Video at link as well.
Posted on 11/29/2012 11:02:54 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
As the director of the Washington Autism Alliance, Arzu Forough hears a lot of bad stories about special needs students being mistreated in school.
When behavior becomes violent and a student is at risk of hurting themselves or others, Forough said, a teacher can put a child in what’s known as a quiet or isolation room if they have the parents’ permission.
“The rooms I’ve seen are either three-quarter doors or have large windows where the child is visible to the staff member,” Forough said. “There are either bean bags in there or something comfortable for the student to sit on.”
But Forough said the room is a lot different from the padded room being used at Mint Valley Elementary School in Longview. A concerned parent posted photos of the room after her son told her he saw teachers putting special needs students in the booth for simple things like crying and tapping on their desks.
The district insists the room isn’t used as punishment.
“It is not used as punishment,” said Sandy Catt, communications director for the Longview School District. “It is used as a treatment in lieu of a physical hold or accepted therapeutic restraint for a child.”
Forough feels many districts across the country are out of touch when it comes to working with special needs students. She said rural districts especially may lack the funding for staff and training.
Catt said the children put in the isolation room in Longview all come from a classroom of nine special needs student with a teacher and two aides. The parents of all nine children gave permission for their child to be put in this isolation room, Catt said, and none have complained about its use.
In light of this story, the district is checking in with each of those families to see if they have any concerns.
Seattle Public Schools does not have any isolation rules, but the Kent School District has 14 of them. In April, an elementary school in Olympia came under fire after a child was allegedly left in an isolation room for hours.
In order for a review of Mint Valley Elementary to happen, State Schools Superintendent Randy Dorn’s office said it would have to receive a formal complaint alleging the school violated state or federal special education laws.
Video at link as well.
what is wrong with the corner? with a chair in the hallway?
It’s been awhile, but there have been other stories here at FR about these Isolation Rooms. And do we FReepers ever have opinions on them!
Good idea? Or a horrible throwback to the rubber rooms of insane asylums?
Why do we allow publik skoolz to sexualize children? to lock them in padded closets? to teach them complete lies? to teach them not to listen to their parents? to be obedient to the government?
Why are parents allowing this crap?
All they need now are tasers (aka human cattle prods), straight jackets, and Hannibal Lecter masks!
what is wrong with the corner? with a chair in the hallway?
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What good is a corner or a chair in the hallway when a violent out of control child is harming himself and others?
Not like they will suddenly sit down and be still.
Thanks for that link. I guess it hasn’t “been awhile”.
I've used cool down rooms for out of control students. It gives the child a place to scream, punch and kick the walls, and no one gets hurt. You MUST keep eyes on the child, but being able to remove them from the other children keeps everyone safe.
Most students don't need a room like this, and it shouldn't be used for punishment. It's only a last resort.
“Put them in the Iron Maiden.”
The Emotionally Disturbed (ED) children need to be sent back to the loonie bin so they don’t have a chance of harming other children. But since the inmates are running the asylum it isn’t going to happen any time soon.
Excellent!
Out of control students... call the parents and send the kid home for them to deal with.
Government agents are not parents. They should also not be above the law.
If it is illegal for a parent to put a kid in there, then it is illegal for the school too.
No Child Left Behind requires that we educate them, too.
And no one's going to keep them in the loony bin - the district has to pay for an alternate educational setting, and districts don't want to do that unless the child is so dangerous that they're going to get sued.
My wife tought for 40 years and now subs a bit. she was recently asked to do 6 weeks in a class of 6 “disturbed kids” 2 blacks, 2 Chicanos, and two whites. They had a “padded Cell” in the room. There were two aids, one a big guy.
These kids would become very violent, foul mouthed, and uncontrollable. My wife got kicked, hit and swore at constantly. The guy aid would put the kids who became vilent in the padded cell, where they would scream and yell, and kick the door.
6 weeks of hell for my wife. They were all from single family situations - They all will become violent criminals and end up in jail. There is no hope for them.
How many will they kill, injure or violate(or vote for Obama)?
Genetics determines 70% of the sstructure of your brain - Maybe we should return to the frontal lobotomy. Most thinking is irrational for all, think the 53% who voted for OB.
Forget the rubber room - deport to the Congo.
Ah, but then we'e not meeting their educational needs and (NCLB again) we have to make up those minutes that they weren't in school because we sent them home.
That's what I've been doing the last 10 years. The paperwork is unbelievable - and you'd BETTER be making educational progress and have documentation to back that up.
Once in a while, you'll get a child with both parents - that kid is just wired wrong. Most of them are drug babies or severly autistic.
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