Parents who have children in special ed need to read this

[moonglow]

Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms

MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out."

"We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called "our baby ... a good kid."

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. (read the rest at the link)

If you have a child in special ed you need to find out if your school uses a room like this...see it and find out if anyone is trained with these. It should have been included on your child's IEP...these parents had no clue their child was even acting up at school or he had threatened suicide..the school didn't tell them...make sure you are informed!

God bless

[Moxie]

As long as our society continues to view children as property, events like this will continue......unfortunately. Thank you for making us aware.

[CoffeeCat]

That poor little boy .... as a teacher in training, I know our system up here is vastly different. We don't have seclusion rooms that I'm aware of, but I'd be pretty shocked to find out they were being used. They're horribly inhumane... and what really gets me is that it seems many people are NOT "trained" to use them. (How, I ask you, do you train someone to seclude and freak out a child?)

I fully understand and believe in time out periods, calm down periods, and safe quiet spaces kids can go when they're anxious and out of control -- but they need supervision, it needs to be a friendly atmosphere (especially for kids with special needs), and it needs to have a calming effect. Your focus has to be rebalance and restoration and conversation. Treating kids like criminals in small rooms that look like jail cells (or worse, closets!) is astoundingly wrong.

[beckisted2004]

I fully understand and believe in time out periods, calm down periods, and safe quiet spaces kids can go when they're anxious and out of control -- but they need supervision

I believe that this is the key. In the elementary school that I work, there is a little girl. It is written in her IEP that she needs time out periods and the parents are fighting it tooth and nail because of cases like this. The sad thing is, in this case, we really don't have a choice. She is a danger to the other children (and adults) and needs to be in a separate room when she is having an episode. From this story, I understand why the parents would be fearful of what time in the "time out room" actually meant, but in our school it means that an adult is in the room with her at all times. There is a full system worked out to ensure that things like that don't happen. There are timers set, certain questions asked, differently choices given...the second she calms down, she will be able to go back to class.

So anyways...yes, parents should be very cautious. Just realize that things like time out rooms really are necessary and helpful (when used properly, of course). Sometimes kids don't act at school like they act at home and it's so hard to see teachers fighting parents when they're both just advocating on behalf of children. It's really sad that things like this can just dissolve all trust in parent-teacher relationships.

[moonglow]

I believe that this is the key. In the elementary school that I work, there is a little girl. It is written in her IEP that she needs time out periods and the parents are fighting it tooth and nail because of cases like this. The sad thing is, in this case, we really don't have a choice. She is a danger to the other children (and adults) and needs to be in a separate room when she is having an episode. From this story, I understand why the parents would be fearful of what time in the "time out room" actually meant, but in our school it means that an adult is in the room with her at all times. There is a full system worked out to ensure that things like that don't happen. There are timers set, certain questions asked, differently choices given...the second she calms down, she will be able to go back to class.

So anyways...yes, parents should be very cautious. Just realize that things like time out rooms really are necessary and helpful (when used properly, of course). Sometimes kids don't act at school like they act at home and it's so hard to see teachers fighting parents when they're both just advocating on behalf of children. It's really sad that things like this can just dissolve all trust in parent-teacher relationships.

My son could have easily been in need of one of these when he was younger...he had very voilent rages and would attack anyone...child, adult, me..didn't matter...plus self harm...slamming his head into walls, doorways, etc....his was triggered by anxiety...a flight or fight response. Once he was like this, he couldn't be talked down. There was no reasoning with him.

I tried having him attend a charter school in first grade, thinking maybe there he could get more one on one attention...while he hadn't been dx yet, I knew he had a learning disability and that was part of the problem...plus also having PTSD due to emotional abuse by his dad...PLUS he had food allergies...and dyes, such as red dye 40 could trigger one of these. He also had some gross and fine motor delays....sensory integration disorder...and ADHD. The thing was while he had gotten an IEP in preschool and did get some help when they tested him again he was classified as satisfactory so they wouldn't carry the IEP over to kindergarten...he had not been tested for a LD yet even though the indications on his IQ test were red flags for one (very up and down scores...yet averaged out to a normal IQ..typical of those with an LD...they refused to consider it...

So he starts school with ALL this and no one cared to listen to my concerns....so yea he had problems. Anyway so I tried the charter school which was out of town...couldn't really afford it or the drive but I couldn't stand to see his ego crushed so young because he couldn't handle school. One day he had a rage...took FIVE teachers to hold him down. Something I normally did alone....but see I was trained how to safety restrain him so he couldn't hurt himself or others...they weren't. If they had a room like that, they probably would have put him in it. Anyway he was kicked out of there school after that...after all that was most of this schools teachers! And they couldn't deal with a child like him. So that is when I homeschooled him for the rest of that year while through medication they tried to get these rages under control...

As he got bigger and stronger though, it was getting physically too hard for me to restrain him..only through the grace of God was he finally healed of the rages. He ended up redoing first grade the next year as he learned nothing when I homeschooled him... A few problems here and there but nothing so major he had to be restrained and they didn't have a room like that. He hasn't raged in years.

At any rate I can understand the reason why they do this...when a child gets a certain size they cannot be kept safe ...they are super strong ...they are screaming and ranting and raging and cannot hear a calm voice talking to them! For Nate most of the time I don't think he ever remembered much of his rages...kind of hard to learn not to do something you can't remember. The schools NEED to train the certain staff on how to deal with such children...how to do so safety and the parents need to have the child in therapy and on medication too. Its a very tough situation all around! But no child should be locked up for hours and hours like that..they should have done what the mom said and just called her when he didn't calm down after a short period of time.

