At Senate Hearing, Witnesses Offer Alternatives to Restraints, Seclusion

By Nirvi Shah from On Special Education

While many of the reports and previous testimony on the subject in the House have centered on horror stories in which students were severely injured or died because they were restrained or isolated without supervision, the witnesses who testified at this morning's Senate hearing on restraints and seclusion were generally measured and offered specific solutions for reducing their use, and misuse, in schools.

Today's hearing concentrated on how schools and students have and can avoid using restraints and seclusion and address the behavior that may have triggered those techniques to be employed in the first place. (That's some of what I wrote about in this story previewing the hearing.)

Read more HERE.

Report on Necessity of Restraints, Seclusion 'Reckless,' Advocates Say

By Nirvi Shah from On Special Education

A new report from the American Association of School Administrators about the importance of being able to restrain and seclude some students in the interest of school safety has outraged some disability advocacy groups.

The AASA report, "Keeping Schools Safe: How Seclusion and Restraint Protects Students and School Personnel," describes scenarios in which parents said without the use of these methods, they may have had to institutionalize their children. The report also describes scenarios in which students injured school employees so badly they needed emergency medical care.

Read more HERE.

Share Your Restraint and Seclusion Stories with Senator Harkin

From AgeofAutism.com

SEEKING PARENTS WITH RESTRAINT/SECLUSION STORIES FOR U.S. SENATOR HARKIN’S STAFF

Last week, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act, S.2020, to protect students nationwide from dangerous restraint and seclusion. As the GAO (U.S. Government Accountability Office) has found, restraint/seclusion are dangerous, resulting in deaths, injuries, and trauma to children nationwide. WE ARE SEEKING LETTERS IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL FROM PARENTS THAT CAN BE SHARED WITH SENATOR HARKIN’S STAFF AND PERHAPS OTHER SENATE STAFF. WE ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN STORIES OF CHILDREN WHO RESTRAINED OR SECLUDED AND WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN HELPED IF THE BILL WAS LAW. You do not have to have a story to send a letter. Please email Jessica Butler, jessica@jnba.net if you have a story or think the bill would have helped your child, or if you would like to send a letter in support of the bill (even if you do not have a story). Please feel free to forward and share with others.

HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF WHAT THE BILL DOES. PERHAPS ONE OF THESE THINGS HAPPENED TO YOUR CHILD AND THE BILL COULD HAVE PREVENTED IT FROM HAPPENING. OR PERHAPS ONE OF THESE THINGS COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD (e.g. you live in a state with fewer protections).

Read complete article HERE.

Panel Calls On Feds To Limit Restraint, Seclusion

By Michelle Diament from disabilityscoop

A government advisory panel wants the Obama administration to do more to address the use of restraint and seclusion among people with disabilities.

In a letter that the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, or IACC, agreed to send Wednesday, the group is asking U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to coordinate with federal education and justice officials on the use of the controversial practices in schools and other settings.

Specifically, the IACC is urging Sebelius to work with her counterparts to establish regulations, increase data collection and promote alternatives, among other steps.

“The use of seclusion and restraint in every setting is a critical issue for people with (autism) and other disabilities and their families that requires immediate federal attention,” the IACC letter reads.

The IACC is an advisory committee established by the Combating Autism Act of 2006 that’s comprised of government officials and members of the autism community. The group provides recommendations to federal agencies and establishes priorities for government-funded autism research.

In May, the committee heard from numerous stakeholders about the use of restraint and seclusion among people with disabilities. The letter to Sebelius comes in response to concerns that emerged during that meeting. (Read all of Disability Scoop’s coverage of restraint and seclusion >>)

While there are some federal regulations limiting the use of restraint and seclusion in certain residential settings, a patchwork of inconsistent state and local rules govern the practices in schools across the country.

Last year, the House of Representatives approved legislation that would have established national standards for schools, but the bill was never considered by the Senate and a similar proposal this year has not progressed.

Article HERE.

Federal Ed Dept. Will Offer Guidance on Restraints, Seclusion

By Nirvi Shah from On Special Education

The U.S. Department of Education will for the first time give school districts guidance on when to use restraints and seclusion as ways on children with disabilities.

According to Disability Scoop, Alexa Posny, told a federal autism advisory committee Thursday that the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will issue guidance to schools this fall and will also provide the first national data on the use of restraints and seclusion in schools.

"There are no federal regulations that exist, so it makes it very hard for us at the Department of Education to go out and say you can and can't do this," Ms. Posny told the safety subcommittee of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. "We have no role in enforcement at this point."

