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Restraint & Seclusion Issues « Disabilities – Education

Stop restraint & seclusion

 

 

Court Cases, Legislation, Articles and Publications,
Regarding Restraint and Seclusion in Schools

 

 

Court Cases and Legislation

  • Bryant v. New York State Education Dept., No. 10-4029 (2d Cir. 2012) (Justia US Law)
    Plaintiffs appealed the district court's dismissal of their suit for failure to state a claim and denying their motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs, parents and/or legal guardians of seven children with disabilities, sought equitable relief preventing defendants from enforcing a prohibition on the use of aversive interventions. The court concluded that the State's prohibition of one possible method of reducing the consequences of a child's behavioral disability did not undermine the child's right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) or prevent administrators from enacting an individualized plan for the child's education. The court also concluded that New York's law represented a considered judgment by the State of New York regarding the education and safety of its children that was consistent with federal education policy and the United States Constitution.
  • C.N. vs. Willmar Public Schools, et al
    Because a third-grader's BIP allowed her teacher to use seclusion and restraint as behavior management techniques, a parent could not show that the teacher's use of those techniques violated the child's constitutional rights. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a decision that the teacher was entitled to qualified immunity on the parents' Section 1983 claims.

Articles

  • How Safe is the Schoolhouse? (Jessica Butler – 7/7/12)
    Seclusion and restraint are highly dangerous interventions that have led to death, injury and trauma in children. No federal laws protect America's 55 million school children from seclusion/restraint. With no single federal law, American children are covered by a patchwork of state laws, regulations, nonbinding guidelines and even silence. This report focuses on state restraint/seclusion laws and policies that impact children with disabilities.
  • Keeping All Students Safe (Our Children Left Behind)
    Often, when negotiating over state or federal legislation or even school district policy, aimed at promoting the use of restraint and other forms of aversive (read: abusive) tactics against children with disabilities, lawmakers, administrators and others want to propose to us the “worst case scenario.” Even if they do not call it a “worst case scenario,” you can sense its nature through its hopeless air, its lack of salient details and its characterization of a person with a disability as an object of fear and a ticking time bomb, ready to “go off” at any minute.
  • Miller Bill: Letter to COPAA requesting they remove sponsorship for the Miller Bill
    (Dee Alpert, The Stan Appell-Jean Alpert School Restraints and Abuse Fund)
  • Restraint in the Shadows  (EdSource)
    An EdSource Today report on the use of restraints and seclusion in California special education classrooms.

Publications

  • Forensic Interviews of Children Who Have Developmental Disabilities – Part 1 and Part 2
    Patti's Comments: If you ever feel you are dealing with situation re: a child who may have been abused in a school or elsewhere, you should read this free article and provide cc's of them to any police and prosecutors who may be dealing with (or trying to avoid dealing with) the case. I would especially recommend this if you believe a child has been abused via school restraint/seclusion or, as we hear more and more often lately, a kid who has been duct-taped to some chair or plain old slapped or punched around by a paraprofessional or aide.. At least it may help in getting cops and prosecutors to take these cases seriously.
  • Restraint and Seclusion: Resource Document (U.S. Dept. of Education – 5/15/12)
    The foundation of any discussion about the use of restraint and seclusion is that every effort should be made to structure environments and provide supportsso that restraint and seclusion are unnecessary. As many reports have documented, the use of restraint and seclusion can, in some cases, have very serious consequences, including, most tragically, death.  There is no evidence that using restraint or seclusionis effective in reducing the occurrence of the problem behaviors that frequently precipitate the use of such techniques.
  • TASH Responds to AASA Position Supporting Restraint (3/13/12)
    Last week, the American Association of School Administrators issued an unsubstantiated, ill-informed and reckless report [Keeping Schools Safe: How Seclusion and Restraint Protects Students and School Personnel] in which it voiced support for restraint and seclusion use on children in our schools. This report gained much attention through e-mail circulation and national news reports. TASH has responded in order to bring clarity and truth to the conversation.