When Kids Get Hurt

Before we go much further, this situation was taken care of quickly and all parties involved are fine. This is an informative article for parents and teachers to be aware of when a kid gets hurt.


We had an incident that happened while Benji was in the care of the school a couple weeks ago. His grade went on a field trip to the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville where they toured the capitol building. Benji's big take on the tour was that they have dead people in the walls. (The tombs of prominent figures of Tennessee.)

From what Benji shared the tombs were the big thing that he took from the tour of the capitol. He does not impress much. (Seriously, he doesn't.)

After their tour of the capital, the kids got back on the bus and road to a public park that is about halfway between our school and the state capital so that they could eat lunch and play.

Benji rarely rides the bus. Our district has one schedule for all the routes for pre-K thru 12 and the route can be an hour ride easily. With his sensory issues, there is no way riding the bus would be a good thing. We don't have anything against the busses, our other kids ride. (They also go to different schools even though they would be on the same bus.)

For those of you familiar with children that have SPD you may also be aware that a change of routine, even if fun, can really take a lot out of a kiddo.

Once the busses got to the playground, the kids ate lunch and then were allowed to play in the playground. The playground is really a great asset to the community and is the center of many events that the community has. The incident that happened is not the FAULT of the playground or the field trip. The incident was a true accident and unfortunate. Even had we been there the incident could have happened.

The problem is that because of reasons unknown to us, Benji did not feel he was able to tell an adult or teacher her had gotten hurt. He told us the first time he tried to tell he was quietened and told to get on the bus. After that he tries to tell the music teacher when they got back to the school. She did not see injury and told him he could sit or just walk during the movement exercise.

When Benji was picked up from school, the moment he sat in the car, he informed his father what happened. When they got home I took a picture and emailed the teacher, principal, and the director of schools. 

The injury on his back was an abrasion 6-8 inches long and it was bruised. He also had a small goose egg on his head and his leg was bruised. He was too big of a child to go into the area he was trying to follow his friends into and got banged up.

The principal responded and necessary steps were taken at the school. Hopefully an incident like this won't happen again. But parents of kids with sensory issues need to be aware. Parents of kids that have self esteem issues need to be aware also.