An in-depth look at Restraint and Seclusion practices in Tennessee (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1

Federal laws concerning Restraint and Seclusion

According to a recent GAO (Government Accountability Office) report, there are no federal laws restricting the use of seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level.

Recently a bill, S. 3895, was introduced to the Senate by Sen. Christopher Dodd [D-CT] and Richard Burr [R-NC]. It was referred to committee review in September.[9]

According to the bill, “Seclusion and physical restraint have resulted in serious bodily injury, psychological trauma, and death to children in schools. National research shows children have been subjected to inappropriate seclusion and physical restraint in schools as a means of discipline, to force compliance, or as a substitute for appropriate educational support.”

The United States Department of Education recently stated that they have no official position on whether or not restraint and seclusion should be included in students’ individualized education plans, or IEPs.

Why not restraint and seclusion?

Isolation and prolonged restraint of a child can have severe emotional as well as physical repercussions. Many children have developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after their ordeal. Some have committed suicide, and some have died while being restrained. [1] [2]

These techniques do not involve working with a child to promote understanding, or use building blocks to encourage a child to grow emotionally.

Many if not most of the children that Restraint or Seclusion is used with are disabled and lack the social understanding to fathom what they did wrong and why they are being punished. A majority have disabilities such as Autism, Down Syndrome, Developmental Disabilities and other disorders that preclude the child from understanding social norms and when and why they have stepped out of the boundaries of social norms. They are punished for behaviors such as stimming, obsessing over objects, holding on to a comforting item, verbalizing, and fidgeting. These are normal and often involuntary behaviors for many children with disabilities.

Placing a child in an Isolation room alone is an ineffective tool for behavior modification, which makes it a punishment. [5][6]

According to Readdick & Chapman, if the child perceives it as a punishment, time-out can have serious side effects that are commonly associated with punishment, including increases of other maladaptive behaviors and withdrawal from or avoidance of the adults administering time-out.  In addition, given their social inexperience, young children tend to internalize negative labels, see themselves as they are labeled, and react accordingly.[4]

According to a paper by Wolf, McLaughlin and Williams[5] “Intended only as a temporary measure, timeout quickly becomes ineffective and even dangerous when children are placed in small, enclosed places for long periods of time.”

Discrimination

Many opponents of Restraint and Seclusion also argue that it is discrimination against children with Special Needs.[8] It is almost unheard of for these practices to be used with a neurotypical child (a child without disabilities) even when one acts out. Some believe that it is a holdover from the times when children with disabilities were institutionalized, and that the school system has not advanced in learning “best practices” that have been proven to be more effective in educating and developing appropriate behavior responses in Special Needs children.

Currently in Tennessee

Current law states that Seclusion is only for emergency situations, and that someone is to be with the child in the room and observing the child at all times. Yet lawsuits and allegations of abuses still state that current practices are not up to the law. The even larger concern is that while these cases have come to light, there may be many more abuses that are not.

As Florida’s Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Art Johnson stated, "Just because somebody has done away with something, it does not necessarily make it right to abandon it."

This sentiment seems to be prevalent in the country’s school systems as they continue to use practices that are considered outdated, harmful, and even illegal.

Continued in Part 3...