How Did That Happen?

What do you do if your child comes home from school with bruises, scrapes or other injuries that they didn’t have when they left for school?

When my son without disabilities was in elementary, middle and high school, I would just ask him if he came home with injuries – and he would tell me what had happened.

But for my children with disabilities, it’s a different story.

Jessica, for instance, can relate a story, but often that is just all it is. It’s difficult for her to remember what happened an hour before my asking, much less earlier in the school day. And, if someone at school or on the bus tells her to stop being a baby, or that the injury is not a big deal, she will say nothing at all.

I also have a tough time getting an answer from Ashley. She’s so used to bruises from running into things, that I don’t think she thinks twice about it. But very often the bruises I see at the end of the school day are obviously not from running into things. And then there are the scrapes and sometimes even cuts that I never get a call or note about.

So what do you do if that happens to your child who can’t tell you what happened? Do you send a note to school the next day asking for an explanation? And what if no one owns up? If your child is supposed to have an aide by their side all day in school, do you accept the answer that no one knows how the injury happened? What recourse do we parents have?