TW: Non-violent intellectually disabled children are being locked in closets in Ohio, Florida
4:25 pm - 08/09/2012
Ohio And Florida Public Schools Lock Mentally Disabled Children In Closets
By Aviva Shen
To discipline misbehaving students, public schools in Ohio and Florida regularly send children to “seclusion” — isolation in a locked cell-like room, old office, or closet, NPR’s State Impact reports. Many of these children are special needs students and their parents are not always told of this disciplinary practice.
Ohio schools — where seclusion is almost completely unregulated — sent students to seclusion rooms 4,236 times in the 2009-2010 school year. Sixty percent of these students had disabilities. Florida schools have fewer cases, with 969 instances of seclusion from 2010 to 2011. The state has just three stipulations for using seclusion rooms: teachers may not choke or suffocate students, the room must be approved by a fire marshal, and the lights must be left on.
A joint report by StateImpact and Columbus Dispatch report found rampant abuse and lack of training of the punishment, which is meant as a last resort to deal with violent children:
Other Pickerington teachers misused the rooms, too, though. In another classroom, children were secluded more than 30 times last school year. Two-thirds of those instances involved misbehavior and not violence, district records show.
Far from benefiting violent or rowdy students, seclusion has been found to be deeply traumatizing, sometimes leading children to hurt or kill themselves. In one special education school in Georgia, a 13-year-old boy hung himself in a seclusion room in November 2004.
Source
Locked Away: Read Seclusion Room Logs From Ohio Schools
BY MOLLY BLOOM
The Columbus Dispatch and StateImpact Ohio requested logs of seclusion rooms’ use from 100 school districts across Ohio as part of our reporting on seclusion rooms.
The logs show that the rooms are often used for their intended purpose: to calm or restrain children who become violent. But they also show that the rooms are misused.
Here are a few examples of uses of seclusion rooms from some of the incident reports and logs districts provided, as well as links to the full documents so you can see for yourself how the rooms are used in some schools.
More at Source
I know for a fact that this happened in Illinois, too, and I saw it firsthand when I was a kid. I don't if they still do it in Illinois, but obviously it's still happening elsewhere. Absolutely disgusting. This is not how you help a troubled child.
By Aviva Shen
To discipline misbehaving students, public schools in Ohio and Florida regularly send children to “seclusion” — isolation in a locked cell-like room, old office, or closet, NPR’s State Impact reports. Many of these children are special needs students and their parents are not always told of this disciplinary practice.
Ohio schools — where seclusion is almost completely unregulated — sent students to seclusion rooms 4,236 times in the 2009-2010 school year. Sixty percent of these students had disabilities. Florida schools have fewer cases, with 969 instances of seclusion from 2010 to 2011. The state has just three stipulations for using seclusion rooms: teachers may not choke or suffocate students, the room must be approved by a fire marshal, and the lights must be left on.
A joint report by StateImpact and Columbus Dispatch report found rampant abuse and lack of training of the punishment, which is meant as a last resort to deal with violent children:
But last school year, one Pickerington special-education teacher sent children to a seclusion room more than 60 times, district records show. In nearly all of those incidents, the children were not violent. Often, they were sent to the seclusion room for being “mouthy,” or whining about their school work.
Pickerington Special Education Director Bob Blackburn said the teacher in that classroom was new and that someone in the district has now taught her the right way to use the seclusion room.
Other Pickerington teachers misused the rooms, too, though. In another classroom, children were secluded more than 30 times last school year. Two-thirds of those instances involved misbehavior and not violence, district records show.
Far from benefiting violent or rowdy students, seclusion has been found to be deeply traumatizing, sometimes leading children to hurt or kill themselves. In one special education school in Georgia, a 13-year-old boy hung himself in a seclusion room in November 2004.
Source
Locked Away: Read Seclusion Room Logs From Ohio Schools
BY MOLLY BLOOM
The Columbus Dispatch and StateImpact Ohio requested logs of seclusion rooms’ use from 100 school districts across Ohio as part of our reporting on seclusion rooms.
The logs show that the rooms are often used for their intended purpose: to calm or restrain children who become violent. But they also show that the rooms are misused.
Here are a few examples of uses of seclusion rooms from some of the incident reports and logs districts provided, as well as links to the full documents so you can see for yourself how the rooms are used in some schools.
More at Source
I know for a fact that this happened in Illinois, too, and I saw it firsthand when I was a kid. I don't if they still do it in Illinois, but obviously it's still happening elsewhere. Absolutely disgusting. This is not how you help a troubled child.
"Your mean"
A teacher wrote this?
For cereal though:
"Blue Room"? Did some sick fuck see that due South episode and think it was funny? Why is there not more oversight on special needs classes?
