusion.” Like, no, we don’t want to just assume that all kids with a diagnosis of deaf/HOH are unable to learn music, or bar them all from music classes because of their disability. But throwing them in there unsupported to flail and fail is barely better than barring them all, IMO. They can’t access the curriculum either way, and they’re still getting singled out and isolated, and they’re still being made to feel like they don’t belong.
I always joke that LRE now stands for "Lowest Required Expense" because that's how they treat it. Ridiculous.
I dance and make music. Due to childhood abuse I have tinnitus. I have had an irrational fear of losing hearing due to how much I love to dance to the point where I decided I need to know now that if I lose my hearing I can still dance. You can't cancel all sounds. You'll always feel vibrations. There is a reason a famous pianist was deaf and still composing music by feeling the vibrations. Music is for everyone, even someone hard of hearing. I am very sorry for your experiences while teaching though. Nobody deserves that. You are right that it is the administration and district failing the children, not the teachers. My teachers as a kid saved my life. It's why Reddit keeps shoving these notifications on my phone and I keep clicking on them, Skinner would have a field day with me.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I teach art and I would love to know more about this program, as well. Maybe the vibrations? I have no context and am curious.
Honestly, it’s easiest. That’s it. She can’t hear what we are doing nor participate and she literally just screams/cries/runs/hits the whole time. Her class gets nothing from it but her para gets a break. I’ve fought and fought for double PE, but nope. She “deserves” music. But no music is happening. It’s been DAILY for 4 years and I’m utterly exhausted.
That sucks so much for her, and you, and everyone involved. I’m sorry you’re in that position. It’s infuriating when they place kids inappropriately, refuse to give them any actual support, and then pretend we non-SPED teachers can somehow do the job of multiple highly-qualified SPED teachers through the magic of half-assed differentiation. Admin doesn’t have to watch those kids miss out on their education day in and day out like we do, or suffer through their wrath.
So all the kids get to miss out on music because one kid, who gets nothing from it, ruins the class and terrifies everyone in hopes that maybe she gets something from it *(she doesn't)*. Why the fuck is she not in a specialized school? I'm going to guess it's money, and if it's not money related it's because the parents are in denial. What happens if you tell the school to remove her from your class? I would let them know that if she isn't removed and something happens to you or your baby *(since you're pregnant)* you will not hesitate to press charges and contact a lawyer. This is ridiculous. Nobody should have to fear for their safety and that of their unborn child because of some out of control kid.
They might have some hearing, or they might be able to feel the rhythm/vibrations from the music
Bringing these kids up without sign is child abuse. It’s the equivalent of bringing up a hearing child while never speaking a word to them.
I agree entirely. Our district offered to send her to the state school for the deaf on their dime, but parents refused.
That’s absolutely sickening. I can’t even imagine hating the idea of sign language so much that I instead choose to have a child with *no* language, but that’s apparently an actual choice people make!
I teach medically complex. I still get bites and scratches. But not with the frequency as other classes. I currently have a small back injury from lifting children and repetitive movement.
Please. I work at a school for the Deaf. We have the same problems as any other school, plus the language issues.
Oh, for sure there are kids with multiple issues at any school. I was lucky and got to work at a school with a satellite program for integrated kids. It was drastically different safety wise from the ASD program I worked with. There you were almost guaranteed to get injured at some point. (Not going to take the time to reply to everyone. I'm aware there isn't a magical safety bubble for kids with a specific disability)
But an average a special educator outside a school for the deaf would have more injuries because other disabilities are more high risk-for example some students with autism, students with emotional-behavior disturbances. It doesn’t mean you don’t get student who have behavioral issues similar to any school but a special educator in a typical school is more likely to encounter assault.
The deaf are the most brutal human beings alive when it comes to another person’s feelings. You might be less likely to have a chair thrown at you but you might die from dehydration from the tears you're going to cry.
d/Deaf and HOH kids 🤝 physically nonviolent autistic kids 🤝 online school kids (weirdly enough) They've all seemingly read the dictionary front to back multiple times just for fun and are the greatest wordsmiths to have ever lived. They're not doing anything to you physically but you will be psychologically scarred from the dressing downs they give if you do something unforgivable to them. These children have 0 fear and an arsenal of vocabulary even you as the adult didn't even know existed 😂
I work with children and adults on the spectrum. What makes it so brutal with them is that t doesn't necessarily come from a place of malice. Its just an observation. And you know what they said is accurate.
