Protecting Children From Themselves
Written by Hammer
Filed under: Administrators, K-6, People Involved, School Grade Level, School Safety Issues, Students
USE THE WRAP CONTROL TO PROTECT SMALL CHILDREN IN YOUR CLASSROOM
I’m going to be putting together a Disruptive Student Management Seminar for a handful of teachers this summer, so I thought I would share a DSM technique designed to safely subdue and restrain small children who go ballistic in the classroom and whose actions are also threatening the safety of the classroom.
The Wrap Control is a simple technique that is designed for controlling small children who are acting out or have lost their temper. The Wrap is applied by simply turning the child on his or her axis until the teacher is now behind the child. The teacher can now grab the child’s left elbow (or, right, up to you) with the teacher’s right hand and the right elbow with his or her (teacher’s) left hand. The teacher can now cross the student’s arms and pull the child close. The technique can be enhanced by the teacher sitting on either a chair or the floor and crossing his or her feet against the child’s to ensure that the child cannot kick.
There are three key elements of this technique. First, the teacher will not have to exert much force once the elbows have been trapped. Pinning the elbows against the student’s body and pinning them to the middle of the body will disengage the student’s advantage of upper body strength. Second, the teacher should always be conscious of an enraged student’s natural tendency to head butt. I would advise the teacher to take extra caution and make certain his or her head is turned sideways.
Finally, immediately begin verbal assurances to encourage the child to chill out. Assure and reassure him/her that everything is going to be fine. De-escalate using soft tones, making sure to slow everything down – your pace, your volume and your physical movements (Two key De-Escalation Principles: Slow It Down and the Rule of Minus-1, which I have written about often in this blog).
One caveat: Please avoid saying “Calm Down!” The imperative nature of these words invariably draw a negative reaction, which is the last thing you want at this point (“Calm Down!” almost always engenders a totally opposite affect). Plus, believe it or not, the student often believes he or she is doing the best he or she can to keep calm under trying circumstances.
Until My Next Post, Stay Safe.
Hammer
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