Originally Posted by Osem

How is it that the staff I've come across over the years have managed to either predict (and hence avoid) or cope with behaviour far more severe than this without resorting to shutting distressed children in rooms on their own?

Dealing with autism certainly isn't a science and but anyone who's working closely with an autistic child for any significant period of time should a) have been given guidance about that child, their needs and their reactions to certain situations and b) gained sufficient first hand knowledge of that child to know what to do in situations like these which are not exactly unknown in schools.