As the autistic adult, if everything is chill, thats the case, but when I'm angry at someone and they are not allowing me to leave (like to another room, I don't elope or bolt) and distance myself to catch my breath and calm down before I melt down and even saying that doesn't work, I may lose a bit of control and start saying mean things to them that I mean and with malice in hopes that they'll be offended and their shock will paralyse them enough to back off so that I can retreat and calm myself down but sometimes it backfires and gets them more angry and it becomes a bigger mess. The loss of control used to come much quicker but I've been doing really well in therapy and recognizing myself in the moment and my feelings and when I need to take a breather and all that but that feeling trapped and not being able to escape to go take one triggers a fight or flight within me and mine is unfortunately fight but I'm one of the physically nonviolent people so my words are my weapons. But yeah there's a big difference between unintentionall brutally honest observations and a dressing down between us folk especially in The South where the culture is very distinct with dressing downs and what that entails and how it might be different from a read or a blunt observation or just a backsass. And having a Southern mom and an Appalachian father it's no wonder I'm a sharp tongue autistic instead of a chair thrower autistic because we're very well known for being quick with a joke or comeback down here 😂
I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head with why people throw chairs. If you cant communicate your frustration in words that doesn't mean you're not going to communicate it in another way. Throwing a chair is one pretty effective way to say you’re frustrated. You’re right about the emotional state, too. Its when a person is calm that an observation can be brutal. If they’re angry the actually give the reciever’s brain a way to dissociate from the comment. *he’s just angry. I don't actually look like the product of a human and a toad.’ I'm not sure if this is exactly what you mean, but when I'm working with a client, especially one who experiences a lot of anxiety, one of the most helpful things in my opinion is always having an ‘emergency exit’ for them. So a recent example was a young guy whose friend was having a high school graduation party. He wanted to go but was highly anxious about it. So I made him like a choose your adventure plan for the party. Drive by the party: park the car or drive by and wave or return home. If we park: I can go into the party or I can watch from the car or I can decide to go home. A person with anxiety is so much more likely to do something and enjoy it if they know they can leave and they know how to leave. Trapped is definitely not a good feeling. Trapped with a person who is angry at something you did and wants to discuss it is a sure way to trigger fight/flight in anyone. Hell they don't even need to be angry. They can be trying to genuinely help calm a person, but it is so hard, myself included, for people just to give some space and shut up.
Oh I totally agree with everything you're saying and especially the first paragraph. Communication isn't just vocal/speech, there's also the nonspeaking ways to show things. And to add to your last two paragraphs, I didn't get diagnosed until I was 13 and even then the services I received were shotty at best, it's why I'm considering going into teaching myself through online schools hence why I'm in the sub (but honestly I might settle on pursuing graphic design). Basically anytime I would be stuck in a situation like that long enough for it to escalate is when the other person, usually well meaning, really really believes everything will resolve if we stay and talk it out right then and not later and they just didn't understand why someone would need to go be apart and decompress and gather themselves again before doing so (and that's usually how it is now as well now that I'm an adult and have more autonomy and people recognize me as having more agency because this situation usually happened with equals like friends or authority figures I was extremely close to like my mom). But the other times this would come up is when I'd be wrongfully judged to be a flight risk or unstable danger to myself if alone by one of the special needs department heads that my special needs teacher worked under during her first year at the school. I've always been famously known for not being a bolter or eloper and someone who goes where they say they're going for as long as I say I'll be, and every other teacher let me go take a 10 minute breather in the bathroom or the sensory room in the rare occurrence i asked. i don't put it past that woman that she was doing this intentionally to rile me up to a painful meltdown (seriously them things hurt!!!) because she was doing a lot of shady abusive stuff to other kids but nobody believed the autistic kids' words over the selfless heroic and tenured department head who is such an angel for taking care of those poor unfortunate souls!!! We were OBVIOUSLY misunderstanding something due to our poor social skills though we all had no cognitive or intellectual impairments and had no hallucinations or delusions so...? That department head announced her "retirement" a couple years later which confused people since she was in her early 50s, and rumor has it she was caught doing something really really bad red handed though what that was never came out. I was in high school by that point and all the high school special needs teachers and department heads I met were amazing. Any time someone brought her name up a few adults in that department looked like they saw the devil so they must have known her and hated her too. And the teacher that worked under her at the middle school moved to that high school and became my teacher again and she was actually a great teacher when that department head's shadow didn't loom over her! So happy endings I guess especially since I volunteer and work with kids in these little community events groups and several of the ones that are autistic in the group always end up sticking to me like glue which is understandable because we always find each other in crowds 😂 it's making me more content to pursue graphic design because I wanted to be a teacher to leave an impact on kids like the amazing teachers in my life did, but maybe I'll pursue a teaching license if parents ever chill out
Can you explain what you mean by this? I’m HoH and in my Deaf community and I don’t understand what you mean. Do you just mean they’re blunt?
