'He was enclosed in a concrete seclusion room'

For reference, inappropriate and poorly applied restraint and seclusion in schools is not some made up problem to be "skeptical of", as one commenter noted - it is a national  issue that has been subject to two Congressional hearings and is further being looked at closely by the Federal Government, with tow current bills [Keeping All Students Safe Acts S. 2020 and HR 1381] active in Congress. The US Dept. of Education for the past 4 years result has been pressing for less free-wheeling and in-violation of IDEA application of restraint and seclusion; this is one reason that Oregon articulated more detailed procedure on the matter. Many states do not have guidelines and an issue is lack of data on how often these are applied, despite the clauses in IDEA which specify use of such procedures ideally in a previously defined Behavior Plan developed by an IFSP or IEP team based on a behavioral assessment or analysis.http://www.policyinsider.org/2012/07/cec-expert-tells-senate-how-to-prevent-and-reduce-restraint-seclusion.htmlAs Professor Sprague alludes to, one reason that there is a plan, and ideally, a meeting in case seclusion is applied on an emergency or ad hoc basis is to find out why seclusion needed to be applied and to develop a behavioral intervention plan in order to address the problem effectively - both on the side of the student behavior, what might be the precipitating antecedents [for instance, weakness in more functional communication, being ill, seizures, classroom conditions, not having prerequisite skills for the classroom task, etc.] and the function of the behavior so that it can be determined if seclusion would be useful, if even necessary, or would act as something to actually increase the frequency of behavior in future.The whys matter - the original basis of seclusion was to remove students from an enjoyable activity for a limited and defined amount of time, much as parents do for a "time-out" but if it is extended well beyond that which one would reasonably use then what was a reasonable procedure becomes abuse. If it is misapplied and used because a student "acts up" to get out of a task demand, then going to seclusion actually teaches the student to act up more because that works. This balancing act also assumes that there is also a system of rewarding good behavior and using good teaching strategies with special learners and behaviorally challenged students.If I sound like I'm just being pedantic, I am the parent of a special needs student with autism who presented challenging behavior when young (she does not now functions reasonably well in the community and family). 

So the less funding there is for schools, the less money there is to provide support personnal and training to them, and yet there can be put in a position where they are handling our children and don't have the skills. 

Let me ask you ignorant folks out there a question. If you got pissed and someone locked you in a room, would that calm you down? You know damn well it wouldn't and to ask that of a child who doesn't fully understand why he is in that room in the first place is what's insane not teachers having to deal with problem children. Don't like dealing with problem children? Don't be a teacher, pretty simple. It's not that these problems didn't exist before it's that we have 7 billion people on this planet and a lot more kids to act up in the classroom. I have met one of these mothers and she is one of the most level headed, kind, caring, intelligent folks I have met in this town of brilliance. I was also one of these "problem children" and it wasn't my parent's fault. So before you judge, try to be objective because how you feel and what you see isn't the entire story.

The real problem is with the ADA and how policymakers' decisions have affected day-to-day classroom instruction in the last 20 years.  The reality is that children with emotional and/or intellectual problems, which manifest as behavior difficulties, are now almost always diagnosed as "disabled."   The ADA, and its implementation at all levels of our society, has forced local schools to "reasonably accommodate" these "disabled" students.  The result is that schools, principals, and teachers are REQUIRED to deal with these kids, rather than simply expelling them from further attendance -- even a student's behavior is VIOLENT and completely out of control. 

 

I am not making a value judgment about the cause or morality of this type of student's behavior, nor am I "blaming" that student's parent.  The cause-and-effect of these types of students' behavior is another argument entirely.

 

However...the result is that an ENORMOUS amount of resources -- energy, time, and money -- are devoted to these very few students and DIVERTED away from students who do not present problems in the classroom nor detract from other students' learning environment.  Special interest groups and policymakers who do their bidding really have slowed (or stopped, in some cases) the educational process for the overwhelming majority of kids in order to tend to the needs of the select few.  It really is a great injustice and, most important, counterproductive to the goals of teaching and educating the majority of students.

