Restraints, Physical & Sexual Abuse in School
Use of Restraint as Discipline in Schools l Physical & Sexual Abuse l Time Out/Seclusion l Caselaw
Positive Behavior Support (PBS) l Protection & Advocacy l Resources l Publications

Children with disabilities are sometimes left open to potential abuse when those who are charged with their care do not understand the difference between "bad behavior" and "behavior as communication". The term "behavior as communication" refers to a child's effort to communicate dislikes, needs, desires, etc. but cannot do so because of a communication deficit (ie. no speech, limited speech). Sometimes happiness can look the same as sadness, anger the same as excitement...emotions can be very hard to distinguish.

When a child's "behavior" is seen merely as bad behavior and not as an effort to communicate, the child can become even more frustrated thus causing escalation. Adults who are not properly trained to distinguish these "behaviors" or to decipher the "communication" attempts can sometimes escalate the child to a critical point when the use of physical and/or mechanical restraint comes into play.

Imagine that you cannot express your thoughts in a way that others can easily understand. Now, imagine that you are a child who cannot communicate your fears, likes, dislikes, or pain. Imagine being misunderstood constantly. Imagine having others schedule every moment of your life without knowing what you would like to do. This is reality for some children. Is it any wonder that these children get frustrated?

It is essential that parents and school personnel realize that IDEA provides safeguards for these children. If a child's "behavior" gets in the way of his or her education (or that of others), certain steps must be taken in order to ensure FAPE.

Use of Restraint as Discipline in Schools

Physical restraints are becoming more prevalent in public schools. Deciding whether or not to physically restrain a student requires an understanding of legal requirements, professional standards, and health and safety issues.

Practicing Restraint - Restraint and seclusion were once considered acceptable, even valuable tools in maintaining control of unruly children in residential group homes. But the call for alternatives is growing louder.

Sample Letter: Letter Requesting "No Restraint"

Learning From Each Other: Success Stories and Ideas for Reducing Restraint/Seclusion in Behavioral Health" (PDF) - Resource Guide Provides Practical Help in Creating a Culture of Safety, Respect, and Dignity. The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health are coordinating a three-year project designed to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion procedures with children.

Federal Standards

Federal Standards For Use of Restraint And Seclusion by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health

Fact Sheets

Effective Responses: Physical Restraint (PDF) - Fact Sheet from Safe and Responsive Schools

Fact sheet on Physical Restraint

Position Papers on Restraints

Improving the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Making Schools Work for All of America's Children (National Council on Disabilities, 1995) - The current system has the potential to allow parents to request and receive program methods that are unproven, experimental in nature, or dangerous or harmful to the physical or psychological health of their child. While it is possible to understand the desperation of these parents, to share their exasperation with ineffective programs and treatments, and to sympathize with them in their frustration to locate appropriate programs, there are limits to what society can permit in the name of treatment.

Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behavior in Psychiatric Institutions with Reference to Seclusion and Restraints published by the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - "Seclusion and restraint are medical interventions, which are utilized during the psychiatric treatment of children and adolescents in hospital-based settings or other specialized clinical treatment programs."

Autism National Committee Position on Restraints - "Condemns the widespread and excessive use of mechanical and physical restraints in restricting the civil and human rights of people with disabilities ... the use of restraints is a failure in treatment."

National Mental Health Association Position Statement - "Overuse and abuse of restraints and seclusion are symptoms of poor quality care in facilities, poor state oversight, and misdirected public policy. State and federal agencies must take a greater role in assuring the safety and protection of children and adults who experience these interventions."

Position Paper on Seclusion and Restraints from National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - "The use of involuntary mechanical or human restraints or involuntary seclusion is only justified as an emergency safety measure in response to imminent danger to a patient or others ... Restraint and seclusion have no therapeutic value and should be used only for emergency safety by order of a physician with competency in psychiatry or a licensed independent mental health professional (LIP)."