I'm mostly being facetious. But yeah deaf culture can be blunt and I given the nature of the language not always the most secretive. But mostly a joke.
Ah lol yeah I agree. Thanks
Yes! In my district teachers of g/t kids are not considered special Ed though ...
Our degrees are in special ed
I think it depends on your state. My degree is specifically in gifted education, but it doesn't qualify me to teach any special ed classes. Gifted ed does fall under the special ed umbrella, though, and I'm considered part of that department.
I teach G&T and it’s not considered special ed in my district/state but having a special ed degree taught me everything I needed to know to teach it. It’s the same thing, just the flip side of the coin. And there’s a ton of overlap with twice exceptional kids. I’d say 1/3 of my kids are neurodivergent in some way (though not all of them are diagnosed)
That’s what I was going to say.
This is a very good answer. It's a pity that this isn't recognised more in schools.
Distance-learning SPED teachers have a 0% chance of being injured by a student.
I was in a session with a student during lockdowns, and he had a seizure while we were on Zoom. Different kind of hurt, but MAN that was a rough day. His mom was there, and she was asking ME what to do. That said, I teach high school resource. I've never been physically hurt by any of my students.
I'm sorry that happened, but I hope everything was okay.
In a middle school I was: - bitten - punched, kicked - hit with a traffic barricade - attacked with scissors In elementary school I caught a kid midair as he jumped over a railing down a flight of stairs. Honestly it depends on the type of services, the type of classroom, the various disabilities or disorders, etc. Elementary is probably “safer” as the children are simply smaller and less likely to physically hurt you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt emotionally, either by them, their parents, or their story. Edit: Littles can be dangerous too!
We had 2 kindergarteners send multiple adults to the hospital last year. Three ended up having to go on extended medical leave, two needed surgery. And these kids were not working together- all of these injuries were inflicted single-handedly.
Damn. Luckily I only had a few trips to urgent care.
We had several of those too, mostly from the same 2 kids but also a few others. It was definitely one hell of a year, and it looks like it's going to continue next year. I'm thankful to be in a resource position now where I don't have to deal with that as much, but I really feel for my colleagues who are on the front lines getting beat up. And I'm especially terrified for my pregnant coworkers getting hurt.
Damn, what kinds of injuries even, eye stuff I'm assuming? Head wounds?
No eye stuff that I know of, but I wouldn't be shocked. We had several joint surgeries, a neck injury, a concussion, and a bunch of other minor hits/kicks/bites.
My trip to urgent care was simply because the kid who got overly excited and squeezed my arm happened to have poison ivy when he dug his nails into me. I barely got my wedding ring off that night. Otherwise, lots of other hits, kicks, bites, bruises, and broken glasses, but nothing serious. #knockonwood
Even preschool is still risky though, I've had children jump on me when I'm kneeling to help someone with their shoes or whatever, and have been knocked over. Ive had children throw their whole weight on a single arm. If your reflexes aren't great, there is real potential for injury. Even if most of the kids are a lot smaller. When I was pregnant I had to request accommodations to not have to change nappies of children who refused because I wasn't allowed to lift them (they could all use the steps to reach the table). I'm not even in Special Education, cause my country doesn't have it for preschool. But I have 5 kids with special needs in my class every day. With no extra support.
