05/21/03

VICKI McCLURE
News staff writer
 

A Jefferson County schools task force created to primarily study employee assaults by special education students has determined personnel need to be taught how to better manage children with aggression-prone disabilities.

The group noted in its draft report the training would help workers know how and when to adjust their responses to behavioral outbursts as well as their legal obligations and options under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Court and law enforcement officials should continue to be consulted on a case-by-case basis regarding the appropriateness of criminal prosecution, the task force suggested.

Parents should also play a larger role in managing behavior by understanding the full scope and nature of their child's disability and participating in the development of their child's education plan.

The superintendent and school director should be notified of each assault as well as the head of special education if the incident involves a disabled student, the task force of educators, parents and others recommended.

Schools officials should also inform one another about the behavioral problems of students progressing through the system.

Lastly, the group emphasized that the school system should adequately fund the proposals to ensure change takes hold.

The Jefferson County Board of Education formed the task force after a dispute earlier this year: A union representative and four employees told of assaults by autistic special education students going unpunished; administrators replied federal law limited how they could discipline autistic children, whose disability can include poor verbal communication and aggression.

Four or five of the school systems' 5,400 special education students hurt employees each year, administrators say.

The school board is to vote on the recommendations at its meeting Thursday morning.

Representatives from an employees' union and an autistic organization had mixed reactions to the report.

Vi Parramore, president of the Jefferson County American Federation of Teachers, and Meredy Hogue, executive director of the Autism Society of Alabama, praised the school board for creating a task force and applauded the call to fund training of faculty and staff.

Parramore faulted the task force for not asking law enforcement officials to review all assault cases, not keeping injured employees informed of actions taken in response to a complaint nor providing adequate alternative placements for seriously disruptive students.

"My heart goes out to autistic kids," Parramore said. "Sometimes the school setting is not equipped to deal with kids who are so violent that their needs can't be met."

Hogue emphasized that autistic students who act aggressively may be conveying distress in the only way they know how. Teaching these children how to communicate either verbally, through sign language or with pictures would prevent behavior problems, she said.

After the discipline dispute became public, Hogue said parents inundated her organization with calls expressing hurt and anger that the neurological disorder had been stereotyped with aggressive behavior when those with autism experience a wide range of symptoms.

Hogue hoped that any employee training would accommodate that variation

"One behavior management program for one child may not work for another child," Hogue said. "There is no cookie-cutter way to teach all children especially those with special needs."