MI
A Way
to Safely Restrain Students? - Bereaved mom at odds with state.
GA
Family Sues School
System RE: Closet as “Time out Room” -
In February, we introduced you to Boone Garvey, an autistic child
who attended Lee County Primary School. His mother said Boone had been
locked in a closet at school as a punishment for misbehaving. The
school system defended the action, saying the closet was, in fact, a
"time out room."
FL
Parent Says School
Misuses its Timeout Room - The punishment is considered so
harsh the state urges it be used only as a last resort. It's called
"secured seclusion" and allows teachers to confine children, many of
whom suffer from severe emotional problems, in tiny, sealed rooms.
Restraint Prevention
Project Accepting Applications for Scholarships - The use of
physical restraints are becoming more prevalent in public schools.
Deciding whether or not to physically restrain a student requires that
school personnel have a clear understanding legal requirements,
professional standards, and health and safety issues. The Education
Law Resource Center announces formation of the Restraint Prevention
Project. Deadline for applications to receive funds for this project
is
May 26, 2006.
Shaken and Stirred
- Jamaica Plain parents charge that a special education teacher at
the Mary Lyon School in Brighton used a illegal, improper and possibly
fatal basket-hold restraint on their 5-year-old daughter last year.
In The Name of Treatment: A
Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Child From the Use of Restraint,
Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (PDF) - Includes detailed
information on restraint, aversive interventions, and seclusion. Also
included is a "No Consent Form" for parents to give to their school to
deny permission to use aversive procedures. Note: Images included are
of children being restrained. Some viewers may find these images
disturbing.
Reformers Push to
End Restraint, Seclusion - Death, injuries prompt training of
workers in more positive methods. Matthew
Goodman, an autistic teen, spent the last 16 months of his life
heavily sedated, in arm splints and a helmet, at Bancroft NeuroHealth
in New Jersey. The restraints were supposed to keep him from picking
at an injury, but his mother thinks they contributed to his death at
age 14. Children who fight, throw
tantrums or threaten workers while in residential care in Ohio are
more likely to be tackled or dragged to a ‘‘seclusion room" than given
a psychiatric drug.
U.S.
Connecticut
and Michigan Will Help Develop Alternatives To Restraint
- Three years ago, the Hartford Courant ran an investigative
series into the restraint-related deaths of adults and children -- as
young as 6 years of age -- in institutions housing people with mental
illness and developmental disabilities. The team of reporters found
that 142 such deaths occurred nationwide during the previous 10 years.
The
Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and Neglect - a New Jersey
organization currently dealing with the issues surrounding
restraint.
Are Time-Out
Rooms Inhumane? -
SPEAK OUT: Plan would limit
schools' use of 'time-out' rooms.
The Use of Physical
Restraints on Special Education Children has to End
- I made a phone call the other day to Jake's school to
state my position on restraining my son. He is hands off! No
questions! This is a comment I would have never thought I have to
make and, frankly shouldn’t have to make.
Sample Letter: Letter
Requesting "No Restraint" -
click here.
Behavioral Health
Groups Publish "Learning
From Each Other: Success Stories and Ideas for Reducing
Restraint/Seclusion in Behavioral Health" - Resource Guide
Provides Practical Help in Creating a Culture of Safety, Respect,
and Dignity.
The Child Welfare
League of America (CWLA), in collaboration with the Federation of
Families for Children's Mental Health, serves as the Coordinating
Center for a three-year project designed to
reduce the use of restraint and seclusion procedures with
children receiving services in five demonstration sites across the
country.
