Severe behavioural meltdowns

Today has been a difficult day for our students. Unfortunately the main issue today is the lack of staff we have had recently, due to sickness, which means they can't have their usual staff for lessons. 

2 students in particular have struggled greatly. They both have decorated their classroom and staff with pens. We do pick our battles so we werent too bothered but we did call for support because it was starting to get out of hand. They didnt want their staff so they were in a room together by themselves which they know they arent allowed but refused to have staff in. In the end it ended up with this:

The first student was breaking, throwing and smashing stuff in the classroom, screaming, swearing and in tears. 

The second student was hurting staff so was put into a positive hold. They then started shouting and trying to bite staff. They then started to head bang and bite themselves and pull their hair. In the end they were on the floor hyperventilating, sweating, bruised and with a swollen head. This went on for 1 hour. 

We gave them the help and first aid they needed once they were calm enough but we hate seeing our students struggle. What else could we have done to help? We tried our best and in the end they were happy and calm to a point. We are going to let the parents know after debrief. In all honesty, we've never seen these 2 students struggle this much before. 

Thanks for letting us rant on but we want to hear your views and opinions on what we could've done better so we can improve.

Parents
  • UPDATE: One of these particular student's behaviour has changed dramatically. It is the second one I was talking about. For months they have been calmer, more relaxed, and well behaved except the few minor issues. Since I first posted this, they have been a lot more challenging.

    The littlest thing makes them tick, and their response is more severe and harder to deal with. The past week they have been screaming, swearing, ripped something off the wall and tried pulling the wall apart near wires so had to be hold for safety. They seem a lot more angry, upset and frustrated. We have spoken to them and they have explained that they don't trust us staff which we totally understand. 

    We've had to call parents a lot because their behaviour becomes unmanageable at times. They hurt themselves when things go wrong so have to be held for everyones safety because they are very aggressive. We don't know what is going on except the trust we've lost so we don't know how to help as such. Parents don't have a clue and blame us so we are on our own unfortunately. 

    If anyone has any tips, we are very thankful. 

  • Does your school use the Team Teach training? It's a very good system and will help identify triggers and find less threatening solutions.  Every child is different though, and every relationship is different, so each situation has to be looked at by those who know them best.

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