On the front page of the USA today, Greg Toppo writes an excellent article about how restraint can dispirit and hurt special-ed students. In it, Mr. Toppo writes:
Additional stories about this subject can be found at NPR, CBS, and CNN. All are worth your time.
His case is one of 10 to be highlighted today during a hearing on Capitol Hill over the use of restraint and seclusion in the USA's public and private schools — techniques often used to control children with disabilities.Today the committee will have a hearing examining the abusive and deadly use of seclusion and restraint in schools at 10 am ET.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, also out today, finds "widespread" allegations of abuse involving the practices in schools — even when students aren't physically aggressive or dangerous to themselves or others.
Investigators say they uncovered hundreds of allegations of abuse involving restraint or seclusion at public and private schools nationwide between 1990 and 2009.
Additional stories about this subject can be found at NPR, CBS, and CNN. All are worth your time.
Please look at the work of Dr. Ross Greene and the Collaborative Problem Solving Model for an alternative approach that proactively and durably addressed the needs of difficult kids. Please look at lostatschool.org, or the explosivechild.com. I am not affiliated with Dr. Greene. I am a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner in Child Psychiatric Nursing and believe that this model is possibly the best hope for troubled kids in all settings.
My son was abused in a FL school 4 years ago and everything was hushed up and ignored. Our complaints went unanswered at every level despite a Child Protection Team evaluation and report indicating our 2nd grade son had been abused by a teacher at this school.Our local law enforcement closed the case without proper investigation, state inspector general referred our complaint back to our local superintendent and our family was legally attacked for standing up for our child's rights. What a nightmare.We feel we can trust no one. In FL disabled kids as young as 5, 6, 9, 11 years old are routinely arrested in CLASSROOMS, as well as undergo other restraints and seclusions. Please help our families with stricter laws and ENFORCEMENT CLAUSES. Due process is not working.
USDOE/OSERS/OSEP does not meaningful enforcement re anything related to IDEA. State Ed. Depts. rarely enforce anything related to special education in terms of actual withholding of funds or discipline of offending staff or officials. The fact that where laws or regulations prohibiting restraint and seclusion abuse, they are not enforced, should come as no surprise.
The US Commission on Civil Rights heavily documented federal non-enforcement of IDEA requirements in 2000 in a report entitled "Back to School on Civil Rights." Nothing has changed since then.
My child Abbie Bowden was brutally restrained in 1998 and I worked to get the MA REGs Passed At the time I called the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT office of Education and was told it was a state issue and nothing could be done by them. Abbie's story was featured on Court TV BACK in 2000
HERE IS THE LINK so you can see what they did to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUQV8q3hAQk
She was only age 10 and they treated her like a criminal for minor aggressions bought on by a punative token system. PLEASE check what is leading to restriants. Autistic children are placed in behavior classrooms that use negative reinforcment (such as what was described today on the hearing.
My son entered the school district as a special needs child with autism who ran out of class. When he ran, he was thrown to the floor and restrained. Then he learned to fight against them and was further restrained and secluded. When I found out they were restraining him for hours and he was coming home with bruises, I demanded they find another way to help him. When I asked for help, they threatened to have him arrested, a few days later he was arrested. We asked for behavioral services and support and it was denied. Now my child is traumatized and struggling to return to school half time. My sweet little boy has been lost all due to staff restraining him like a wild animal. If behavioral support would have been provided in the beginning this never would have happened.
Our son with Down Syndrome was restrained and injured by staff in the Chesterfield County Public School System in Virginia and we did not find out until the school secretary blew the whistle. We filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Education. The school prevailed. We filed two complaints with Child Protective Services and were told, "This report was not validated for investigation because the described injuries to the child and the alleged actions of the caretaker do not rise above the Virginia Code criteria of 'reasonable and necessary' force in screening reports against school employees." We went to our Congressman "not a federal issue",we went to our local representatives and our concerns were dropped. Today is a wonderful day!! Not only did the Hearing validate what many of us parents have endured, it has made this issue a national and federal concern. To all that spoke today, thank you from the bottom of our soul. Thank you letting my son be "heard" today!!!!
I just can't understand how this keeps being ignored and swept under the rug. We as taxpayers are paying these so called 'educators' their salaries to do this to our children!
Now, what if it were a PARENT that did this to a child? What would happen then? Ah, Ha, got cha didn't I!
This corruption is rampant everywhere, along with other forms of corruption in public schools that are going on unaddressed everyday.
Thank GOD I have my child at home with me!
Our son was repeatedly restrained by an untrained Teacher's Aide and administrative staff in Kindergarten and First grade in Hermitage SD (PA). The restraints took place in a seclusion room.
He was denied supports outlined in his IEP. When he showed signs of frustration, the teacher would evacuate the classroom. Then he would be dragged down the hall by at least two adults until they reached the seclusion room on the other side of the building. Once there they would watch him through a window. If he didn't calm down, they would come in and restrain him with an adult sitting on his back in prone position. According to witnesses, this transpired almost daily during his first grade. He spent most of his school days secluded and segregated.