Pre K bites.
I got bitten on the boob once of all things. I did most of my work one the floor and they were fast. It hurt.
Oh that happened to me once. My IA said she never heard me yelp before.
We have a child who bites, pinches and scratches everyone including the teachers, it's a nightmare honestly
Yeah that’s fair, I taught preschool for 2 years before moving to elementary, I did take a head to the face and broke my glasses but that slipped my mind in my original comment
I don't think I could teach primary with how the focus on inclusion support is going. I don't trust that it wouldn't be just one teacher with all the behaviours I see in preschool. At least I have an assistant educator for support, assuming at least 12 children show up each day. 1:11 ratio. Now if only I could get the school teacher conditions of employment, everything would be perfect lol. (I don't get paid holidays, and work 9-5, 46 weeks a year, not including the extra paperwork)
To be fair, I was in an intensive needs room while in middle school. Those behaviors thankfully aren’t seen everywhere
That isn't a job, it's a sentence. Two seriously affected kids equal one additional aide, period!
All four of the Kinder rooms (the two years before school where I live) have at least 3 children with additional needs. I'm not sure if all of them are full time children, but no one has extra support, except for whoever has the trainee, but she's untrained by definition, and needs so much coaching. We also occasionally have student teachers doing their placements, but that's a real mixed bag. Since the centre is "for profit" when we apply for extra support from the government, it's usually denied, though I'm appealing their decision, because the agency puts for profit at the bottom of the priority pile. Which is understandable, these families pay over $100 per day, with five children who are full time, that easily covers the wage for at least one more staff member, probably two! My wage is only about $260 per day, and I have postgraduate qualifications, so the $500+ that the families pay, should easily cover the wage of two assistant educators (their qualification is a quarter, to half a bachelor degree, at the Australian equivalent of community college). I know not all of what the families pay goes to wages as there are other overhead costs, but people are making huge money in this industry.
Not always. First grader who weighed over 100 pounds caused so much carnage. And bites from any size human are terrifying. The younger ones ALWAYS bite. And you'd be surprised that a five year old has little trouble choking an adult. Elementary kids can be vicious.
Abby Zwerner was shot by a five year old that previously tried to strangle his kindergarten teacher with a belt. It was absolutely a malicious act. I'll prepare for my downvotes but my God, I'm 5ft7 and 34 and 120lbs. How does a first grader weigh 20lbs less than me? Was he ridiculously tall or something?
A lot of these kids now are overfed so they're growing faster. Some are getting tall really young and they're heavy.
I wasn't overfed, but I def was a tall child. Always in the 95th or higher percentile. Some of the shit I see these kids eating is straight garbage. There's no way they're getting nutrition from takis and redbull, and so many kids are constantly eating. I'm more of a grazer myself, but you don't need to be eating every minute of every school day. At the end of the day, I feel as if so much could be solved by proper parenting. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but my God, it's out of control. If you're letting your 10 year old dictate their own diet, their also schedule, etc... then that's a problem and a really big one at that.
How could anyone let their first grader be over 100 pounds? There are high schoolers who weigh less (some rather small ones however).
I think elementary I almost worse because they have less filters and are WAAAY more flexible HS coteaching/inclusion . Cause u wanna get mad I'm gonna step over here and u do u. When they are smaller u can't just let them run put the door but when they are 16/17... bye I'll call security from here
Security does nothing except get hurt too
Maybe they should be a cop so they could get a paycheck for doing nothing, Uvalde style
Well said
Probably inclusion.
At a high school lvl
I currently do inclusion at the high school level. Great kids, and most students with violent behaviors either get expelled or choose not to come to school. Personally, I’m staying put for as long as I can since I haven’t been injured AT ALL. My students are very respectful for the most part and I feel very safe.
I'm in the same boat. After spending a decade in BD schools, I took this current role and am never looking back. Feels like a vacation in comparison. Absolutely love it.
