{"id":3374,"date":"2010-06-14T15:50:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T19:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2010-06-16T15:34:58","modified_gmt":"2010-06-16T19:34:58","slug":"will-the-senate-pass-the-restraint-seclusion-bill-or-instead-make-it-easier-to-use-aversives-restraint-seclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/will-the-senate-pass-the-restraint-seclusion-bill-or-instead-make-it-easier-to-use-aversives-restraint-seclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Senate Pass the Restraint &#038; Seclusion Bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Will%20the%20Senate%20Pass%20the%20Restraint%20%26%20Seclusion%20Bill%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong>Call your Senators and ask them to pass S.2860<\/strong>, the restraint\/seclusion bill as it passed the House.\u00a0 <strong>Dial 202-224-3121<\/strong> or go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.senate.gov\/\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.senate.gov<\/span><\/a>, click on Senators for contact information (including local numbers).\u00a0 Ask for your Senator\u2019s Education Aide or HELP Committee aide, and leave a detailed voicemail message if they are unavailable. (More contact details below)<\/p>\n<p>Three months ago, the House approved its restraint\/seclusion bill (<a href=\"http:\/\/edlabor.house.gov\/newsroom\/2010\/03\/houses-approves-bill-to-protec.shtml\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">H.R. 4247<\/span><\/a>), passing the baton to the Senate to approve S. 2860, the <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act<\/span> sponsored by Senator Dodd.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney Jessica Butler says &#8220;the bills are groundbreaking&#8221; and asks Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi to lead the Senate in passing the Restraint\/Seclusion bill as approved by the House.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The bill would protect all 53 million children in America including 7 million with disabilities, whether in public or private school, from harmful restraint\/seclusion and also aversives that compromise health and safety. But opponents of the bill want it changed.&#8221;\u00a0 Ask the Senate to support the bill. Find out how&#8230;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Jessica describes how opponents of the bills have fought hard in the Senate and the House. Shortly before the House voted, they began lobbying fiercely to protect their rights to use these methods.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some advocates and parents wanted to exclude private schools that use aversives from the bill.<\/li>\n<li>Others wanted to permit restraint\/seclusion in IEPs with little limitation, and if not IEPs, then a student plan written by staff, outside of IDEA and its procedural protections, least restrictive environment requirements, and stay-put.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If they cannot have this, they want the bill stopped.<\/p>\n<p>Some Congressmen think that if restraint, seclusion, or aversives are included in the IEP, it is by fully-informed parent agreement, and this is sufficient to protect children.<\/p>\n<p><strong>They need to know what the IEP process is really like, how too often parents are forced to accept things by school employees, how little control parents have.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Congress needs to hear your stories and your clients\u2019 stories about the IEP process. If you have experience with FBAs and positive interventions and how those help resolve difficult behaviors, share those experiences.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To learn more details about this proposed law, read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/restraint.senate.bill.butler.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Will the Senate Pass the Restraint and Seclusion Bill? Or Instead Make it Easier to Use Aversives, Retraint, and Seclusion?<\/span><\/a> by Jessica Butler, Esq. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/restraint.senate.bill.butler.htm\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/restraint.senate.bill.butler.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/info\/restraint.senate.bill.butler.htm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Ask the Senate to Pass the House Bill<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Call your Senators and ask them to pass S.2860<\/strong>, the restraint\/seclusion bill as it passed the House.\u00a0 <strong>Dial 202-224-3121<\/strong> or go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.senate.gov\/\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">www.senate.gov<\/span><\/a>, click on Senators for contact information (including local numbers).\u00a0 Ask for your Senator\u2019s Education Aide or HELP Committee aide, and leave a detailed voicemail message if they are unavailable.<\/p>\n<p>Ask them to pass the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act, S. 2860, just as the House passed it in March.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Explain why there shouldn&#8217;t be loopholes for private schools that use aversives; or broad general loopholes to include restraint\/seclusion in IEPs.<\/li>\n<li>Share restraint\/seclusion\/aversive stories.<\/li>\n<li>If you don\u2019t have these stories, tell a story about your personal experience with the inequalities in the IEP process, and ask that they protect children from these kinds of inequalities in the restraint\/seclusion bill.<\/li>\n<li> Make the point that simply having the IEP process is not enough to protect children.\u00a0 Tell them how positive interventions can really make a difference.<\/li>\n<li>Tell them the bill may be made part of the ESEA Reauthorization (what used to be NCLB), and they should watch for the bill there, too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Calls are much better than email.\u00a0 If you cannot call due to disability or other severe restraints, please send an email but perhaps ask a friend to also make a call. Congress pays greater attention to phone calls and voicemail messages. And they need a lot of them right now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Consider sharing your views on S. 2860 with Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi<\/strong>, who lead the Senate Committee.\u00a0 <strong>Senator Harkin, the Committee Chair: phone 202-224-3254, fax 202-224-9369); Senator Enzi, the leading Republican, phone 202-224-3424 (fax 202-228-0359)<\/strong>.\u00a0 The other side has lobbied them, even coming in for visits.<\/p>\n<p>When Congress does not hear from you, they assume the other side is telling the truth about what parents want and need.\u00a0 Your voice and experiences as family members and advocates for children with disabilities matter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Share this information with friends, neighbors, and colleagues<\/strong> or write your own, and ask them to make a call, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.\u00a0 Even if you opposed the House bill because you thought it wasn\u2019t strong enough, please consider calling the Senate<\/strong>.\u00a0 Let them know that private schools that use aversives should be covered by the bill. Let them know that there shouldn\u2019t be broad IEP loopholes. And tell them your stories about IEP unfairness, too.\u00a0 You can do this without saying that you support the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Call your Senators and ask them to pass S.2860, the restraint\/seclusion bill as it passed the House.\u00a0 Dial 202-224-3121 or go to http:\/\/www.senate.gov, click on Senators for contact information (including <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/will-the-senate-pass-the-restraint-seclusion-bill-or-instead-make-it-easier-to-use-aversives-restraint-seclusion\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1368,224,1273,92,1276],"tags":[339,614,142,471,1299,453,472,613,338,500],"class_list":["post-3374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abuse-restraints","category-education-policy","category-political-action","category-restraints","category-seclusion","tag-aversives","tag-bips","tag-fba","tag-hr4247","tag-ieps","tag-preventing-harmful-restraint-and-seclusion-in-schools-act","tag-restraint","tag-s2860","tag-seclusion","tag-seclusion-rooms"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3374"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3410,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374\/revisions\/3410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}