Protecting the rights of pupils with autism when meeting the challenge of behaviour

Accessible Summary

• Pupils with autism are often physically handled in schools without teachers realising that this can be distressing for them.
• Many teachers do not know about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• Teachers need support with developing their understanding of how pupils experience being handled.
• It is important that the rights of disabled pupils are recognised and protected.

Summary

‘Positive handling’ has become a popular intervention within education and other services in England in the management of behaviours that challenge. This paper uses a vignette of an observation of the handling of children with autism as a starting point for consideration of whether this practice can ever really be experienced as positive or whether it is often little more than a mechanism of control that disregards the rights of disabled children and young people. All schools are mandated under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to protect the rights of disabled pupils but to date there has been very little engagement by teachers with this agenda. This paper identifies some of the rights of pupils that are negated through current practice and evaluates what support Prouty’s principles of pre-therapy from the field of counselling might offer teachers with developing a rights based agenda.