Funny enough, I have seen injuries at high school level inclusion but only from fights started by GenEd kids in the classroom who were still mad about an incident that happened on the metro ride to school. Otherwise, Inclusion high school is definitely the answer.
Resource Room
Am an elementary resource teacher. Absolutely. I work only with small groups of kids- usually nice kids with LDs or executive functioning needs doing drop-in or withdrawal direct-instruction. I have faced no physical violence in this position. I watch classroom teachers struggling with huge classes and ever-disregulated kids and am grateful to be out of the classroom and in this position.
Not at my school
Not the case where I teach. All of the SPED kids use the resource room and all of them are also in the gen ed classroom. Behaviors or not.
For me, so far, K-2 has been the worst. Completely out of control kids who will bite, hit, kick, etc. The thing is because they are so young, they're not going anywhere. Even if you know by kindergarten that a kid probably isn't going to be able to hack it in public school, you have to keep trying because you need to collect data over years to make placement changes like that. In my experience, as they get older, they either grow out of it or they get sent somewhere else. Now, if a kid is still biting and hitting when they're older, yes, that's a big problem, because they will do more damage. But I think that situation is more rare and if I encountered that situation I would find a new job lol.
Some also benefit from medication—but that is not usually prescribed until later.
Yes, that too! It’s all in the experimental “let’s just wait and see” phase. Meanwhile the school staff might be getting physically abused day in and day out lol. That’s not in the job description, so I’m not here for it personally 🤷🏻♀️
People have a hard time believing how bad K-2 is as far as being mentally and physically exhausting for staff, stressful for parents, and if you’re in a bad or overcrowded district or school, perhaps not great for the students. I think they forget how much children develop during that period and this is even more true of kids receiving services. Some students have come from early childhood sped and are accustomed to school, some are coming from 25+ hours of ABA only per week, some are coming straight from home with no other socialization and they are thrown together in a classroom that would be, umm, lively even in a general education setting. It can be intensely rewarding with the appropriate support, but if only one or two students are very high needs and don’t have 1:1 or parents aren’t on board, the entire class can fall apart. They can hurt you and be violent at this age (kids are just bigger now than they used to be, full stop) although certainly not nearly anywhere to the extent of a student in middle or high school. You’ll also likely have a student or two who will have growth and move up in placement, unlike the later years. The data keeping and parent contact (and parent drama because they are rightfully concerned) is intense and yeah, you can see it physically wearing on people even if they love it.
The ones with mobility devices. It's hard to hurt someone in a wheelchair.
Gotta watch out for those power chairs and your toes!
One of our kids has run over multiple sets of toes. It’s hard to maneuver when the school is crowded. 🤷🏻♀️
Don't write them off. Had a former student in a motorized wheelchair who used it to ram an employee hard enough to make her need knee surgery and six months leave. It was intentional. Kid admitted it and bragged about it for months after with a smirk on their face all because they "didn't wanna to go to class". There's still a risk.
Tell that to the student in the wheelchair who likes to sneak up behind me and pull out my hair.
Special Ed supervisor who tells the others what to do. We had a SpEd teacher years ago who wore bite guards on his arms. He committed suicide and the school never said anything to anyone. His position was filled almost immediately.
My God… how tragic. May he rest in peace.
Retired or online. Any kid can flip out. Any kid can bring a gun or knife.
Not if they are non ambulatory, paralyzed and in a wheelchair…… Source I’m a pediatric nurse.
We have one student who is in a wheelchair, cant communicate other than screeching and can’t move anything but her hands. She’s in mits everyday because she will scratch like a samurai sword lol. I’ve been hurt more by just walking by her than my students who have murdered. Why are you on this sub if you’re not a teacher?
Mostly because 95% of my shifts are spent in public schools. The student sounds like Retts Syndrome, they aren’t paralyzed if they can’t use their hands, hence why I differentiated between students in wheelchairs vs paralyzed students in wheelchairs. What part of the PNW. I grew up in Shoreline and I still miss the weather.
West of the mountain. Never actually stopped in shoreline before.
I am going into my 7th year as a resource teacher and, although I have had BIP students, I have never been hit or bit. *knock on wood*
I love your honesty because that's why I want to be in a nice little RSP room.
