Posted By J. Robin Gatenby
Has anyone any thoughts/idea/experience in dealing with the risks associated with staff being "assaulted" (kicked, bitten, punched, etc) by children that have a defined medical condition, such as autism?

I am trying to find some realistic, practical and acceptable control measures to prevent the staff being injured!!

Thanks

Robin

Posted By Dave Daniel
My wife works as a Paediatric physio, so has these issues as well as low level manual handling problems - children are treated at floor level in play therapy, and disabled children may react unexpectedly during handling. We've had numerous discussions on this theme.

One issue of note is that there is an option for children to be "statemented" which requires a statement of educational need and associated support to be produced.

Many of these statements are I understand rather vague and lack objectivity and specific commitment. I also understand that educational risk assessments seem to be also not heavily focused on these types of issues, probably because they are poorly understood by "outsiders".

I advocated that such statementing and production of "care plans" is actually beneficial and should be very specific because it can encompass a risk assessment and enable a package of support to be specified, and that even where a legal "statement" is not considered necessary, application of such principles is desirable.

From a clinical viewpoint, clinicians are increasingly encoraged to move to justify their intervention and establishing and specifying packages of support is important and necessary.

I would advise you work with the system, integrate risk assessments into existing procedures and systems and make these more objective and useable, if you are in a position to do so.

Posted By Son of SkyWalker
One issue that has to be overcome is the resistance in reporting these issues using appropriate forms. There is a fear of stigmatising the children e.g. in a school setting.

One method I have used to try to increase the reporting, therefore gaining a better insight of the problem, is to record these as behavioural incidents. This lets the BI's be viewed and responded to on their own instead of being swallowed up as violent incidents. Trends can be identified and resources, including H&S resources, targeted as required.

This can be very effective but it relies upon the incidents being reported in the first place.

Son of Skywalker

Posted By Kieran J Duignan
Robin

The degree to which you engage with this risk management challenge depends on how much you are going to invest in appreciating the 'state of play' in managing autism.

Very creative work is being done by consultants through 'Acceptance and Commitment Therapy' (ACT) and the associated form of 'third wave' behaviourism.

I believe you would find Tony Balacz and others in this field supportive. If you try to trace them through Google and Yahoo and have difficulty doing so, you are welcome to give me a call on 020 8654 0808, 9 through 5.