20 January—Here’s a new word for non-psychologists: dysregulation. It’s a neologism first used by psychologists (and maybe even others) about a century ago, short for emotional dysregulation. It should not be confused with disregulation, which simply means removal or absence of regulation. (The prefix dis, from Latin, means apart or not; the prefix dys, from Greek, means bad or difficult.)

Dysregulation describes a person’s inability to control—or regulate—emotional responses within normal or traditionally accepted (and acceptable) ranges. It can lead to serious mood swings, anger, irritability, and aberrant, violent behavior.

The word was in a Boston Herald story about a pupil at a Boston public school who yesterday bashed a teacher with a chair so hard that she had to be rushed off to a hospital. The school’s principal used dysregulated in a letter to the school community (whatever that means) about the incident.

Evidently the kid—a minor of male persuasion—arrived at the school in an agitated (i.e., dysregulated) state and “staff made several attempts to help him settle in but were not successful.” The dysregulated boy then “allegedly” attacked the teacher “by punching her in the head and body,” after which he “picked up a chair and started swinging it around.” Thereupon the teacher tried to wrest the chair from the dysregulated boy but, police say, he hit her with the chair in the head and middle back.

The clearly out-of-control kid was then sent home on a bus and his mother confirmed his arrival. Police said the school “will conduct a full investigation and will issue any disciplinary actions.”

The school where the chair assault occurred is what Boston.gov calls “a therapeutic day school for students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, and offers engaging, relationship-based, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive education for students up to age 22.” So it’s not the Boston Latin School. And abnormal pupil behavior—even violence—may not be unexpected. And teachers there must know what they were in for. Do they get hazard pay?

It’s likely that the dysregulated boy will simply be given convenient psychotropic medication because his violent outburst obviously wasn’t his fault. Obviously. Not that it makes a difference these days. Obviously. And the teacher may even return to work after she recovers. Likely with PTSD.

But the violent boy being sent home on a bus is the most disturbing element of this story. The Herald doesn’t tell us whether it was a public-transport bus or a school bus, whether the kid was alone or accompanied; but the inference, since his mother confirmed his arrival home, is that he was sent home all by himself on a public bus.

And that is irresponsible and unacceptable. Is that how they do things in Boston?