Straight out of the WTF files, 7-year-old student
Joseph Anderson (pictured) is traumatized because he was handcuffed at his school, thrown in to an ambulance and then sent to a local hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
When Joseph, a special education student who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, didn't like the color of an egg he was painting, he became upset.
School staff reportedly told him to calm down, but Joseph allegedly jumped on to one of the tables and continued his tantrum.
Here, the story gets murky: Joseph says he repeatedly said, "I just want my Mommy," but an unnamed source said the little boy was waving scissors and cursing.
Either way, by the time Joseph's mother,
Jessica Anderson, arrived at Queens elementary school
P.S. 153 from her job in Manhattan, her son had already been forcibly transported to
Elmhurst Hospital Center, where she then learned from a nurse that her child had been handcuffed:
"I was crying. I broke down," she said. "They know that my son is [in] special ed. It's like they're trying to get rid of him, and it worked because I'm not sending him back there."
Describing her son's state, Anderson said:
"He was crying and saying, 'I want Mommy.' Why handcuff him? Why get the cops involved? He's only 7."
Ever since the incident, Joseph, who is speech delayed and is said to have emotional problems, haphazardly wets his pants and cries if he sees or hears an ambulance or the police:
"If he hears an ambulance, he runs under the bed and screams, 'They're going to get me,'" said the single Mom. "He's really traumatized. I don't let him watch the news anymore, because if he sees cops, he cries."
Still,
City Education Department Spokeswoman
Marge Feinberg maintains they made the right decision to cuff the kindergartener:
"The school tried to defuse the situation and then called for outside assistance when there was a concern the child would harm himself or others."
And the
NYPD had this to say:
"[Joseph was] acting in a threatening manner."
But all I can think about are those pairs of plastic scissors my children use and have brought home from school -- you couldn't cut yourself with those scissors even if you tried.
I completely understand that kids have gotten out of hand in schools. What with the
Columbine shootings, adolescent tantrums aren't what they used to be. Now, instead of just practicing fire drills, my children also practice "Intruder Drills" with their peers to protect against emotionally dysfunctional shooters.
But we are talking about a 7-year-old, who even if he brandished a plastic, blunted-edge scissor, only broke down and begged for his mommy.
If I were Anderson, I would sue. I would sue until each adult present and the policemen who actually handcuffed him were penniless. What? We really can't restrain a single-digit child anymore? As if he needed restraining. He sounds like he just needed some quiet time with the school counselor so that he could explain how he was feeling and discuss better behavior for next time.
After all, isn't he in special ed? Doesn't the school have people on staff -- if not within the classroom -- to deal with children who have special needs?
Or are they just getting this little black boy ready for a life of prison? You tell me.
Because last time I checked, we were supposed to support and build up our children, not treat them like hardened criminals who have hurt somebody.
If Joseph were mine, I'd surely get him therapy, but on my own, when he got scared, I would hold him in my arms and kiss him tenderly until his worries slipped away. I'd look him in those big brown eyes and tell him each day that he is precious ... and loved ... and safe. And then I'd remind him that he is going to be somebody great one day.
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Comments: (190)
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By: ADMR on 4/21/2011 5:06PM
STRAIGHT Talk Indeed - SUREly Needs...Therapy - Old News.
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By: Andrew on 4/21/2011 6:57PM
And if the kid had injured another child, his mother would be complaining that the school didn't do enough to control him.
And if the kid had fallen off the table and gotten hurt, his mother would be suing the cash-strapped school district for every dime she could get.
And in ten years when this kid is waving a knife at a cop and gets SHOT, his mother will STILL be looking for somebody to blame.
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By: Liz on 4/22/2011 6:33PM
His mother wasn't the one who wrote this article. She's not pressing charges; so why are you blaming her? She did nothing wrong. Her child has developmental problems...that means that by sending him to school in the Special Education program is enabling him to be a criminal someday? I call complete BS on everything you said. How dare you! Do you know anyone with developmental problems? Do yourself a favor and go volunteer to work with someone like that. They simply need to be heard; I highly doubt a seven-year old wants to hurt anyone. The author of the article was right...if he was in the special education program, then he should have had the counselor or a teacher in the program talk to him. Shame on you for blaming someone who takes the time to love someone a little more difficult to deal with.