There was just no excuse having him locked up like that all the time...

God bless

[beckisted2004]

The schools NEED to train the certain staff on how to deal with such children...how to do so safety and the parents need to have the child in therapy and on medication too. Its a very tough situation all around! But no child should be locked up for hours and hours like that..they should have done what the mom said and just called her when he didn't calm down after a short period of time.

I completely agree! I think schools are trying to make progress in the area of trainings. I know in my school district, if you are working with a child that ever needs to be restrained, you have to be CPI certified. If you're not, you should not be holding them back in any way. You can stand between them and the other children, but holding onto them in any way is not acceptable if you're not trained. Even after you're trained, you're supposed to specify with the educational team to determine which of the holds should be used with each particular child.

It is a hard situation for both teachers and parents and I strongly agree that if the situation is longer or more intense than their "normal" episodes, then the parents should be called. That's one of the reasons that the timers are often written into the IEPs of kids at the school I work at. That way the time is well documented, so having a child in the room all day is near impossible. An adult is with the student at all times and the adults switch "shifts" throughout the day, so different steps would be taken if it was a prolonged period of time. There is also good communication inside of the school. The assistant principal and principal are notified almost immediately and are updated frequently.

Again, none of this can assure parents that things like that won't happen, but the more safeguards that are put into place, the better! Dr. Phil actually did a show on this issue in the past week or so. I feel that my school district is pretty up on the trainings and guidelines for these situations, but that is obviously not happening everywhere, because the show was about very similar cases still occuring in schools. One story was about a young girl that was put into a room by herself all day and was not even allowed to go to the bathroom. The parents got suspicious and had a video camera put into the room (they were aware of time outs being used, but they thought it was for ~5 minutes). They saw her being kept in the room all day and immediately pulled her out of the school.

It's absolutely heartbreaking that children are now supposed to have their guards up everywhere. We wonder why people have so many trust issues, yet it seems so many people in supposedly trustworthy postions abuse that power.

[moonglow]

I completely agree! I think schools are trying to make progress in the area of trainings. I know in my school district, if you are working with a child that ever needs to be restrained, you have to be CPI certified. If you're not, you should not be holding them back in any way. You can stand between them and the other children, but holding onto them in any way is not acceptable if you're not trained. Even after you're trained, you're supposed to specify with the educational team to determine which of the holds should be used with each particular child.

It is a hard situation for both teachers and parents and I strongly agree that if the situation is longer or more intense than their "normal" episodes, then the parents should be called. That's one of the reasons that the timers are often written into the IEPs of kids at the school I work at. That way the time is well documented, so having a child in the room all day is near impossible. An adult is with the student at all times and the adults switch "shifts" throughout the day, so different steps would be taken if it was a prolonged period of time. There is also good communication inside of the school. The assistant principal and principal are notified almost immediately and are updated frequently.

Again, none of this can assure parents that things like that won't happen, but the more safeguards that are put into place, the better! Dr. Phil actually did a show on this issue in the past week or so. I feel that my school district is pretty up on the trainings and guidelines for these situations, but that is obviously not happening everywhere, because the show was about very similar cases still occuring in schools. One story was about a young girl that was put into a room by herself all day and was not even allowed to go to the bathroom. The parents got suspicious and had a video camera put into the room (they were aware of time outs being used, but they thought it was for ~5 minutes). They saw her being kept in the room all day and immediately pulled her out of the school.

It's absolutely heartbreaking that children are now supposed to have their guards up everywhere. We wonder why people have so many trust issues, yet it seems so many people in supposedly trustworthy postions abuse that power.

Well exactly...if the parent (my son's dad) hadn't broken that trust in the first place and caused such rage and mistrust in him so young, he wouldn't act like that....what he needed more then anything was to know he could trust other adults. The thing is the professionals I dealt with in every area...therapy, teachers, etc, made unkind and hurtful remarks when he did rage. Well first they didn't believe me when I tried to warn him...and pooh, hooed it off then would be totally shocked when he did it! There reaction was anger! Towards him, towards me...and it made the situation much worse. So on top of all the things he was dealing with, was then added more rejection...

I went from being a pretty passive person to a pretty aggressive person...I had too if I wanted my son to get the services he needed and get these professional to BE professionals! I was not a popular person for years... I had to confront and demand and keep at it...something that wasn't really in my nature. It was really hard but for his sake I had to do it.

I will tell you something though...when my son's first therapist showed me how to restrain him...it wasn't safe at all...Nate could barely breath as he had his head forced down...so his chin was touching his chest. Nate was barely able to say..."I can't breath" in which this therapist said oh yes he can..he couldn't say that if he couldn't breath...but clearly Nate was struggling to breath! And here I am trying to trust and believe this therapist that I think surely knows more then I do...

Some other things happened and he was dropped as Nate's therapist. I had heard of a mentally retarded person somewhere being restrained like that and suffocating...so I wasn't about to restrain Nate like that. Later I was taught a better and much safer way to do it. You can still get hurt though..I had Nate throw his head back and smack me in the jaw before...you have to get them just right and its no easy task! When they get bigger...stronger, its more difficult. I had had training in restraining adults due to a job I had before so I knew some things that way...

But yea when things get that bad, the parents need to be called. Here they have case workers at the local mental health that can be called too and will come in...and crisis care managers that can and will do the physically restraining. They are trained and can be there quickly!

These children are wounded...for some reason...and need to be cared for not ignored or shut away and yes its hard, especially if one has hurt you! Believe me I know...!

God bless