Hope for Disabilities

Parents of student's with special needs, are becoming more and more frustrated with the school system's because although IEP's and 504 plans are put into place, they don't always work.  One concern that more and more families are realizing is that when there is a substitute teacher in the classroom, the substitute does not know the children and the children don't know the substitute in most cases.  If a child has a diagnosis where change is difficult for them, this could be emotionally challenging for them and it could trigger negative behaviors such as hitting or maybe biting if the child is agitated because they don't understand why their regular teacher is not there.  If a child acts out with negative behavior because they are having trouble expressing that they are upset because their normal routine with their every day teacher has been interrupted, should they be punished with a detention or something as severe as jail time?  This is what a lot of schools are doing to these innocent children because they don't know any better as to what to do and how to help these children.  How can we help these children in the event that there is a substitute teacher in the classrrom and in some cases, not much notice is given to help these kids to understand that they will be okay even with a substitute teacher in the classroom and that their normal teacher will be back as soon as they can.  Instead of punishing these kids for their behavior, how can we help them to try and prevent it?  These are converstations that need to be started in schools around the world.