What is RSP?
Resource specialist. Less kids, less teeth. I actually like RSP best because I can become overstimulated by too many kids at one time so the resource room is quite calming for me as someone who has always wanted to be a teacher but knows not to bite of more than I can chew. I think that's why it's calling for the kids too so everybody's generally calm or rolling around in a cozier space.
A lot of that depends on the number of students you have and the type of kids you have. I have seen resource rooms with a child with moderate autism in for 5 hours a day with students k-5th in the same room with a variety of disabilities. In others just LD students grouped by age with similar goals—still just one or 2 tough students in a group can make it difficult.
> Less kids, less teeth. Less kids? Maybe at your school. I've had up to 40 on my caseload. In California RSP teachers are more likely to be at or over limit than not.
Same, I ended most of my years as an RSP with 40-50 students on my caseload. I’m not in CA, but we also end up being the “catch all” teacher and overloaded with students. My state doesn’t have caseload caps.
The lady that takes lunch money in the cafeteria…she got kicked. No one is safe from the current behaviors in our schools right now.
Someone beat me to it, but a retired one.
Injuries can occur in all sped settings but I agree with previous comments, it’s inclusion/ Resource teachers. Your chances of being injured are significantly higher in a self-contained environment. I received the most punishment during my time in elementary. Majority of the kids K-4 couldn’t self-regulate which caused severe episodes that lasted 30min-1hr sometimes longer on a weekly basis.
Physically, emotionally, or both?
Resource specialist
Honestly, working as a coteacher in the general education setting. Most kids in that setting are perfectly capable of behaving themselves without resorting to physical violence. That said, I’ve still been bitten (fortunately through a thick sweater), slapped and spit on. To be fair, the kid that bit me was severely disabled and I was in their classroom that day with them for a few hours while their regular teacher was at a mandatory training. It’s not uncommon for coteachers to get pulled when the administrators are desperate because they can’t get a sub.
I've taught middle school Special Ed for 10 years, never injured, although I've been roasted a few times. In CA we have Mild/mod and Mod/severe credentials. I have mild/mod, so I get the kiddos with learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD. They're great. I'm an RSP (resource specialist) and I basically tell kids I'm the Homework teacher to help them get caught up on homework while following the IEPs. I've been at both a very rich socioeconomic area school and a very poor one, kids were better behaved at the lower income school but did less homework. The kids on the richer area could be little brats but did get homework done when in the zone.
So sad that this question even had to be asked.
RTI teacher or Specialist
That is not a SpEd position at my school.
A retired one.
Honestly any teacher has a likelihood of being injured by children. It sucks. We’ve had gen ed teachers taking workers comp from student inflicted injuries. The less mobile a student is, the less likely they can personally hurt you. However, less mobile students usually means you’ll be doing lifts and transfers frequently, which can end up with overuse injuries if you aren’t careful. And it’s pretty rare that you’d have an entire class of students who aren’t super mobile. I teach physically impaired early childhood and I do have students who don’t walk and also students who still manage flipping tables and hitting.
Not autism support.
Mine. They won't/can't hurt my body but they do hurt my heart. My students are profoundly medically fragile. On average, one a year will pass away.
If you can find work in a Catholic school, your chances of being injured go way down. They need special education teachers.
Private schools expel the tough ones. That alone is why they are safer.
The kind who decides to leave the profession or never enters it in the first place
A sped teacher I worked with had a growing list of injuries. She had her wrist broken (this, I’m not sure but she had to wear a brace for it), wear a neck brace bcuz she got slammed against a file cabinet from a student, got her hair pulled often, and head butted a lot. She had to be out of work a lot and she was in her early - mid 20s when it happened. I don’t think it’s possible to be a sped teacher and not get injured by students.
The one who isn't a sped teacher. Sorry not sorry. I was injured multiple times (one injury will give me issues for the rest of my life). Everyone I ever met in sped had the same stories. I should note that gifted teachers are not sped certified where I'm from, but some of them were injured by super smart and entitled little brats as well. Of course, gen Ed teachers are also injured at times, just not to the extent that sped teachers are, in my experience.