Research

Physical Restraints in School (Powerpoint presentation)

To Top

Physical & Sexual Abuse

Physical Abuse in Schools

Call to Action: New York Regs Allow Schools to Use "Aversive Interventions" on Children, Including Electric Shock - In June, 2006, New York approved "emergency regulations" that permit public schools to use aversive behavioral interventions and time-out rooms on children with disabilities. These regulations were approved without public meetings, testimony of comment. Call to Action includes a detailed plan of action to defeat these regulations.

Abu Ghraib on the Hudson by Dee Alpert, Esq., Special Education Muckraker
(in pdf)
http://www.specialeducationmuckraker.com/ABU_GHRAIB_ON_THE_HUDSON.pdf

Action Alert: Abu Ghraib on the Hudson (html)

Sexual Abuse in Schools

Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature prepared for the U. S. Department of Education Carol Schakeshaft (2004) estimages that nearly 1 in 10 students (9.8%) experienced unacceptable sexual behavior by a school employee during their school years. The report describes existing research and literature, prevalence, offender characteristics, targets, patterns, effects, consequences, and prevention of educator sexual misconduct.(156 pages, pdf)

Kalie McArthur v. Academy School District 20 - Parents sue district after daughter sexually assaulted by "peer tutor" - district expert claims assault was "pleasurable."

To Top

Time Out and Seclusion

New York Schools Regs Allow Schools to Use "Aversive Interventions" on Children - Including Electric Shock - In June, the New York Board of Regents approved "emergency regulations" that permit public schools to use aversive behavioral interventions and time-out rooms as consequences for behavior of children with disabilities. These regulations went into effect on June 23, 2006. Among these "emergency regulations" is "the placement of a child unsupervised or unobserved in a room from which the student cannot exit without assistance."

Reducing the Use of Restraint and Seclusion: Promising Practices and Successful Strategies from the Child Welfare League - "Restraint and seclusion are dehumanizing, humiliating, and dangerous." This issue brief is a collection of promising practices and successful strategies for limiting the use of physical restraint and seclusion." ($6.95)

To Top

Positive Behavior Support (PBS)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that a child's Individualized Education Planning (IEP) Team consider to the child's behavior if it interferes with his or her education or the education of others. IDEA is explicit in what it requires the IEP team to do when a child with a disability has behavior problems:

• If a child's behavior impairs the child's learning or that of others, the IEP team shall consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports (20 U.S.C. Section 1414(d)(3)(B)(i)) (Wrightslaw: IDEA 2004, page 94);
• If school personnel decide to change the child's placement because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the school district, parent, and relevant members of the IEP team shall review all relevant information including the IEP, to determine if the conduct was caused by or had a relationship to the child's disability (20 U.S.C. Section 1415(k)(1)(E) (Wrightslaw: IDEA 2004, page 111-112)
• If the team determines that the child's conduct was a manifestation of the disability, the IEP shall conduct a functional behavioral assessment, and implement a behavior intervention plan (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(i)(F); Wrightslaw: IDEA 2004, page 112)
• If a behavior intervention plan already exists, the team must review and modify it to address the child's behavior (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(i)(F); Wrightslaw: IDEA 2004, page 112)

Free e-Book Download: Achieving Better Outcomes for Children and Families - The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCMH) serve as the Coordinating Center for the three-year Best Practices in Behavior Support and Intervention Project. The project is designed to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion by improving the training and supervision of staff who work directly with children and youth.

Positive Behavior Support is designed to resolve problem behavior of children with strategies that are based on empirical research.

Positive Behavioral Supports and School Psychology: What a Great IDEA! published by the National Association of School Psychologists

Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS)

To Top

Caselaw: Abuse, Neglect, Restraints, Seclusion in Public Schools

Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities v. Hartford Bd of Educ, Hartford Public Schools and Robert Henry, Sup. of Schools (2nd Cir 2006)

After media reports of children being neglected and abused at the Hartford Transitional Academy, a "therapeutic educational program" for emotionally disturbed children, the Connecticut Office of Protection & Advocacy launched an investigation into these allegations. Administrators at Hartford Public Schools stonewalled, refused to provide the agency with any information about the children or contact information for their parents. School officials refused to allow the P & A staff to interview students at the "Academy."