The room isn't 100% horrible, but it's so grossly misused that I'm in favor of getting rid of it. It's supposed to be for dangerous, attention-maintained behaviors. For example, I had a client sent to this room several times because he was destroying/throwing everything in the room. Physically restraining him would have reinforced the behavior, and removing all children and objects from the room isn't feasible, so this is what they have.
Oh, she was new! Well that's okay then!
/co-sign
Stupid people :(
That said, these rooms aren't used for noncompliance. I can't wrap my mind around sending a client to a room just because they said no and were upset. The article I read reported that a 6 year old was left alone in one of these rooms for several hours. It was baffling to me, and I'm just a RA - I'm not a certified teacher. I think I'd lose it if that was my child.
But last school year, one Pickerington special-education teacher sent children to a seclusion room more than 60 times, district records show. In nearly all of those incidents, the children were not violent. Often, they were sent to the seclusion room for being “mouthy,” or whining about their school work.
NO NO NO NO. It's best practice (and common fucking sense) to refer students to another professional if you continue to have problems with them, not just lock them in a room because you can't be bothered to, you know, do your damn job correctly.
Edited at 2012-08-10 04:37 am (UTC)
Kids have died from this:
Cedric's chest was crushed by a teacher sitting on him.
A 13 year-old Johnathon King hung himself while in a seclusion room.
My paper identified 4 problems with use of restraint and seclusion as it is today: inconsistent/patchwork legislation, lack of teacher training, lack of reporting to state and parents, and the high incidence of physical and psychological trauma to kids involved.
25 states have no laws or regulations regarding restraint and seclusion. Among the 25 states which regulate restraint and seclusion, the legislative scheme can be described as “widely divergent” and “patchwork”; each state has decided if and how to regulate restraint and seclusion. Most states regulate only in certain situations. Out of the 25 states which regulate restraint and seclusion, only ten have actual statutes; others are regulated by administrative agencies which are not as strictly enforced.
Only 22 states require teachers to be trained in how to use restraint and seclusion safely; the content of the training and who needs to be trained varies.
Only six states require the State Board of Education to be notified when restraint or seclusion is used. Thus, we do not know how widely physical restraint and seclusion are used in schools or for what purposes. This issue is compounded by the fact that many of the students subject to restraint and seclusion are, by virtue of their disability, unable to communicate that they have experienced restraint or seclusion.
Kids are killed or injured and many are psychologically traumatized by the use of restraint and seclusion.
BASICALLY, Congress needs to pass universal federal legislation to prevent states from shirking the problem. Ideal legislation would involve requiring all states to regulate restraint and seclusion; banning restraints that impede a child's ability to breathe; increased mandatory training for school officials -- especially de-escalation techniques to avoid needing restraints or seclusion in the first place; require states to report use and the federal government to make policies based on those statistics.
**If anyone would like to see my paper for sources on this, let me know; it seems ridiculous to post every single citation I used.**
especially considering that acting out in extreme ways as a child is often a sign that something's wrong, further traumatizing and abusing them instead of helping them is inexcusable.
Too often, people react to behaviour as if it's designed to bother them. In fact, it could be hunger, over-stimulation, exhaustion, or an inability to deal with some other physical or emotional stress. Those things should get our help, not punishment.
When he was in the first grade -- brand-new school, back to daycare after school because I had to go back to work, we'd just recently moved back to Kentucky -- we had an incident that could have been very, very ugly (and even uglier if his teacher hadn't been a brand-new teacher, and willing to work and try different things with him). He had a major meltdown in class. I don't even remember now what it was over. She could have easily done something like some of these seclusion rooms, etc.
Instead, she cleared the other kids out of the classroom, and into another teacher's room where they could be watched, and she went back into her classroom and stayed there, talking to my son and letting him know he wasn't alone, that things were going to be okay, until the office was able to get ahold of my husband and me and we were able to get there.
I'm not sure what I did in a past life to deserve the good karma for how well my son has been treated in school over the years, but I'm so very thankful for it. Reading things like this? Make me even more so.
"Far from benefiting violent or rowdy students, seclusion has been found to be deeply traumatizing, sometimes leading children to hurt or kill themselves. In one special education school in Georgia, a 13-year-old boy hung himself in a seclusion room in November 2004."
i realise this is a result of poorly trained teachers, a stretched school system, and lack of awareness regarding childhood disabilities and traumatized children but that's no excuse. i don't care if they're violent, they deserve better.
But I will say that, while I understand classroom management is difficult, isolation is not the way to go. It damages a child's self image and how her peers see her. Prolonged isolation causes brain damage--I know this isn't prolonged but people should realize it's an intense experience for humans and other social animals.
I am just...revolted. I imagine my 'nephew' (via close friends, not actual blood), who is autistic, being shoved into a room like that for...basically being autistic and it makes me rage.