Requiring positive behavior interventions will not stop this. Arkansas already has them. My son was repeatedly restrained and placed in a concrete, steel-doored seclusion room without interventions being done. Requiring that seclusion be on the IEP will not stop this. It was not on my son's IEP, but was done anyway. What has to be understood is these people know full well what they are doing, and they know it's wrong. They know they are violating federal law. If more parents knew what the I.D.E.A. actually says, or that this report was even being prepared, I would venture to guess the GAO would have received thousands of cases, instead of hundreds.
My wife and I (Karen White's husband's parents) know what she has gone through to get school officials in their city to even recognize there was a problem in the treatment of special-needs children. The officials steadfastly refused to admit a seclusion room and abusive restraints were used. Finally, state education officials stepped in and opened up the case for all to see -- with penalties pending. We urge all parents to forge ahead in constructive ways to remedy this situation.
Our story sounds like Heather's above. Our son is now very combative and I believe strongly that he has suffered emotional damage due to this practice. Schools are also not reporting these incidents to the parents, thus making it impossible for parents to file complaints on the issue or for anyone to get a real picture of how often this is actually taking place. I found out that my son was being restrained because he came home and put my hands behind my back and jerked them upwards. It hurt. I found out that my son was being secluded when he drew it one morning. Many of these victims can't speak for themselves. They are easy targets for abuse. It is our job to be their voices and to stop condoning restraint and seclusion by turning a blind eye to it.
No child should subjected to verbal or physical abuse in public or private schools. The United States is supposed to be a world leader and thus a role model.
I'm the husband of Ann, who testified today, and the father of Paige. I very much appreciate that this issue is finally being taken seriously.
One of the points I think a lot of people miss is that non-abusive restraint techniques are available, are in use at many or even most schools, and that it is possible for a school to educate children with behavioral problems without hurting them.
After Paige left the district where life-threatening restraint techniques had been used on her she enrolled at the nearby Esther B Clarke school, which is seen as a school-of-last-resort for many of the area school districts. And yet, the children at EBC are incredibly well behaved and generally very happy at school.
EBC does use restraints when necessary. When we enrolled Paige they explained very clearly to us and to Paige the circumstances under which this would occur and the exact restraints that would be used -- restraints that were designed to be harmless but effective. Only once was Paige restrained during her 3 years there, and when this happened she was neither harmed nor did she feel threatened. We, her parents, were notified immediately when this incident occurred.
The challenge is to find some way to make sure that all school districts use appropriate restraints.
As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (www.bacb.com), I provide training to educators and caregivers who work with individuals with disabilities. I train them on how to REPLACE target behaviors with functionally equivalent replacement behaviors without the use of any chemical, physical and mechanical restraints. Schools in the US have declined my services so much so that now I travel to the UK to provide training. Until the US mandates training for educators, the abuses of individuals with disabilities will continue - "Pergatory in Hell."
The Treatment of these children by these schools Is LESS THAN HUMAN. These Methods MUST BE STOPPED- it does not control the children's behavior it adds to their problems and IS NOT the answer/ These methods are archaic and cruel and anyone who uses these methods as a means of control "becuz it's the only way to control" SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO THE SAME TREATMENT!! and then placed in a program to learn how to teach our disabled children instead of punish them for something they have NO CONTROL OVER- when is the last time they used TORTURE to control "normal" kids??? (the ones who can talk & tell of their Torture?)
As a grandparent of a student who was treated badly, I can only say that a child with great potential was kept from reaching that potential until he was removed from this terrible system. To go from unteachable to the honor roll is no small thing!
As a parent attorney I am familiar with many seclusion cases --- an asperger's child who spent more than 50 days a year for four years in seclusion because she did things like knock the books of her desk when the teacher told her to "knock it off", not having ever received pragmatic language therapy; a 17 year old whose teacher refuses to give him a pencil because she'd already given him one the day before, who is then told to go to time out for not doing his work, and is then assaulted by an aide when he goes to the bathroom first; a ten year old who lost his father in violence and his mother to drugs who spends most of a year in a seclusion room and then is thrown away to an alternative school, without ever being evaluated for special ed.
To Rep. George Miller and the R & S Committee
Thank you so much for standing up for our children today. I have been fighting this problem for 3 years and have received nothing but closed doors, until today.
Thank you!
Regards,
Phyllis
Florida
My child has not been restrained in school but he is a testament to the schools in Arkansas not following the IDEA laws. My son is 13, had a diagnosis of ADHD. After 6 weeks of school the Junior High decided he needed to go to an alternative school,. No child find, no referral, no nothing. Just get him out of here and put him in with the children that have been in serious trouble. In February, my son was diagnosed with Asperger's. It has taken until May 15th to finally get a referral for evaluation. In the meeting, the counselor actually said, we were told not to do referrals after a certain date because of summer. Due to his placement at this school he has now been arrested and we have to go to court in June. The alternative school works on the token system and he was searched like a criminal when entering the school and had to wear a uniform (I'm surprised it wasn't stripes). The curriculum is substandard. Another words they throw these children with disabilities away! The schools are negligent, the teachers lazy or ill-informed, or simply don't care. They should be banished and certainly should not get automatic raises. As for the administration that doesn't follow the law I say do away with fines and let them sit in jail for what they do. My child did!
