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I'm the father of a very strong, hefty ten-year-old boy who has a case of extreme autism. I am his primary caretaker when he is at home because he is too large and strong for my wife to handle.

My son occasionally pitches major tantrums while attending a school for autistic children, and this can be very disruptive. The best method of dealing with him, when he has these fits, is to remove him physically from wherever he is and distract him by bringing him to another situation which he finds non-threatening (for example "OKay, now it's time to wash your hands", etc). This usually gets him preoccupied with something other than the source of the tantrum.

If that doesn't work, the second option is to remove him from the class and bring him to a small room where he can't hurt himself or disturb others (ex, a lavatory, etc).

It should be noted that my 10 year old boy is at a functional age of about 1.5 years and that he cannot speak, so what works for him may not work for other autistic children who are more functional. But it is never acceptable to use violence against an autistic child. Also, the "do-this-and-I'll-stop-doing-that" approach used by the police in the handcuffing incident shows a lack of knowledge about the nature of autism, which mainly involves a lack of ability to employ cause-and-effect reasoning in social situations. It won't work; it will only terrify the kid, who won't know why he is being handcuffed no matter how much he tantrums.

For those who feel intimidated by autistic behavior symptoms, I can certainly sympathize with you but would challenge you to think about it in the same way as you would when confronted with an epileptic kid who has a fit. There's no sense telling such a kid to "sit still and listen"; you need to move him to a safe place and give him the appropriate treatments.

The same applies also to autism. Furthermore, any school that aspires to teach high functioning autistics along with normal kids should & MUST have at least one specialist with autism available to help bring order when an autistic kid becomes disruptive. School police should not be called upon to do that job; they aren't trained for it. And if the school hasn't got an autism specialist to consult during such minor emergencies, they have no business bringing in autistic kids.

For those who feel intimidated by autistic behavior symptoms, I can certainly sympathize with you but would challenge you to think about it in the same way as you would when confronted with an epileptic kid who has a fit.

Thank you for your comment. It bothers me too when I read remarks by others that autistic children "just need to have some sense knocked into them" or something like that; implying that their problem is one of character or "poor training" or "bad parenting."

My son is six and he has a situation similar to mild autism.
He is in first grade and requires special instruction when it comes to social skills he lacks. Autism is not a situation that is a cut and dry diagnosis. It can be a mild condition, or as in CallMeShane's case, severe. I have worked with both and am continuing to deal with my son.
The best (Sometime only) way to deal with a child in an uncontrollable state is not to restrain him in the room where he is overstimulated but to remove him from the situation and calm him down. It is not in the child's best interest to remove him from social situations where he doesn't interact with other children they are functional. You have to break the loop they are stuck in and handcuffing them to a chair only serves to enrage them.
Telling them that you will remove the restraints if they calm down is like adding fuel to the fire and saying you will stop when the fire is out. If they were honest with the parents about their ability to deal with Autism, they would know this. The fact that they would even resort to handcuffs shows that they lack compassion.

Welcome to FR CallMeShane.

I have a 4 year old son who is severely Autistic. He goes to a special school and I don't think I'd ever want him "mainstreamed".

There's more than a few of us here on FR who sympathize with your situation.

Thanks, Shane, for your perspective and to all of you here who teach special needs kids. Especially, those of you (or your spouses) trying to do it in regular classroom settings.
Teaching is a hard job...I don't think I could do it, anymore (and I have a BA in Elem. Ed!) :)

I don't have a special needs child and so, won't comment further.