Why? Hartford Public Schools claimed the Individuals with Disabiliities Act and FERPA barred them from releasing infomation about the students who may have been neglected and/or abused by them. When this argument failed in court, school officials claimed the P & A was only authorized to investigate abuse at residential programs. The U. S. Court of Appeals requested that the U. S. Dept of Education and Health and Human Services file amicus briefs with their interpretations. The joint amicus brief filed with the Court "rejects defendents arguments." The Court ruled that the P & A have a statutory responsibility to investigate suspected cases of abuse and neglect of individuals with disabilities or mental illness. The Court found probable cause that "multiple individuals have been subjected to abuse or neglect" at Hartford Transitional Academy. (September 15, 2006)

Note: GreatSchools provided statistics for the Hartford Transition Academy and Hartford Public Schools. Of the 269 students enrolled at Hartford Transition Academy, 0 percent were proficient in reading, writing and math on the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. (It appears that Hartford Public Schools did not provide any test data for this school).

Questions: According to the Connecticut Dept of Education, "The goal is for all students to score at or above the state standard." The test data for Hartford Public Schools shows that the district is far from reaching this goal. What steps has the Connecticut Department of Education taken to bring this school into compliance?

How is your child's school and school district performing? Visit GreatSchools or School Matters for detailed information about schools and school districts.

Disability Rights Wisconsin, Inc., v. v. Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction & Elizabeth Burmaster, Superintendent of Public Instruction (7th Cir. 2006)

This case involved several children who were dragged into seclusion / time out rooms at Lincoln Elementary School. The media learned about these incidents and did a news story about the abused children. When Disability Rights of Wisconsin tried to investigate, the Department of Public Instruction refused to provide any information about the identity of the children involved or their parents, claiming that this "confidential information," pursuant to the Family Educational Privacy Act.

The court provided a detailed description of one seclusion room that was "approximately 5 feet by 9 feet in size. Dark grey carpeting covered the floor and the walls. Fluorescent ceiling lighting illuminated the room. The door to the room had a lock and no interior door knob, which violated the fire code (and has since been remedied)."The Court analyzed the laws that govern Protection and Advocacy agencies and ruled in favor of Disability Rights of Wisconsin. The decision includes a detailed description of the responsibilities of P & As to protect individuals with disabilities, limitations on confidentiality under the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act, and other issues.

Covington v. Knox Co (TN) - U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Decision in "time-out room" child abuse case; creates exceptions to exhaustion requirement in damages cases. In html

$250,000 Settlement in McCarter Case - In a case about sexual abuse of a child with cerebral palsy and school's failure to provide an appropriate education, the state, school district and parents entered into a settlement agreement of $250,000 for damages, attorneys’ fees and expenses, vocational and rehabilitation services, and state-wide policy changes.

Shawn Witte v. Clark County (NV) School Board, et. al. - U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. School brutality case; damages sought under Section 504 and the ADA on behalf of child with disability. Court issued pro-child decision; discussed exhaustion of remedies under the IDEA and appropriate damages for physical abuse and injury. Decision in pdf

W.B. v. Matula, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In case where child was bullied by teacher and other students, court held that damages are available under Section 504, IDEA, and Section 1983 since the district refused to evaluate, classify and provide appropriate services to the disabled child; includes discussion of exhaustion, qualified immunity, and due process.

To Top

Protection & Advocacy Services

National Protection & Advocacy Agencies

The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) - nonprofit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP) for individuals with disabilities. Collectively, the P&A/CAP network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States.

National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy - NARPA is dedicated to promoting those policies and pursuing those strategies that represent the preferred options of people who have been labeled mentally disabled. NARPA is committed to advocating the abolishing of all forced treatment laws. NARPA believes the recipients of mental health services are capable of and entitled to make their own choices, and they are, above all, equal citizens under the law. NARPA's fundamental mission is to help empower people who have been labeled mentally disabled so that they may learn to independently exercise their rights.

To Top