CT Council on Developmental Disabilities

I have a 10 year old son named Connor and he has autism. He used to attend the River Street School in Hartford,CT where he was restrained on six different occassions for things that would not be considered "emergency" situations.Not all the staff was properly trained and majority of the parents never questioned any of the Behavior Plans that the BCBA put in place for their child....since the River Street Program were considered the "experts" when it came to children with autism.Finally, we have a law that will somewhat hold schools accountable for how they treat our most vulnerable and sometimes non-verbal children.It is not 100% what we wanted, but its a start.Please comment so we can track how many children have been subjected to restraint and/or seclusions in their schools, since no one else (including the State Department of Education) will.Thank you.

My husband and I walked in on my son being restrained by an untrained aide. We were shocked, it was unexpected. He was quiet and calm and not upset at the time my husband and I happened to walk in on this. He was seated in a chair, pushed up against a table, with the aide sitting behind him holding his arms behind his back. There was a box pushed up against the chair wedging him in.
He had a behavior plan in place written by a bcba which did not mention restraint(which is why we were shocked).
Under questioning at a PPT the teacher admitted to restraining him before without mentioning anything to us. In the same period of time I had to take him to a hand specialist because he had a dislocated finger. The teacher claims this could not have happened during restraint.
I am disgusted that this behavior is tolerated as well as hidden, by the people that have a fiduciary responsiblity to protect our kids. My son had thrown a puppy off of his lap and took a video that was playing out of the machine for this punishment. Ask any parent of any child(including those in the state legislature)if that is justified.

Our Office (Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities) has authority and is interested in investigating any instances where a student with disabilities has been injured as a result of restraint occurring in a public school, or has been improperly placed into seclusion or restraints. Also, Public Act 07-147 (the bill on R&S in public schools)requires the State Dept. of Education to develop regulations. We will be hosting a meeting later this summer to develop an approach to bring to DOE - anyone interested in either reporting injuries or improper restraint/seclusion, or in attending the meeting on the regulations should contact me at:
james.mcgaughey@po.state.ct.us

My son Gianni as well as many other Wilton children have been secluded and restrained inappropriately by barely trained staff because the school administrators knew they were imune from accountability under the previous law. Jamie my friend Jill's son furthered my resolve to get to the bottom of what was happening to our children. These rooms made from closets, not inspected by fire marshalls or building inspectors must be made known to parents and finally we have a law. Now we need enforcement on that law. A child such as the one in Darien, put in seclusion for crying for mom must be protected! Only time will tell how the courts will take this seriously.

My son Aaron was put in what they are calling a "quiet room" at the Oxridge Elementary school in Darien 17 times over a 6 month period. While we had been told that he might occasionally need a quiet room to help him regroup if he appeared to be getting overwhelmed by the noise and activity level of the classroom, we were told it would be a room with a poof chair where he could play quietly with a favorite toy or listen to calming music and regroup. What we discovered was that staff would remove him to what is effectively a time out room when they were unable or unwilling to deal with our son's behaviors; behaviors caused by his inability to communicate and the staff's mishandling and misunderstanding of autism and how it affects children. They had no understanding of what would cause sensory overload, and claimed that his echolalic responses were actually requests to place him into seclusion. In february of 2007, the school converted the time out room into a padded cell where our son was placed twice. It was one of the scariest places ever - no natural light, dark dirty gym mats affixed to the floor and walls, no discernable heat or ventilation, and a slide bolt on the door. The school never even had it inspected by the fire marshall before using it. We removed him from school immediately when we saw this room and he will not go back.

Aaron was six years old at the time. He is severely autistic and can not communicate beyond the level of a 2 year old, weighs 48 pounds and has never injured himself, another child, a staff member or any other adult. He just drops to the floor and screams and stomps his feet or bangs his hand on the floor. The last time he was put in this room was because he was crying for his mommy and it was disruptive to the other special needs students in the mini gym. In preparing for Due Process, we found out he was repeatedly strapped without our knowledge or consent. Any of these things if done in the home would result in his removal by DCF, but apparently are ok as long as a 25 year old untrained special education teacher is in charge. By the way he has an FBA and a BIP neither of which mentions seclusion or restraint.

STOP THE INSANITY! Close these rooms down and mandate a minimum level of training before a teacher is left alone with special education students - particularly those who are unable to communicate. Madate video surveillance to ensure their safety - any classroom with a computer and a little camera can set up streaming video of an environment for a nominal cost. Parents could voulenteer to install them if necessary.

My son's teacher's only prior teaching job was as a remedial reading teacher for 4th graders. Hardly suitable training to handle his needs.

Make our schools safe for our kids.

I work as both the school counselor and clinical director at a Residential Program/Special Ed school. The young women in our program have behavioral and emotional problems which require a rather high level of control. While we are and have been, a non restraint program, due to the aggressive and explosive nature of our population it is difficult to maintain both safety and security within the program without occasionally needing to contain behaviors. These girls are very impulsive and are used to being able to act out frustration and anger in physical ways. Even with staff trained in non violent methods it requires much skill and experience to avoid the need for containment. I have been doing this work for 30 years obtaining 4 degrees and it requires all my skills to avoid such situations. It is hard to expect this of a young, inexperienced, often illtrained staff. The youth we work with are getting more complcated, and more clinically complex requiring a different skill set and intense training not often provided by the current systems. Our youth need both love and structure. Structure means knowing there is someone to stop them when they cannot stop themselves. This also consitutes safety and an out of control child needs to know they are safe.

