Stop looking the other way, look into the eyes of these children

June 4, 12:30 AMSpecial Education ExaminerRobin Hansen

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Everyday parents send their children to school with faith, hope and trust, they will be educated and nurtured in a positive classroom setting.  Unfortunately, it just isn't the reality for some children.  Here are examples of what happens when things go wrong.   The only thing more shocking than the facts of each incident, is the lack of accountability. 

Cape Cod Massachusetts

Is pushing this young child on the floor and using these restraints used over and over again just for not sitting in a chair?  Does this child even seem to understand why she is being punished? 

When this video was shown to the D.A Michale O'Keefe, he said. "This was an example of loving school personnel at their best".  If you do not agree with Mr O'Keefe, you can email him at CapeDA@Massmail.state.ma.us

Prescott, Arizona. 

The state of Senator John McCain who has publicly denounced torture on adults.   It sounds like he needs to denounce torture against disabled children too.  Arizona is attracting a lot of attention due to seclusion cells located on multiple school sites.

This video has generated enough outrage so that school officials are now claiming they will dismantle it but there is no schedule yet.  For more info:                                          http://www.dcourier.com/main.aspSectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=68673&TM=63113.84

Florida

In St Lucie Florida, an applied behavior specialist (with a prison record) took 8 year old into an isolated room and allegedly assaulted him.

Georgia

A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out." ... But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper. Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants.

Canada

In the early afternoon of April 17, Gabriel began to disturb his classmates at École Marie Rivier in St. Jean sur Richelieu with loud noises.His teachers gave him two warnings to calm down. When Gabriel continued to misbehave, one teacher took him to the corner of the classroom and rolled him in a weighted blanket, which is sometimes used to calm autistic children.

A 50lb  heavy blanket was tightly wrapped around the 3-foot, 11-inch Gabriel at least four times, pinning his arms to his sides, the coroner's report said. With only the tips of his toes peeking out, the boy was left on his stomach, his head completely covered, for more than 20 minutes. Gabriel eventually stopped making noise. The teacher went to check on him, turning him on his back. The boy appeared "listless and blue in the face," . He died the next day. Although teachers at Marie Rivier had received training and guidelines from occupational therapists about how to use weighted blankets, the rules were not followed the day Gabriel died, the coroner's report said.  

  Gabriel Poirier

Complete story: tinyurl.com/59s4o6

For more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8RlcIRkBkw&feature=related