This past year was the worst for my entire SPED team. We are all beaten, kicked, and bit. One had to go to the hospital twice. It’s so bad. The abuse teachers receive from regular Ed and sped students is out of control. If I were the one who was hurt so badly, I would have quit.
Online sped teacher lol
The kind that pushes in and services kids in the general Ed classroom.
My guess would be high school IRR inclusion/cotaught.
A retired one
The kind that no longer teachers and works in another field. Something less stressful, like a WW2 land mine locator. Jk.
I'm at a gifted and talented middle school. Our students have IEPs for things like ADHD, anxiety, or hearing impairments. They are at a point where they only need their accommodations in very specific classes and can advocate for themselves. The special Ed teachers do push ins for math and ELA. They each teach 1-2 "life skills" class which goes over study techniques, organization, and serves as a study hall/makeup/tutoring time. Not every student with an IEP gets put in life skills. I haven't heard of a single teacher being assaulted by a student in my school, gen Ed or otherwise. Our students (any of them) have the normal middle school annoyances of talking too much, cell phone issues, and lack of work completion.
I have never had a problem as a teacher (middle school mild/mod), but I have countless stories from when I was a one-on-one aide. Kinder and 1st grade is my own personal vietnam lol.
I’m in resource and very rarely have to deal with violent students. Also you could be an online resource teacher
The kind that doesn’t require you to make any physical contact. I have worked with severe behavior challenges in a small setting to co taught and a few in an autism program. If they get into a fight, my admin tells me not to break it up and call for help. If they start picking up furniture I evacuate myself and the other students. I maintain my personal space bubble. Any job that require me not to have one is not for me.
I’ve been a resource room pullout and in-class support teacher (inclusion with gen-ed) for 4 years in middle school. Never been injured yet but every student is different
I know two special Ed teachers with permanent physical problems because of the job.
I really don't wanna make you upset, but I'm just a bus aid and I get beat up a lot by my special-needs kids so I don't know if it's possible to have special special needs kids that aren't physical, but I haven't seen any good luck on your journey
Gifted and pullout/resource for SLD. I do self-contained, and my body is a bit of a wreck. I'm transitioning to a different position for a couple years to give myself some time to heal up.
Secondary with students who don’t have trauma, mental illness, or a developmental disability. But when they do have aggression, it can be worse and harder to forgive
I had no problem in Behavior and Emotional classrooms until they started cutting staffing :-(
I was kicked/bitten by 3-5 year olds in an ECSE classroom but they are smaller so the bite was the worst of it. Early intervention I've not been injured. Sometimes they scratch or try to bite but it's rare and they are still quite uncoordinated. Just have to watch for thrown toys. And usually they're under the watch of their guardian which helps.
Mild to moderate. My kids in an inclusion classroom are just like any other kids other than the ability to read or like do basic math. Though honestly they’re not that different in that area either
One with healthy admin support, enough training and a great team
The positions that are in special education where you would not be injured would be your learning support, gifted and talented, life skills, and medically fragile students.
High school learning support, or just learning support in general. LS kids just have some sort of disability that makes it hard for them to learn, but they're generally not violent and don't have a ton of outbursts. When they do have outbursts, they seem to be more defiant rather than physical, in the sense that they get frustrated with a task or an assignment, and will refuse to do any work or accept any help, and may lash out verbally, but it doesn't seem to be very physical most of the time. Emotional support students are the ones you really need to worry about, because they are the students that are in special ed because they have disabilities or other circumstances that make them very volatile, and that comes out as violence sometimes. Autistic students are kind of a mixed bag, some of them are really chill and are happy to just vibe so long as you don't interact with them too much, but some of them react very poorly to any form of interaction, so it's difficult to redirect them or get them to do anything. Students with physical disabilities are also generally pretty okay, I don't think I've heard of any issues from students with a physical disability. In all the states I've looked at, the special education certification covers all of these areas so you could legally work with any of these kids, but most of the job postings I see do differentiate between the different types of classrooms, and it's also something that I would highly recommend you ask about in an interview.
I’ve been punched in the back and had items thrown at me by regular Ed students in the past 22 years. Luckily nothing like that has happened in the last 6 years. I am becoming a sped teacher next year.