Restraints and seclusion are intended to calm and protect students from harming themselves or others. But their use has been under scrutiny for several years and has been investigated by agencies including the Government Accountability Office.

Some states govern their use and others do not. Some individual school districts are developing rules as well. For example, on Wednesday, the Palm Beach County school district in Florida voted to make prone restraint—where a student is held face down with their arms and legs immobilized—allowed only as a last resort.

And in Kansas, the state board of education last week heard recommendations from the state special education advisory committee about restraints and seclusion. They suggested collecting data on the training schools use to teach about the measures and how often they are used. They also want to be sure that Kansas' guidelines on using restraint and seclusion mirror the federal approach—although a federal approach doesn't exist yet. The board will vote on the recommendations next month.

As I wrote last month, some U.S. Representatives resurrected a bill that would limit their use. The bill passed the House more than a year ago with bipartisan support, but the Senate never took up their version of the bill.

The one big difference in the current version of the House bill: It doesn't have the co-sponsorship of Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican. Ms. McMorris Rodgers' son Cole has Down syndrome. Last time around, she proudly supported the bill.

A recent report by TASH, formerly The Association for persons with Severe Handicaps, includes a number of incidents in which restraints and seclusion since last year's bill led to a child being injured.

The title of the report? It's called "The Cost of Waiting."

Article HERE.

Preventing the Use of Restraint and Seclusion with Young Children: The Role of Effective, Positive Practices

The University of South Florida posted a brief by Glen Dunlap, Cheryl Ostryn, & Lise Fox, February, 2011 regarding the prevention of restraint and seclusion with young children. Read brief HERE.

Miller: “There Is No Room for Torture and Abuse In America’s Schools”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, introduced The Keeping All Students Safe Act, bipartisan legislation to prevent schoolchildren from being abused as a result of inappropriate uses of restraint and seclusion, often involving untrained staff. According to government investigations, these abusive practices were used disproportionately on children with disabilities. The legislation first passed the House a year ago with bipartisan support.

Read more on Rep George Miller's website HERE.

Federal Bill on Restraint, Seclusion Resurrected

Since the "Keeping All Students Safe Act" was passed in the U.S. House more than a year ago, a new report says there have been dozens of cases in which restraints or seclusion or both have been used on students with disabilities.

The report, called "The Cost of Waiting," also includes examples from a previous report by the National Disability Rights Network called "School is Not Supposed to Hurt" and references a Government Accountability Office study of the use of these practices.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., reintroduced the bill, which had passed 262 to 153 and had bipartisan support. (This link points to the bill passed in 2010; I haven't found the text of the new one, which will be H.R. 1381.)

"In the year since this legislation passed the House but failed to become law, more children were abused in school. The investigations and news reports about harmful restraint and seclusion show children being tied up with duct tape, sat on by untrained staff, locked in rooms for hours at a time—this behavior looks like torture. This legislation makes it very clear that there is no room for torture and abuse in America's schools," Rep. Miller said in a statement.

Read more of Nirvi Shah's On Sepcial Education article HERE.

Oregon Bill Seeks to Ban Most Use of Restraints, Seclusion

By Nirvi Shah form On Special Education

A bill that would ban school districts from restraining or secluding public schoolchildren in most cases and require training for the small numbers of school personnel who employ these practices is making its way through the Oregon legislature.

Although Oregon, like many other states, has a state policy limiting the use of these measures, the organization Disability Rights Oregon found that it's difficult to tell how often they are really used. The report, from earlier this year, said that only 37 of Oregon's 197 school districts compiled data on the use of restraint and seclusion for a one-year period. In those districts, there were approximately 4,500 restraint or seclusion incidents.

Read complete article HERE.

HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD IN SACRAMENTO!

This coming Wednesday, May 6, is Legislative Information Sharing Day.


One day each year, Community Advisory Committees (CACs), school board members, community members and staff from Special Education Local Planning Area (SELPAs) from across California go to the state capital en masse to participate in face-to-face meetings with our legislators and their staff.


This is a great opportunity for us, not only to share our thoughts on upcoming legislation, but to remind our elected officials of the importance of special education, the people their legislation affects, and the practical impact of their votes.

Mt Diablo has a team of parents and administrators who have been studying the issues and are ready to speak up for our students and their needs. Just a couple of issues that are on the table are:

AB1430 - would require school districts to have nurses administer all prescription medication taken on campus

AB1124 - would provide a "stay put" where there is service or placement disagreement when students move from early start into the school system

AB661 - would implement recent settlement agreement to fund behavior plans and supports.

AB1538 - would limit physical restraint and seclusion


Education is a hot topic now. What would you say to your legislator? Let us know! We will make your voice heard.