Teacher Makes 7 Yr Old Hit His Head with Drumsticks
May 4, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
The 7 year old that this happened to does not have autism but so many other details of this story echo things that happened to Charlie. From the May 4th New York Times:
MANCHESTER, Mo. (AP) — A music teacher who twice ordered a seven-year-old pupil to hit himself in the head with drum mallets will not return to the Parkway School District next year.
The incident happened on February Ninth in teacher Paul Provencio’s music class at Carman Trails Elementary School in suburban St. Louis.
State officials say the 36-year-old teacher intended the head-banging as a lesson to Justin Barricklow about hitting the drums too hard.
Head-banging as a lesson?
This story especially troubled me because suburban St. Louis is where Charlie was born and I have had St Louis on my mind because Charlie’s 10th birthday is on May 15th. Manchester, Missouri, is not far from the hospital that Charlie was born in……… we lived right off of Manchester Road (Highway 100). It was six years ago that Jim and I packed up our green station wagon, I took my place beside Charlie in the back seat, and we left the Midwest for New Jersey and its schools. And it was in the small rented house off of Manchester Road that Charlie started to head-bang (we had seen this behavior only a few random times before).
After settling into life in New Jersey, Charlie at first did well. When he was six going on seven, the head-banging started to occur more and more. In the spring of 2005, Charlie’s head-banging had become the main point of contention between us and the school district of the town we used to live in: At first the district said they could address it via an outside consultant, then they said they could not and insisted that Charlie be sent out of district. When we refused the placements offered, very serious contention ensued and we had to keep Charlie at home—-find another school—-move, ultimately…….
So when I see the words “head-banging,” I catch my breath and my heart clutches for a moment.
Maybe I shoot too low, but the fact that Charlie has this behavior under control is the main reason that Jim and I can say now, life is good. Not because Charlie is mainstreamed with his same-age peers, not because he can has some amazing savant-ish skill, not because he is recovered or indistuinshable.
Charlie doesn’t hit his head any more. When he gets upset, we and his teachers, are learning how best to help him through his anxiety, and I think he senses that we understand. He is a great kid who faces so many struggles every day—-to remember to tell others that he is starting to feel upset, for one thing—and tries so very hard.
But I think I will always shiver when I see those two words.
I was a student in the Parkway school district. I actually got ‘kicked out of the district’ by a certain principal. At one point in berating me, while telling me he was kicking me out, he grabbed my shoulders with force, then shook me VERY hard as he/she continued to spew out verbal venom at me. After she/he was finished, I stepped back, collected myself and politely informed him/her that the school board would be very interested in hearing the manner in which he/she placed his/her hands on me. At that point, my dismissal from the school district was of course dropped and I was free to go about my way at that school from then on.
yikes! The words head banging give me shivers too. I don’t think Patrick went about it in exactly the same way as Charlie…it was a regulatory thing though. He used to bang when he got up in the morning and then before bed often to the point of hurting himself but his day (or night) could not go on until he was finished.
Charlie sometimes banged while still waking up in his bed and also shortly before bedtime—-at those transitional moments—–but he does not do it anymore?
I’m a certified band director from the state of Louisiana. My house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and I now live in Westmont, IL. I still can’t find a band director job. I’ve never touched a child or done anything inappropriate. I’ve taught for 10 years and treated all of my kids as if they were my own . I don’t get it. Every day you hear of these teachers sexually abusing students, physically abusing students, mentally abusing students…but a normal, highly qualified, honest, moral and experienced band director who would never dream of doing something like that to a child, can’t get hired. Do I have to do something like that to get a job? If so, I don’t ever want to teach again. It does seem that more and more whacky people are doing terrible things to kids and they can get hired as teachers. What’s wrong with this world?
Cam ee, from what you and former parkway grad wrote, something’s very wrong, indeed. And we need to right it.
Yeah, I am also a music teacher/bando/etc. – I don’t think I’ve *ever* seen that technique of teaching, not in my 30 years doing this…..it really makes you wonder…
Cam ee – are you over 30? Do you have over a Bachelor’s degree? Do you have more than 5 years experience? Are you a woman? If you said yes to any of the above, the only place you can get a job is the city. It’s called age, sex, or salary discrimination. All the schools want nowadays are new teachers, so they don’t have to pay them. Welcome to the club….