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By: Anne Theresa on 4/22/2011 7:39PM
It's absurd that the teacher and aid couldn't get control of a 7-year-old by just putting their arms around him and holding til he calmed down. My 60-yrar-old sister is a Special Ed teacher of 10 to 12-year-olds. Most of her students have severe emotional problems. If she and her aid can handle kids having a tantrum I don't see why these teachers couldn't.
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By: Demoguy on 4/22/2011 8:11PM
If, if, if...if cows could fly we would get sh!t in our eyes.
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By: Guest on 4/22/2011 9:45PM
Agree, Andrew--you know nothing about children with developmental issues, and your thinly-guised comments are suggesting that somehow this is another story about someone unnecessarily going against the system for some trumped-up reason...I also smell a little racism on your part however, I'll overlook that obvious character flaw that screams of your ignorance and tell you that you are WRONG....anybody with half a brain knows that children with attention issues have low levels of frustration--I know, because my son is one of them. He is 11 now and doing quite well, but for years I had to put up with teachers and school aids and unskilled, underpaid workers telling me that my son had "a listening problem," and "what's wrong with him?" There was one incident that still makes me angry to think about it in which the counselors at his YMCA after-school program set him up to make a choice of an activity to participate in (this program employed teens with zero child development skills to watch over the kids) and then when my son chose, they told him "no, you can't do that." When he got upset, they made fun of him. When I got there to pick him up, my son was still very upset. I laid into the program director like a house of fire and they pretty much knew what time it was after that and never let anything like that happen again. But back to this woman and her son--you have no idea what you're talking about. The child was upset...all kids have bad days, including Special Ed kids. if his mother was on the way and they could not calm him until she got there, then they are worthless in their positions and should be dismissed. The very notion that he was "waving a pair of scissors," excuse me, have you ever seen the kind of scissors Kindergartners use? Those little round-nosed things that barely cut paper? Are you kidding me? A threat? You need to call in a police officer and traumatize this poor child, take him away in handcuffs because why? Anyone who agrees with this is not a part of the solution, they are part of the problem. Children respond to loving kindness and understanding--what happened to this child is nothing sort of horrifying. If that happened to my son, I'd make sure that they paid BIG TIME for their incredible lack of intuition and bad judgment.
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By: Tanya on 4/23/2011 11:34AM
You are absolutely right! Until you've been in a classroom and witnessed a child in outrage, you have no right to speak on the matter!
Emotional children, when in a state rage, have no sense of reasoning and their strength is UNBELIEVABLE! After their episode, they usually have no clue regarding what just happened. Now, had the school restrained this child and he became injured, mom would be ready to sue. School followed procedure. What we need to question is what is so wrong with our state of naturing and nuturing?
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By: PEGGY on 4/23/2011 5:15PM
hello... have any of you critics ever tried to 'control' a screaming kid waving a scissor around? and on top of a table or desk yet? Probably not. Did it ever occur to you that the other kids and yes, there would be other kids in the classroom, would have been petrified?. The kid posed a serious danger to himself, the other kids, and the teachers. Please take some time to get a brain and think before you comment. Oh yeah, I am the parent of a former special ed kid who was more than a handful at times. More than once I was called in to help deal with him. More than once the police were called but ONLY after the teachers and the aides efforts didn't work . Gratefully, most of the time the teachers were able to manage him. The special ed teachers make heruclean efforts to work with these all too often violent kids BEFORE they call in the authorities. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. What you critics have to say if one of those other students got cut or stabbed? Or if the teacher got stabbed ? or the aide? Try working with these kids before you run off your uneducated and foolish mouth. So he's only 7? Big deal! He has to learn that certain behaviors are not tolerated because those behaviors are dangerous. God help us all.
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By: ceanf on 4/23/2011 10:22PM
way to go andrew. you have proven yourself to be a true racist. bravo. feel better about yourself now? d
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By: ceanf on 4/23/2011 10:22PM
@tanya
'their strength is unbelieveable'
really? a 7 year old child with super human strength? mmm interesting. not even a full grown man would be able to restrain these incredibly strong, mutant children capable bending steal rods and smashing bricks!
get real tanya. and if you are in the educational profession, and dealing with special needs children, and you cant handle a upset 7 year old, then maybe you should think about finding a new job... or switch to teaching older, regular students. because you obviously dont have what it takes, mentally or physically.
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