 

Most parents have NO IDEA what the typical teacher faces each day.  It is nothing like what it was even a generation ago when they were in school.  Most teachers are forced to spend an inordinate amount of time each day on one or two "problem" students in class, fully hamstrung by the bureaucracy of policymakers who do not spend one day in a classroom.  When even a First or Second Grader has an "emotional" meltdown, teachers must clear their classrooms, call the "resource" assistant or teacher to come get the student having a problem, and then resume class while hearing the removed student scream, swear, pound the walls in adjacent "timeout" rooms for minutes (or even hours) on end...ONLY TO HAVE THE STUDENT RETURNED TO THE CLASS THE FOLLOWING DAY AND REPEAT THE SAME SITUATION.  

 

One cannot (and should not) help but feel sorry for the parents of children who have difficulties functioning regularly in a classroom environment, and feel sorry for the children.  But the extent to which schools and teachers and other students are forced to accommodate disruptive students is insane.

I think these rooms are a good idea,however mistakes can happen,and given the high rate of autism there does need to be some additional training. This is a damned if you do,damned if you don't situation. You let the child act out,and then that disturbs the class,or they throw such a huge fit they hurt themselves,or somebody else. If the teacher can not control the child with minimal effort then they should be able to opt out of teaching that child. Teachers are not paid nearly enough to deal with unruly children,all types of unruly,the school should set a standard,and if the parents don't like it they can take their uncontrollable children elsewhere for their education needs. So far this is a pretty one sided argument,with not nearly enough support for the schools or teachers.

My question to this lady would be if she is willing to take responsibility if her son hurts some other child when he would have normally been secluded

In Oregon, the rate of children with autism is actually higher, about 1 in 80 or so. Children born with autism generally do not have emotional or neurological damage at birth--their brains are literally wired differently. There's no guarantee what will happen to them after birth. I think it's very easy to put all the blame on the teachers and support staff who work with them, when more attention needs to be paid to the administration and what is being done with the money they are receiving to support special education programs. Where is the money going? There is absolutely no excuse for Danebo to have a room like that--I haven't seen it personally, I haven't been to Danebo. Their safe room sounds pretty draconian. I don't think the public understands, however, how many behaviorally challenged students special education classrooms are getting now because there isn't a place for the seriously behaviorally challenged students to go. I agree completely with Jeff Sprague in that use of safe rooms as seclusion areas can be seriously, seriously overused. I have seen things in classrooms I have worked in that I have reported as possibly being illegal and been treated in such a manner that warns other Educational Assistants if they come forward and try to stand up for the children's rights, they will be treated the same way.  Safe rooms that are built correctly should be just that, a room where a child can go for a few minutes, on their own or after telling someone they want to go there, remain there completely unrestricted but observed, and they come out when they have calmed down and are ready to be around other people again. I have seen children go to safe rooms on their own. They wouldn't let me keep the door open (in this case the door had a window and there was a light in the safe room, and I watched the child the entire time). For some children with autism, the noise of the classroom is just too much sometimes, and they really do feel safer in smaller spaces. They come out after a few minutes. We had cardboard boxes in one kindergarten classroom children with autism could climb into if they wanted. I've been in classrooms where the "safe room" was a fairly small space a few people could fit into but only had walls halfway up, and the entire thing was carpeted.

 

I know it sounds like I'm rambling. I do think Ms. Brown's son could have run in on his own, and he may have been upset. Generally children are left in the rooms alone but there is always someone there. The room she describes, however, is one that should never, ever be used for that purpose. For any purpose, other than storage, maybe. Safe rooms are supposed to be calming, and, well, safe. If you had a child who happened to have self abusive behaviors in a room like that and started to hit his or her head on the wall or the floor--the thought makes me shudder. Every student with autism has different needs, because, like everyone else, they're all different.  This is exhausting, and nothing any teacher training program does prepares you for it. Which returns to the money issue. Everyone seems to think people in this field make a lot of money. I have no idea where they get that idea. Educational assistants, unless they have a partner or are married to someone with a higher paying job, often have to work one or two additional jobs to make ends meet. Some educational entities have frozen pay for three years, no COLA increase, with more and more pressure from the administration to work more for less, with more students and less educational assistants. This is not a field you go into to "make it big."  I do not consider myself a moron, sorry. I care about the children I work with, and their rights. The public school system in the entire nation is broken. The teachers who care try their best and get burnt out because they do care--they generally last between 1-3 years. So who are you left with? It's almost impossible to "care" and survive as an employee in this field anymore, when you can't risk speaking out about what's wrong for fear of being fired in this economy. 