Hi all!

Looks good! Very useful, good stuff. Good resources here. Thanks much!


Bye

My son, who was 17 years old at the time was restrained and put into seclusion by staff at Wilton High School in Wilton. The staff was untrained. There was no mention in his behavior plan of the use of restraint. His plan read something like this "he will have the opportunity to sit in a quiet area where he could "regroup". Does that sound like he was going to be put in a room with a closed door for up to 45 minutes to an hour?. During one of the 4 incidents in a 3 week period of time; my son was injuried. The school administration said that he hurt his hand on the door frame. My son told me that he hurt his arm because he was attempting to get out of this room. Beware of behavioral plans.

I can tell you that both my children were put into seclusion rooms and watched through a window when they were much younger. This seemed to be the method used here in Seymour when they were very young 3-5 years old at the O'Brien Learning Center. They were brought there for crying or shutting down. I have been told in recent years that they removed that room from the O'Brien Learning Center office, but, do not know if that is true or not. Do not know if I have any written documentation but, I was told at PPT's. I was NOT happy they put them in there to "observe" their "unacceptable behaviors" until they "calmed down".

Don't know if this is of help to you.

I now also wonder how scared they must have been because they were NEVER left alone as small children at home. I think there was a two way mirror so my sons did not even see anybody around them. I never saw this room, only heard about it.

Both my boys are HFA and have been in restraints and seclusion rooms more times than I can remember. My problem right now is with my younger son. He is a runner and in the past year has started hitting teachers when he is upset (he is 8 years old). Last week he was upset with his teacher and ran out of the classroom into the hallway. The aide and the behavior specialist put him in a timeout room that is as wide as my coat closet and maybe 3 times as deep. It was a small storage closet. It still has the shelves at the back wall and a bean bag chair under the shelves for him to sit in. He was placed in this room alone and the door closed (they changed the door so it has a window for this purpose) and his aid waited outside the room. According to his note home he was in that room for an hour and a half and then put into inschool suspension in the office for another hour and 20 minutes. According to the principal the note is wrong and he was only in the time out room for 15-20 minutes although she bases this on her not believing that any of her staff would put a child in that closed, unventilated room for more than that. Of course she is a brand new principal this year and doesnt even know her staff. Is this legal?

My son Jack is a beautiful, lovable, four year old boy with Autism. He is verbal, but he is not yet capable of conversation or answering most questions. He attends a special education preschool program in the public schools in Middlebury, CT. On September 6, 2007, six days after the start of school, Jack was unable to sit still and was having difficulty being quiet during circle time. We were later informed he was disruptive (he was talking to himself which is not a new behavior) and did not respond to limits so the teacher sent him to the kitchenette located in the back of the room. We also found out he was put in this small room alone and the door was closed behind him where his aid watched him through a window. He was not to come out until he was quiet. Jack was secluded because the teacher didn’t want to deal with him. He is four years old and has Autism!!! What exactly are the expectations?? In addition, the school did not put any modifications or accommodations in place that would help him be successful. It is quite clear that this teacher does not want to be bothered yet she is allowed to continue to teach.

He was not a danger to himself or others, (never has been) yet he was locked away as if he was a crazed animal. Like many other children, Jack had a behavior plan and seclusion was never discussed and it was certainly not part of a plan that my husband and I approved of. We also found out that this sanction was used a number of times last year, Jack was obviously three years old at the time. We will probably never know what really happened or how he was treated.

What I do know is that these so called qualified teachers really are not qualified at all. And all the adults in the class that watched this happed and allowed it to happen also need to be held accountable. No one is keeping our kids safe and that is our reality. My husband and I are outraged that our son, who is truly a wonderful little boy, was treated so terribly by people we are suppose to trust. The worst part of this experience is we have learned that we’re not alone and it happens everywhere. That is disgusting in this day and age. What will it take for changes to be made?

I was researching some info on restraint and seclusion and came across this website. We are currently facing a situation in Cherry Hill, NJ where one of our public schools was found to have a padded closet used to discipline children with special needs.

I write the Autism Blog that appears in our local newspaper and recently wrote about this. (See Cherry Hill's Chokey at http://www.courierpostonline.com/blogs/2007/10/secret-little-room.html )

A follow up piece on Best Practices in Behavior Management has pictures of the padded closet. (See http://www.courierpostonline.com/blogs/2007/11/best-practices-in-behavior-management.html )

I would love to have some of the parents that have dealt with this situation in CT offer advice or suggestions to the parents in Cherry Hill. We are trying to protect our children from a ruthless school administration that would rather punish our children than teach them better skills.

Any thoughts, suggestions or input would be appreciated greatly!

Kathi Magee