BitePRO® Bite Resistant Arm Guards for special educational needs classrooms have been designed to protect teachers and educational professionals from scratching, pinching and biting.
What can schools, and school staff, do to protect themselves from being scratched and bitten?
In the past, bandages around the forearm, thick jackets and different types of padding were used to prevent the risk of such injuries when working with children displaying special educational needs, challenging behaviour, learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder. However, more and more teachers have now become aware of the use of our extremely comfortable and user friendly bite resistant arm guards.
Why is it important to use bite resistant arm guards for special needs teachers?
Children with special needs and learning difficulties, or those displaying challenging behaviour are more likely to be aggressive than others. Schools need to make risk assessments for these children, and make sure the staff working with them are fully aware of the risks and are trained in how to handle them, and, where the risk assessment shows a need, provide them with bite resistant arm guards.
While some children may show few signs of challenging behaviour, others can show physical aggression as well as destructiveness. Examples of this would include self-injury from eating toxic or inedible foods, damaging objects in an act of aggression, running away from family members while outside and general forms of tantrums which escalate.
Given that all children act-out, it may seem difficult to identify and foresee the levels of violence that would warrant the use of bite resistant arm guards in special needs schools. After all, someone with autism may simply be venting their anger just as someone without autism would. But there is a clear distinction between the two with ‘challenging behaviour’ becoming more of a meltdown than any childlike tantrum. With far more intensity and loss of control, there’s always the risk of injury, meaning intervention becomes a necessity, and that is when the risk of being bitten or scratched is higher, and that is when wearing arm guards will reduce the damage that an injury will have on the teacher.
While where are many violence reduction techniques that professionals use to de-escalate potential violent situations and behaviours, sometimes those can be unpredictable, and additional protection, such as bite resistant arm guards are essential for the safety of teachers.
Our protective clothing significantly reduces the risk of human teeth of finger nails penetrating the wearer’s skin. It’s hard to imagine that a lightweight and flexible fabric could work as effective protection against human bite injuries. Please view our comprehensive product page.
Got a question, or wondering if our BitePRO® bite resistant arm guards are right for you?
Visit our website today, and please feel free to contact us anytime.
