CNN Reports on Holding Cells (Time Out, Seclusion Rooms) in Public Schools

If you don't have a child in special education, you are probably unaware of this kind of special education "service". Students who are misbehaving or experiencing a tantrum may be held down ("restrained") or confined in little rooms.

CNN reports:

Disability Rights California, a federally funded watchdog group, found that teachers dragged children into seclusion rooms they could not leave. In one case, they found a retarded 8-year-old had been locked alone in a seclusion room in a northeast California elementary school for at least 31 days in a year.

"What we found outrageous was that we went to the schools and asked to see the rooms and were denied," said Leslie Morrison, a psychiatric nurse and attorney who led the 2007 investigation that substantiated at least six cases of abuse involving seclusion in public schools.

"It took a lot of fighting to eventually get in to see where these children were held."

CNN asked every school official interviewed if a reporter could visit a seclusion room and was denied every time.

Read more on the subject of restraints at Autism Vox. She also has an excellent post, Padded Cells and Physical Restraints, covering their use in one school district in New Jersey.

Wrightslaw has a section on restraints and abuse.  The Palm Beach Post's community pages has a page on Restraint and Seclusion in Florida Schools and there's a companion blog, Florida Families Against Restraint and Seclusion.  There's a blog, Families Against Restraint and Seclusion

The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities has a blog post on restraint in Connecticut.

Comments

[Chris]

Great work! A very helpful and insightful tool for parents and educators about dyslexia is found at www.accommodationsfordyslexia.com it is called The Parents Guide To Dyslexia.

[Keith Peck]

Parent that suspect any of this kind of treatment should contact an attorney who focuses on this area of the law. www.spedlawcenter.com