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John Hilldebrand and Jennifer
Sinco Kelleher, Newsday, November 29, 2006
State school officials are moving toward sweeping new
restrictions on the use of shock therapy and detention rooms for
special-education students, in response to complaints by some
Long Island parents that such disciplinary techniques were being
abused.
After more than six months' debate, state school officials
expect approval early next year of comprehensive new regulations
covering the controversial disciplinary methods. Proposed rules
were posted earlier this month for public review and are to be
taken up in January by the state Board of Regents.
Schools violating the rules would risk losing their share of
$650 million in federal special-education money distributed
annually statewide.
Temporary restrictions on shock therapy now in place are already
sharply reducing the number of students referred for such
treatments, Albany officials report. Those restrictions would
become permanent under the latest proposal. Meanwhile, the
Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which had been
criticized for its use of time-out rooms, welcomed the proposed
regulations.
Supporters say the tighter restrictions underline their
determination to protect vulnerable students from disciplinary
measures that could prove physically and emotionally damaging
and offend public sensibilities.
"They shocked me at first," said one supporter, Roger Tilles of
Great Neck, the Island's representative on the Regents board. He
added that some "aversive" therapies reminded him initially of
those from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", a 1960s novel and
subsequent film about abuse of mental patients. After review,
Tilles said he realized the issues were complicated, but that
such therapy should only be applied case-by-case.
Tilles credited a series of Newsday reports for heightening
public awareness of the potential for abuses of disciplinary
techniques used by some schools. The articles, appearing over
the past year, focused on two teenage students from the Island
who have indicated they were traumatized by their experiences.
One student, from Freeport, was subjected to repeated electric
shocks (at his Massachusetts school, approved to treat New York
students, youths wore remotely-activated units in backpacks
linked to electrodes attached to their limbs). The other
student, from Hicksville, spent multiple detentions in a small,
padded "time out" cubicle at a special BOCES school in Wantagh.
Under the new rules, time limits must be set for children placed
in time-out rooms, and schools using such rooms would be
required to keep records showing whether detentions actually
serve their intended goal of helping disruptive students calm
down and return to classes.
Also, it will be much more difficult for any child to be
approved for mild shock therapy. A new panel of experts meets to
review each case. So far, the panel -- made up of a rotation of
experts -- has either rejected or sought more information on all
but one or two of about 20 applications.
Finally, a list of "aversive" therapies that could cause pain or
discomfort also would be banned, including hitting, pinching or
unreasonable delays in meals.
Even so, some student advocates feel the new rules won't go far
enough. One nonprofit group, Legal Services of Central New York,
Inc., objects to the fact that special-education centers such as
those operated by regional BOCES on Long Island still won't be
required to report their use of time-out rooms to Albany.
"They continue to let the fox guard the henhouse," said Beth
Wallbridge, an advocacy specialist for the Syracuse-based group
that provides legal representation for the disabled.
William Schafer of Hicksville, the father of a teenager confined
in a 5 by 6-foot "time out" room, said he takes some
satisfaction in the fact that his son Billy's case had helped
prompt state action, but he believes the proposed regulations
don't go far enough in monitoring what goes on in schools.
"Any step forward that the Regents board takes shows me that
they recognize the problem," the father said.
But some parents contend that the state has gone too far in
trying to restrict therapies that sometimes work when other
methods fail. In September, a New York parents' group won a
federal court order reinstating electric skin-shock treatments
for 45 students at the private Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton,
Mass., after Regents moved to temporarily limit such treatments.
Permanent rules now under consideration would continue allowing
the shocks, which center officials liken to bee stings. But no
additional students would be approved for such treatment after
June 30, 2009.
Rebecca Cort, a deputy state education commissioner in charge of
special education, voiced hope that in five years, New York will
have the ability to provide more nonaversive treatment within
the state, eliminating the need to send students out-of-state.
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