Special Needs Children in Public School with no special care

[joseph921]

So we just got this new kid in our school this week.  Turns out he's a special needs kid with some
ADHD.  He seemed fine at first, asks questions, wanders around the hallways, and seemed curious about things.  But the last 2 days he's gotten uncontrollable and unreasonable.  Most of the native korean teachers can't seem to deal with him, and obviously I can't cuz I don't speak Korean.

He breaks into every teacher's room to play on the computer when we are not around, he went into our main office and got on the PA system to scream, he killed one of our chickens by throwing a knife at it and other objects in the pen...now the remaining chickens are all huddled in the corner scared of everyone, he also splashed milk at me several times getting it all over my face, and jacket, and he spit at me TWICE (once on the back of my jacket, another time on the back of my dress pants), also swung his backpack at me, and hit me in the head during lunch time.  He's 9, and I wanted to physically assault him today.

Now i'm worried for myself, because I don't want to touch him, only for him to complain to the school or his parents....so im planning to ignore him, run away from him, lock my door, and avoid him at all costs FOR MY SAFETY for fear of what i might do to him if he keeps this up.

Arent there any special schools these kids should be going to who wiill get the attention and  treatment they need instead of of allowing him to just be part of the public system where nobody here knows what to do with him?

[siamagoo]

There's a special needs girl at my school, and I'm amazed at the support she gets. She goes to English class with her classmates (although she just sits quietly at the back), but she also has her own classroom with her own teacher to help her.

So Korea does have the systems in place to help students. It may be a question of money (my school has plenty) or perhaps they don't recognize ADHD as a disability.

It sounds to me like this is worth making some noise over - for you and for the student.

[Bittens5]

In my school there are a few special needs students and there is no special attention/help that they receive. My school also doesn't have a lot money, so maybe that is an issue as well.

 When I first arrived, I had a student in my class sawing at the desk with an exacto knife (I guess you'd call it) - I went to ask him to stop, and my CT pulled me away.  Apparently, not too long before this, he stabbed a kid in the face with a pair of scissors.  Caused face disfiguration and partial blindness.  But the kid is still allowed in school and to be in possession of sharp things, sitting next to other students.  Unbelievable.

I also have other special needs students, but they don't pose any threats to other students, and the teachers just ignore them.  Like really ignore.  It's a sad, I think, especially since they do try (at least in English, as I won't ignore them).

What I was told by my CT, although I'm not sure it's true - is that if parents ask for a special aid, then it shows that there is a problem with the child, hence the family, and it brings shame on everyone.  The family is embarassed, and the child has a stigma for the rest of their lives.  Therefore, it's better to ignore the whole problem.

[eieayo]

My school (rural, ~70 students) has a lot of special needs students because it is located near a group home for them and so there are a lot of staff and resources dedicated to keeping them engaged and helping them. For the most part, my non-special needs kids treat these students with respect and try to help them and it has even become part of my teaching method to make the kids review the English we've learned by "helping" the special needs kids in the class.

But even in this environment, with a pretty accepting environment for kids with special needs and teachers who studied specifically to help these type of students, we have some that slip through the cracks and mostly, from what I've gleaned, is due to parents not wanting for whatever reason to let their kids get this help. We have one girl who obviously needs extra help as she really doesn't get half of what is going on and as a result has a really bad temper. I've begged the other kids to be patient and I try really hard to keep her from hitting them or messing with their stuff and try to keep the other kids from yelling at her. Some other students obviously have some form of learning disability, as some days they can barely keep their eyes open, and some have problems controlling their tempers, and I think they get some help but maybe aren't as targeted as the ones with developmental disabilities. Or maybe they are, I am not really 100 percent sure since most of what I know about this is from my own observations.

My school is not rich, but it is small, so I think a lot of these students get a lot more help than they would at another school just by virtue of the fact that there is more of an opportunity even in the regular classes to give them some one-on-one attention. Still, in my after school classes, and I have no idea how this is determined, but most of the special needs kids aren't in there but some are, and I suspect this might have something to do with parents but who knows. That is a lot trickier because there is no one in there that speaks Korean and on occasion it escalates, but when that happens I call in my co-teacher or get someone from the office to come in and have a mini-group therapy session and I won't let them leave until everyone is calm. I also send a lot of kids out to get drinks of water just to keep other students from getting involved.

More than anything, I think these kids have a lot of frustrations that are just exacerbated by a hyper competitive environment that wasn't designed to have a place for them.  I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to stuck in school all day where you barely have any idea what is going on and most people just ignore you. Of course, keep your distance if the kid has scissors or acting violently, but I've found that making it a point to smile at them and chit-chat at lunch or in mornings, when they're calm, even if nothing is actually communicated, helps me with discipline in class as maybe they feel like I am on their side. Then again, none of my students have sharp things at school.