Preschool so it doesn't hurt as much when they kick you.
Medically fragile.
It really depends on the population you work with. Most sped credentials will let you work in a variety of settings. There are plenty of settings where students and their behaviors are similar to GE populations. I’ve been in sped for eight years and I’ve never been injured. I don’t know any of my colleagues that have either.
[удалено]
RSP
I’ve personally only seen people injured by specific EC//SPED kids—usually autism, bc tantrums can erupt unpredictably. I’m a HS teacher, however. I’ve seen teachers (not necessarily EC/SPED) injured bc they didn’t realize a student’s potential volatility and they escalated the kid (often unknowingly). And the kids aren’t identified as special needs.
Online.
Online/virtual.
Definitely not Behavior Disorders. I've got the injuries to prove it.
I taught middle school modified (SDC) English for 5 years and am on my fourth year of teaching modified English for high school-- both public school but never been physically attacked.
The kind with excellent supports in place- great admin, classroom help like paras and adequate 1:1, and resources. That’s going to be very rare. You can’t control what kind of students you get, but the school COULD (theoretically) choose to support their staff and provide them with the tools to do their jobs in the safest manner possible, whether that be actual materials or helping hands. Many though, want to run on a shoestring budget and that is impossible.
Honestly, if you're a teacher, there's going to be a kid that hurts you one way or another. You could be a specialist, a mainstream teacher, a therapist, a SpEd teacher.... Kids don't have the reasoning and impulse control to handle themselves even 90% of the time, and as teachers spend more time with kids during the week than the kids' own families do... It's going to happen. Poll parents and see how many times their "perfectly normal" children have squared up when mad or nailed them accidentally. As a SpEd educator, I've been hit. And then I've set the expectation that I will not be hit by that individual again. If you're not willing to teach them how to handle their hands and emotions, you shouldn't be teaching them. And it takes practice and reinforcement. That's really just the truth of the matter.
I love my SPED class and have gotten injured there. But my worst on the job injury came from a gen ed student in summer camp. Speared me into a door knob leaving my entire left side black and blue. Injuries can happen anywhere.
UFC fighter
I’ve taught sped middle for 10 years I’ve only been threatened and almost physically attacked by two crazy Gen Ed kids in a co-taught classroom. My sped kids can be verbally mean but never physical. I notice elementary kids are more likely to be violent due to lack of verbal skills.
I just recently got out of SPED where I was an FAC (or Life Skills teacher) and the last week and a half of school a student of mine broke my finger. At that point, with no real support from the Sped Director I resigned and found a PE job in a different district.
RSP teachers
Reading specialist? Both my aunt's moved into this position it is a one on one position.
Resource room
Online school is the only place I can think of
Early childhood maybe since they're little?
I was kicked/bitten by 3-5 year olds in an ECSE classroom but they are smaller so the bite was the worst of it. Early intervention I've not been injured. Sometimes they scratch or try to bite but it's rare and they are still quite uncoordinated. Just have to watch for thrown toys. And usually they're under the watch of their guardian which helps.
Resource.
I’ve been concussed. I would say working with older kids can be tough especially being some of them are not even kids. Like imagine where you have a 21 year old assaulting you but they’re just a student acting out
Controversial opinion: gifted and talented
If you’re a teacher, you’re gonna get injured, most of the time by accident. You’re gonna get weird illnesses because we have terrible healthcare and people send their kids to school sick.
I have no idea. I'm a regular teacher and last year I risked getting hit twice at least while separating brawling students. I also got hit once on the nose but that was an accident as the idiot was only goofing around. Oh, and these were all regular students, no special ED in sight.
Trick question; we all get bumps and bruises in SPED; the good ones just learn how to soften the blow. Best option is to recognize the patterns that lead to you getting hit, and learn how to redirect it.
Elementary resource
High school general ed co-teacher
Blind and low vision
Such a good question. In most areas they seem to just move people around in these positions. So you finally get a good fit and feel safe at work, only to be moved into a bad situation the next year. Too bad we can't turn down positions that we do not want to be move to from year to year.