This notice is for anyone that registered or tried to pay for a seminar online between March 10-April 24, 2012. WordPress had a glitch in the program and the registration never made it to our inbox after you clicked the “submit” button.

If you registered or paid for a seminar between March 10 – April 24, 2012, please re-register. Don’t worry about double registering, we’ll take care of that on our end.

Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience.

If you have any questions, call Joy Ann at 845-255-4031.

Question:

We have a student that is head butting his desk while seated. What is the best approach to restrain the student in this situation?

He will also head butt the staff when they attempt to restrain him.

Answer:

You do not mention the age of the level of functioning of this student.  For this answer we assume you have already tried less intrusive strategies to interrupt the behavior.

These are some of your options:

1. For an older child or adolescent, you can use a standard PRT initiated from behind and over the seat back.  You may also want to add another adult to help keep his body from pressing forward toward the table top with an arm; keeping his back pressed backward and into the seat back.  If you cannot prevent his body from pressing forward and his head is coming in contact with the table top, allow him to lean forward (while remaining in a PRT) and use the cushion and some manual stabilization to protect his head and the head of the PRT person from impact forces.  This is the identical strategy that you should use if the student was being held in the “Neutral Position” on the floor.  As an additional precaution, you may want to get a cushion to place between the front of his head and the desk and a second cushion, if necessary to place between the back of his head and the person performing the hold. You can get a “stadium cushion” from one of the sporting good stores. They are made out of vinyl and are perfect for this purpose.
2. For a younger child, you can use a “Modified PRT for Smaller Children” initiated from behind and over the seat back.  The arm in front will be able to keep him pressed backward and into the seat back.   If you cannot prevent his body from pressing forward and his head is coming in contact with the table top, allow him to lean forward (while remaining in a Modified PRT) and use the cushion and some manual stabilization at the student’s temples to protect his head and the head of the PRT person from any impact forces.