What restraints do you find the you use the most?
I was trained years ago and I am sure there are more effective and safer methods of holding my children. I really only regularly have to hold Michael and Ruthie. I only hold them when they are attacking me, another person, themselves, or are destroying (expensive) property. The issue I am having is that I am getting hurt lately. If I hold them flat on the floor with me at their shoulders and their arms at their side, they kick me in the back and pinch me to the point of bleeding on the hands or side. I occasionally do a basket hold but they are able to squirm out of my arms by almost dislocating their shoulders. I have come up with one on my own that is me on my knees over their rear end with their hands in a position you see officers do. I am not putting any pressure on their rear ends and it works fabulously until my legs fall asleep after about 20 minutes or someone sees me and thinks I am crushing my child. It seems the best for both of us except my poor legs.
I got hurt again today. My neck this time and I can't turn it to the left. Thank you Ruthie. Cyr did enjoy video taping it today and we will be sharing it with Ruthie tonight. She will be quite surprised and ashamed at how awful she treats me. I would be happy to put it online here but her camera is awful and you can't make anything out due to the dark. I can tell you all you are missing is a bunch of "I hate you." "You are the meanest mom" I want to go live with my real parents" You are so fat" "You are not popular" "I'm telling so and so that you hurt me" "I will kill you" and "You are hurting me" over and over.
I have tried to look online for training but can't seem to find any. I can't live with these children without holding them, we would be making many trips to the hospital each week. I can't wait to try Risperdal with Ruthie, I think it will help her tremendously.
About Me
- Tudu
- Deep South, United States
- I am the mother of 10 children, 6 are part of a large sibling group we adopted through foster care in 2006, 2 are our grown foster daughters, 2 are from independent infant adoptions in 2001 and 2008. Every one of them have their own issues to work through from Schizo-Affective Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Complex PTSD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, ADHD, and Cerebral Palsy. Most of our children have been victims of sexual abuse by a close family member, most acted out sexually or exhibited predatory behaviors. We are currently trying to figure out where the trauma ends and mental illness begins in each of their lives.
8 comments:
Sorry you got hurt. Years back when I was working in EBD schools we all did Therapeutic Crisis Intervention training (TCI). Part of that was restraints: mostly being with the child either on their stomach or in a basket hold. I've used it on little kids (age 8 were our youngest in the school) and with big teenagers. It also involved getting the child to the floor safely for both of you. One of the key parts of it is no talking to the child during the restraint as any verbal communication just keeps them going. Having said that I do remember restraints going on for over 40 minutes with some of the boys! When they are on their stomach, you cross their hands over their heads (helps stop them butting you) and put you weight on your knees and use your feet to hold their legs down to stop them kicking (hope that makes sense). Another key part is post-restraint discussion when everyone is calm to reconnect and help the child work out why they lost control.
TCI was developed in the USA at Cornell University, and is still used extensively in EBD/Residential Units in Britain since it remains highly respected. Restraint is the final resort, with strategies to try to prevent escalation to that; but I remember them being very effective restraints when you did need to use them.
Had a quick google, and Cornell have this link http://www.cornell.edu/search/index.cfm?tab=facts&q=&id=731 for contacting them - maybe they can let you know of something in your area.
Hope that helps - I definitely recommend it as being safe and effective.
I have been trained in CPI, TCI, ProACT, and PART. I think that TCI is the best currently but I hate how they put kids down (on their backs) because it's dangerous. When you do a basket hold do you know how to lock the kid's elbows? That really helps in not having them get loose. Most of the other restraints we use are team restraints (at work) but I will think about what might work for you.
Let me know what you find out, as I'm not sure the hold I use is really the best option, either.
Angela :-)
Hope you feel better.
http://www.teapotparties.com
Probably an odd post to do this, but it is your latest post and I just decided to delurk.
Hi. I'm delurking! You don't know me, I don't remember how I got here, but I imagine I stayed because I am interested in what you have to say. (I might be doing foster care when I'm older, so maybe this is all relevant background research for me :D)
PMT and TCI is what i've been trained in. you can find trainers through contacting special education schools. that's where i got trained. i like PMT better for younger kids but TCI is necessary for older/stronger kids. most of them take 2 people though. don't know how you would do that in a family setting. good luck.
We do primarily basket holds here. In our state it is illegal to put a child in a hold on their stomach because they have had several children die (suffocate).
This has also made it very scary to do any restraints at all - we were investigated for child abuse because my son got hurt during an "improper" restraint. He is 5'9" almost 200lbs. My 6' 270lb husband was restraining him. I could never have held him. No one cared about the scars he left on Hubby, only the teeny bruise on the back of his neck.
We were forbidden to restrain him in any way, so were forced to chemically restrain him (zombie-inducing doses of Depakote) until he got into a residential treatment center.
Last time I went to training (mandatory because of the allegations) they showed us this stupid wimpy variation on a basket hold, that wouldn't work on 1/2 of my children because of their size (too big or too little). We were told that taking a child to the floor in a restraint was now illegal.
Thank goodness all our adoptions are now final and we can do what is needed. I wish you luck!
Mary in TX
Don't do the hold with children on their tummies.. it is not safe. I am trained in the TCI and CPI...
hugs.. hang in there
Post a Comment