Close Confinement as School Punishment

Washington Township Gloucester County

Last night, I was out in the ball field with

KristenSin2.0

and started teaching the little boys how turn a weed into a make-shift wheat shooter. Big fun! There was a little boy who has an IEP, having fun in the grass with us. He was diagnosed with apraxia and developmental delays but has made great progress in speech and learning. Though he can communicate with full sentences, he still hits instead of using his words. We were having a good time, I turned my back to leave and he smacked me right in the lower back twice with a soccer ball… I saw stars. To make sure it didn’t happen a third time, I did what every trained professional in a public school classroom would do, I wrapped him up in a coffin-like prison with a gym mat and let him scream and cry, while the township paid me for the day. Oh wait, that wasn’t me, that happened in this video from Washington Township.

What I actually did was what any adult should do, I turned around, got right on his level, looked him right in the eye, and very calmly told him the he hurt me and not to do it again. He looked down in shame and said “OK.” He’s a cute kid who made a mistake. No need to show him that I’m stronger and more powerful, I need to show him how to be compassionate to others. Making a child feel helpless and out of control by imprisoning them in a small space is never going to teach him to feel sympathy for others.

When I shared this video, there were other people, including teachers, that claimed that this was common procedure for special needs classrooms with children who become violent or aggressive when the school does not have a “safe room” for the child to go to. I found that hard to believe because even the Geneva Convention states that “prisoners of war may not be held in close confinement.” Many other moms and teachers told me that this was NOT common practice and only an untrained person would do this without written into a behavioral plan that was signed off by the parent.

In the case of this video, I met up with the mom online and she said that that the child was in isolation for crying.

Everyone agrees that a crying child should not be caged like an animal. But in my personal opinion, I don’t think any child should be treated like this, for any reason. There are other rooms in the school. Make use of those.

I was shocked to find out that New Jersey has a Restraint and Seclusion Guidance for Students with Disabilities for special needs kids. Restraint and Seclusion is designed to keep the child safe, the staff safe, and other students safe when a child is having an outburst. It should only be used in situations where the child is a danger to themselves, or is physically hurting others. But I still can’t help thinking that this is a barbaric unnecessary practice.

People who agree with this practice, flippantly tell me that I don’t know what it’s like to have to deal with an autistic child. I want to be clear that I do have many people on the spectrum in my family: brother, cousins, 2nd cousins, nephew, some of which were, at one point, violent and self harming. However, when my nephew was having a tantrum and banging his head on the cement floor of Lowes, my brother did not drag the kid to the home goods isle and roll him up in a rug for his protection. There are ways of handling these things and I know that isolating a child in a tiny space, is not it.

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I know a lot of teachers who work with special needs kids so I decided to ask them:“Does this video reflect standard practice?”

The teachers claimed there is no simple answer to this question. Many times, parents are not aware what’s wrong with their child or are in denial. If parents seek help soon as they see behavior issues, they can get more help in the classroom. If these children are put in General Ed, they will suffer because the staff is not trained how to handle situations with aggressive special needs children.

Teachers who are trained follow a behavioral plan set up by a behavioral specialist. Trained people don’t lock children in small spaces but they do separate them if they hurt other kids by simply moving the other kids away from the situation.

My friend, Gabriel Haller (Occupational Therapist in public school), told me that the usage of restraints is super limited, and requires IEP notation and parental consent. He cannot even use a weighted vest or compression vest on a child without written parental consent. He has seen similar restraints used for teenagers with severe ASD before, typically with those that have the potential for injuring others. That couldn’t possibly be the case with this 6 year old.

He went on to tell me:

“This is where behaviorists and OTs differ. Child is having a meltdown due to something in their internal or external system. Making them cry and not express themselves is only going to further shut them down and create learned helplessness. It also will create bigger and stronger aggressive outbursts the following time.

