Additional answer - if this is a private school, the hitting child is not protected as in public schools. They can be suspended. Often private schools are not sure how to help with disabled students. Practice compassion with the other parent, whose child may not be invited back if the behavior does not improve. Talk to the parent. Good luck.

Special needs children are protected from typical discipline, if their disability is a factor in what happened. If you are expecting the kid to be suspended, it won't happen. Not that it should. Ask yourself these questions? Is my child being physically hurt? If so, ask the school to develop a behavior improvement plan to work on the child not hitting others. Approach the other parent with this idea. If your child is merely annoyed, try one of the books geared toward teaching sensitivity to children with disabilities. Your child may be able to help the other child learn good social skills. Like saying "no hit" very clearly or "stop". These are the challenges many disabled students have. Good luck.

I had a similar situation in Sunday school about 5 years ago. The 3-year old class would have a singing and prayer time where they stand in a circle and hold hands. Well, this little boy would hit my daughter. I was REALLY upset after the second time she told me this. I was ready to go to war. I found out the boy was special needs [autistic]; then I found out he only hit her when she tried to hold his hand. This was really sad to me because my daughter is just a sweety. She gives away hugs and holds hands and is always trying to take care of the kids that need it in class, which is why she always ends up next to this particular boy. This wasn't as bad as I thought, I really needed to calm down. I explained to both my kids, in a rather simple way, that some kids are really nice but they have special needs and cannot be touched and when it comes time for sing along or prayers to just stand next to the boy but don't touch. They played together and my daughter never touched him again and never got slapped either.

However, this simple explanation came back to bite me when my son entered Kindergarten the next year. They had a little girl who had Downs Syndrome. My son would talk about her, always calling her his friend and how silly she was, I didn't think anything about it. I was actually proud that my son would not discrimitate against a kid because of their differences. Eventually she was moved to a special school. Later the teacher told me that my son would never hold her hand when they had to line up or were buddies for some special assignment. He would clasp his hands together and shake his head no. It took me a few months realize that he would not touch her because of what I told him about special needs kids. At this point I had to go into a more detailed explanation about special needs.

Maybe your child can understand a more detailed explanation. If anything maybe you can observe the class and see exactly what is causing the physical outburst. It may be really innocent and not at all what you are envisioning. As moms we tend to get a little mama bearish when it comes to our kids. But remember, they are still kids. I am sure the intent is not to hurt your child.

When you report the hitting, be sure to do so in writing. State what you expect the school to do about it, a summary of what happened and the impact on your child, your contact information. Make sure that both the teacher and the principal have a copy.

The paper trail is your documentation that you notified the district.

If your child is physically hurt, you should contact a doctor to document the injury, and send a written notification to the school. A police report can be filed if you feel it necessary. I have to admit that I'm surprised a child with known special needs in kindergarten is in a private placement, because they don't have the same resources and even legal protections by being in a private school. If any child has violent tendancies, I am surprised a private school would allow the student to remain... Having said that, I also think it's important to realize that no child ever asks to be born with special needs.

Is it possible that the other child is not hitting in a "mean" way, but may not have verbal skills to express themselves, and may even like your child and want their attention? Could your child be especially sensitive, and perhaps making the situation sound worse than it really is? I'm not saying it's ever right for one child to hit another, but I'm thinking of a student in my child's class, who got upset whenever my son's chair bumped hers, and didn't like if another child was putting on a jacket and accidentally made contact with her, etc. Those are situations that happen, especially when you're dealing with 5 and 6 year old children, but some students are less tolerant of the actions than others.

I presume you didn't speak with the principal until after you had already tried to talk to your child's teacher. It's late in the school year to change classes, but if neither one is offering suggestions, and you don't feel your concerns are being properly addressed, then it might be a good idea to consider whether you want your child to attend the same school next year.

Is this child in the same class as yours? if he or she is in the same class, then tell your child to try to avoid getting near this other child as possible. I am surprise the school is not doing nothing about it, usually, private schools take actions quickly and try to solve it in a positive manner.