As a former Head Start teacher, I definitely agree that the situation sounds ridiculously absurd. Obviously, anyone that works in a preschool environment knows that kids like to hug and experiment with their bodies. However, I also don't know the whole story. A quote from an article at
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/12/10/12102006wacoffensivetouching.html The question of whether a touch is meant inappropriately or is an innocent gesture by a young child is not as easily answered through a checklist of factors, said David Davis, executive director of the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims & Children in Waco.
“A lot of variables come into play,” Davis said, adding he doesn’t know the details of Blackwell’s son’s incident.
Variables such as age, maturity and exposure to factors like pornography or even molestation, influence whether a touch is innocent or not, he said.
In the recent case of a La Vega Independent School District elementary student who allegedly inappropriately touched a teacher’s aide, Davis said the things to consider are not as much the gestures themselves as the behavior afterward.
“It’s a concern if a child didn’t respond to redirection,” Davis said. “I would be more concerned about a child’s response to limits set by an adult more than the touch itself.”
Davis said some young children touch — sometimes inappropriately — out of curiosity.
When told they have done something inappropriate, a child who was acting out of curiosity would then typically withdraw or act embarrassed and respond to the redirection, Davis said.
A child whose actions were deliberately inappropriate would act compulsively, aggressively or through manipulation, Davis said.
The child would not respond to redirection, and his or her actions would continue.
While a touch could be read as innocent or inappropriate, “it is the behavior itself” that must be evaluated, Davis said.
I now teach at a Behavior school, and know that there are some very very bad, young children out there. There
must have been more going on in this situation that the school just can't divulge due to student privacy laws.
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