My son was restrained and secluded in kindergarten in Missouri. His story is here: http://nomoseclusion.blogspot.com/2009/01/zachs-story.html
It is easy to sit back and wait for the individuals to fail and then "justify" this abuse and mistreatment because the individual is perceived as "dangerous". But what about the choices that the educational system is refusing to make, such as providing adequate services, support, and accommodations to give these individuals a chance at being successful?
I do not believe a system's failure is justification to abuse or mistreat individuals, especially those with disabilities.
I have given the school system a loving boy. He'll stay loving too if he is nurtured and taught with accommodations. However, if he has to suffer from the systemic abuse of peers, teachers and paraprofessionals, I guess they'll just blame him.
Dear members of the Education and Labor Committee,
I ask you to not stop this investigation into abuse of students by school personnel by means of restraint and seclusion at the hearing you conducted today and the GAO report.
This matter needs to be look into in depth and legislation needs to be drafted to protect students and make those responsible for injuries, both physical and psychological, held accountable. Stricter laws also should be inacted so that individuals of authority in educational setting who cause such injuries and deaths are sanctioned with harsher penalties. Many states have enhanced sentences for other crimes of victimization and abuse of individuals that are more vulnerable. We need federal level statues to ensure this stops before more innocent lives are lost.
With much respect,
Carolyn Gammicchia
Nick's mom ( a student who has been injured, both physically and psychologically by restraint and seclusion)
Mark's sister (a beloved brother who died after being inappropriately restrained & denied medical intervention)
My son was in the ESE program in Florida for 5 years. During this time I witnessed restraint of other students, luckly not my own. But I must say, the emotional damage done to my son witnessing such actions was enough that I removed him from Public School. Too much time was wasted on behaviors and improperly controling them. Please consider a charter school with staffing to truly handle ESE and all the challenges associated with them. If have seen great results when handle properly. Most children want to behave and learn.....let's learn to reach them. Some of the greatest minds in history didn't fit in at school.
This is a very serious issue that the general public is not aware of. Our daughter was repeatedly restrained and abused. She was constantly placed in a small, dark closet for an undetermined amount of time. She was also squirt-gunned, for the amusement of the instructor and her aides. It's sad that the education system in this country allows individuals (who claim they are trained to work with children that have disabilities) into our schools. We are constantly at their mercy and when we stand up and fight back for our children, suddenly we are in the wrong, not the education system. Our children bring millions of dollars in State and Federal funding into our schools. Our children have become nothing more than pawns, in a sad and often terrifying game, that never seems to end.
My son has Asperger's and Sensory Integration Dysfuntion. He is in public school in Little Rock, AR. The school administration and most of the staff do everything they can to educate my son. But, as the mother of this sweet, brilliant, baffled child, I am terrified that someone with power over him will misunderstand his intentions or lose patience with his unusual behaviors. I wonder if the teachers and aides know what a leap of faith it is for me to trust them with this fragile soul. To think that he would be restrained or left alone while he is trying to communicate or is reacting in fear or frustration is unimaginable.
Restraint and seclusion will only make a child's behavior worse, not better. Often times kids with special needs have extreme anxiety which would only escalate with R & S. It is like backing a tiger into a corner causing it to go into fight or flight mode. Many of the kids act out because they are in pain and can't tell us. It would be torture to restrain a child in extreme pain. If our kids are going to become functional members of society, we must help them, not lock them away.
Academics and administrators can hem and haw about training techniques but the only conscionable thing to do is swiftly ban seclusion, restraint, and paddling so that no more children suffer from these forms of torture. Legislators, please view the pictures, study the numbers, and above all hear the anguished parent testimony. Don’t leave it up to states to decide. Break the silence surrounding these punishments. This is an all or none call, and if you leave the door cracked open even slightly, the abuse will continue.
Stop it and then we can choose the best options from the multitude of therapeutic initiatives available. Don’t waste time quibbling over terminology or scrutinizing costs of PBIS … not when lives are at stake.
As a researcher, I have witnessed seclusion. I have photographed it, written about it, and advocated against it in my state. You cannot see a small, locked cell with blood on the wall or dark bruises on children from restraint and ever have the same faith in American public education, again. Neither can you hear these stories and sit by and let children with disabilities languish. They are the most vulnerable members of our society and our greatest responsibility.
My son has been diagnosed with high functioning autism. As all autistic children, my son has problems with social interaction which leads to behavior issues due to sensory hypersensitivity. He has been placed in behavioral supportive classrooms with children that have conduct disorder and many other issues that caused his behavior to worsen as the proper suupports could not be provided in this type of classroom. As a result he was secluded, restained until he broke all the blood vessels in his face and chest. Child protection investigated and no charges were made against the teacher. After realizing I either could continue to fight the Florida "Good old boy" system or put my energy into my son, I choose the latter. He is now in privite school which we pay for as well as continue to pay our taxes to support a brioken school syaytem. We need to put our children first not the dollar!!!!