 

Everyone blames everyone else, but they never look for the true cause, and it is fear--fear of losing your job. The administrators have far more power than they should, and people need to start looking at where the problems really are. I am not supporting teachers who do the horrible things with seclusion and restraints that you hear about in the news--they make me sick. I am truly happy when parents advocate for their children, even though sometimes those parents can be some of the more annoying ones. Keep looking out for your children. Make sure things are alright in the classroom. But think of this--I have cared about some of the children I've worked with tremendously and was never, ever acknowledged by the parent--they would only talk to the teacher when they came in. I worked 1:1 with their child, and spent most of the day with him. It would be nice if they'd said hi. 

 

Along with closer surveillance of seclusion and restraints, would someone please lobby for replacing the lights in special education classrooms? Fluorescent lights annoy so many of our students with autism--I'd be curious to see if problem behavior went down just by changing the lights. They also annoy the staff who may be a little closer to being on the spectrum than others. 

 

It's very easy to be self-righteous about something when you're not the one actually doing the work. I'm not saying that to sound better than anyone else, I'm just trying to explain that I don't think your average person on the street who doesn't know a person with a disability or hasn't been in a classroom of 12 students with autism trying to meet their needs and educating them when you can't even keep them in their seats (and if anyone mentions ways of keeping them there, that's the restraints that I'm not going to talk about, because those are illegal unless written into a behavior plan, and personally, while I find it incredibly annoying to chase after students, it's not a behavior I'd put them in restraints for, especially if they're five years old).

 

There is more than one thing wrong in this equation, and if instead of blaming teachers as a knee-jerk reaction to anything and everything, people tried to help figure out what is broken, because no experts seem to be able to find out, it would truly be one of the most amazing things you could do for humanity. I'm not being facetious. There are so many families where both parents have to work during the day and they can't volunteer at their child's school even if they want to. Help someone else's children by volunteering if you have the time, patience and inclination. I have learned so much from the students I've worked with it's unbelievable. The children in these classrooms are going to be out and about, I hope, when they're older, and they need interactions with people to give them a better chance at that. 

 

I am glad parents bring things like this to light. There are probably others that wanted to as well but felt they couldn't. I don't think change is going to be able to happen from within at this point, it's going to have to be informed pressure from the outside. 

 

Where is the money going--where are things falling apart? All over or in one spot and it trickles down? 

 

Please get new lights!!

How about suspending or expelling kids who refuse to maintain their temper? Since these kids seem impossible to control, mom can homeschool them. I don't believe it is society or teachers who should teach kids boundries, but parents. Once the parent has done their job, finally, then let the brat back in school. Even autistic kids can learn boundries if the parents aren't too lazy to work with them.

"ran into the room by himself"...yeah, right.  Looks like teachers are getting scared when parents catch them using "seclusion rooms" that are a form of torture.  This is yet another example to the morons we are letting have access to our children each day.  And for this we pay the highest school taxes in the country. The public school system in Oregon is broken and the schools should be closed until we can find teachers who have our childrens' best interests at heart...not just money.

This is a sign of how poor the training is for teachers of autistic children.  One child in a hundred has some form of autism.  It's a crime to have a room like that.  Children were paddled in Oregon until the late 1970's in public school. The school district is to blame for crimes against children who have emotional and neurological damage prior to entering school.   And, if this is the best the U of O school of education can do with teachers let them disband the school.  It doesn't qualify as an institute of higher learning.