Every morning, I watch my son fail to comply with the rules. He’s a nine-year-old boy with Down syndrome and he rarely conforms to expectations. He’s not great at standing in line, so he either charges ahead to be first onto the bus (then lingers once inside, blocking everyone), or else waits until everyone else has boarded, and then has to be urged up the stairs. Once inside, he likes to talk to the bus driver, say hello to friends, and maybe dance in the aisle to the music in his head, before finally choosing a seat. Rushing him doesn’t work. Yelling doesn’t work. Physically compelling him onto the bus just heightens resistance. What works is patience, understanding from authority figures and fellow classmates alike, and a lot of positive reinforcement. He’s learning to move more quickly, to follow rules, and to be safe.
My family is very privileged. We live in a nice suburb that we specifically selected based on the quality of its special education. Even so, we’ve had a problem or two, but no one in my son’s school has responded to his non-compliance by hurling him to the ground and pressing his face into the floor, handcuffing him, or threatening him with criminal charges.
Around the country, disabled children, especially those of color, are not so lucky.
Calm response to non-compliance is a necessary part of educating and caring for all children, but the importance of using positive reinforcement takes center stage in situations involving children with disabilities. Neither fear nor pain can force a child to be less disabled or to suddenly become neurotypical. Unfortunately, in many school districts and institutions, the use of restraint, seclusion, and, too often, pain and trauma, have become the default response to disabled children who don’t perfectly obey commands. American schools have become one site of a cult of compliance, a cult that penalizes disabled students most obviously, but in fact puts every child at risk.
[For more of this story, written by David M. Perry, go to http://www.psmag.com/health-an...ng-disabled-children]
Comments (0)