First and foremost is to keep the child safe, teacher safe, and other kids safe, too. Most times, in a preschool disabled class or self-contained Kindergarten, most of these students just need generalized redirection, assistance with a particular task, and/or giving some directed sensory input like massage and vibration, etc. to help calm and regulate their system. (Can also be a combination of all interventions). There are ways to go about this without resorting to involuntary confinement.”

Johanna Longo who is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) says this isn’t common practice for trained professionals. She said there are ways to replace and reduce behaviors like hitting, spitting and biting, such as redirection and quiet rooms. These are the typically used methods, unless the child has medical or psychiatric barriers. When you are a heavily trained professional, you will know many techniques that do not involve isolating a child in a very small space.

The problem is that many school districts keep children within district instead of sending kids to a special needs school that have a better trained staff. When you’re going through an agency in order to insert registered behavior and technicians who are trained, it costs more money. However, if school districts knew how to do it properly for most kids, they would be covered under insurance but insurance won’t cover services in public school districts. Also, the public schools don’t want an outside entity influencing their schools.

When public schools do have a behavior analyst, it’s only one for the entire district. Those behavior analysts are over-worked, too large of caseloads. Staffing for kids with challenges is always an issue. Low pay. High stress. High liability. High turnover. Districts often try to substitute other professionals not adequately equipped to handle behavior issues, like a social worker, or psychologist or counselor rather than hiring a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst). The techniques required to treat kids with series issues can take time and intense daily application.

Public Schools don’t spend the money on special needs kids like the private schools that are set up to exclusively help special needs kids. For example, Public schools will use a teachers aide with a high school diploma at $15 an hour who is not properly equipped to deal with a kid with behavioral issues.

I assumed that the school districts want to take on special needs kids because they come with a lot of money per head. However, Johanna said that sometimes it’s the parents who are determined to keep their kids in environments not appropriate for their kids limitations.

Joanna told me that,

“Basically, there isn’t a “one size fits all “ answer. I saw people mentioning an FBA (Functional Behavior Analysis), which are employed by some school districts. They have people creating functional behavior analysis, who are not trained in applied behavior analysis to truly do a functional behavior. Analysis like a certified behavior analyst would like myself.

To be quite honest, I don’t think a child that has that severe behavioral issues should be in a public school districts for that kid’s safety, for the faculty’s safety, for the school districts’ liability reasons”.

My friend, Shannon Logar, has a special needs spectrum child and she told me that she has encountered many people who are not trained properly in the public school system. Districts claim that public school teachers get “training”, however, it’s just not at the same level as the special education schools, which her son eventually ended up attending. Shannon’s son started in public school (Kindergarten) in 2017. Shannon warned the school and the BOE that her son had aggressive behaviors and she was concerned that he would end up hurting himself or others. The school dismissed her outright refusing to place him in a contained classroom or provide a 1 on 1 aid saying that his IQ was too high for special education services. The school didn’t offer a behavior analysis at the time and Shannon didn’t know any better. Of course, Shannon’s concerns came true and the only way the NJ public school could deal with him was to restrain him with techniques like, isolation, barriers and restraints. The last time he attended public school, there was an incident and the staff called Shannon at work, to come and get her son. She asked to talk to him on the phone so she could ask him what happened, he cried out “Mommy, they won’t let me out!! Please get me!!” He was under the conference table in the child study team room, in the basement. When she came to get him he was hysterical crying and peed himself. At home, she found bruising on his foot where he claimed that he was stepped on. Shannon finally got her son into a private special needs school and he doesn’t have these continuous outbursts anymore.

There are triggers for children who are aggressive, and in specialized schools they are aware of what those triggers are before they escalate and become a physical problem. Public school just doesn’t have the experience and knowledge how to deal with situation. In Shannon’s experience, isolation, barriers and restraints cause more emotional harm and do not teach self regulation. Shannon says,

“Its about communication and being in the right learning environment tailored to your child’s needs.”

There seems to be a huge disconnect between what the public schools have to offer and the needs of the kids. If your staff isn’t trained properly the kid ends up in the situation like in this video.