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An autistic boy has described how his teachers would pin him down, drag him through a hallway and lock him in a concrete 'scream room'.
Carson Luke still has nightmares about the harrowing experience four years ago at a school for the disabled in Chesapeake, Virginia.
The 13-year-old was sent into the secluded chamber - hidden behind metal doors and separated from the main school building - after an aggressive outburst in 2011.
When he was inside workers turned on a ventilation fan to drown out his screaming.
One on occasion, faculty members broke his hand after trapping it in the heavy door as they tried to force him inside. The wound was so deep the bone was exposed and he required surgery.
He told his story as newly-released documents from the Department of Education reveal some teachers use handcuffs, bungee cords and duct tapes to restrain students.
The use of seclusion rooms, as they are known, is contentious, but they are widely used across the country.
Critics say such techniques are almost always unnecessary to keep order in the classroom and are actually counterproductive, exposing kids to physical and emotional injury and long-term trauma.
According to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, the school Carson went to used seclusion 559 times and restraint 177 times in 2011, the year Carson was injured.
The new Virginia legislation requires the state Board of Education to develop statewide regulations governing the use of seclusion and restraint. It was passed over the objections of lobbyists for school boards and principals who said it would allow school administrators too little discretion.
In almost all cases, the complaints involved children with disabilities.
Nationally, according to the commission, while students with disabilities make up just 12 percent of all students, they represent 75 percent of those physically restrained and 58 percent of those secluded.
There have been repeated attempts in Congress over the past five years to establish nationwide standards, but they have gone nowhere.
The new legislation requires that the Virginia regulations be consistent with 15 principles developed by the U.S. Department of Education.
According to those principles:
— Seclusion and restraint should not be used except in situations where the child's behavior poses imminent danger of serious physical harm to himself or others and other interventions are ineffective.
— Teachers and school staff should be trained on safe use of the techniques and on alternative measures.
— When seclusion and restraint are used, parents should be notified as soon as possible.
originally posted by: Anyafaj
originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: chr0naut
Not all autistic people who have "rants" are harmful. Most of the time it's simply them vocalizing out of extreme frustration over an inability to properly convey what they're thinking.
originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: chr0naut
Depends on the situation and if the person truly does have a history of violence. I've heard kids with Asperger's say the most heinous, evil things one can think of. Yet they'd never act on it. One kid I knew with it had no concept that suffering causes pain, because he figured he doesn't feel the pain he inflicts so it's meaningless to sway him.
All depends on the person, and whether or not you have a caregiver who actually knows how our minds work.
originally posted by: DYepes
Ok anyone with an autistic kid (dont have any but I have had experience seeing the horrible behavior they are capable of.) knows how violent and loud they can become when upset. If my child were behaving that way, I would have no problem allowing the school to send him to an isolation room as long as they used a restraint chair similar to the ones in jail. This would ensure they cant even move, let alone hurt themselves on the walls or bang their head until unconscious.
Heck I would approve that for my kids now if they became violent in school at all anyways.
originally posted by: Anyafaj
There's being a caring educator and not wanting the child to hurt themselves or others, and there's being a jerk and hurting the child to the point where you break their hand and they need surgery, but you really could care less! In fact you are so heartless you turn a fan on so you don't have to hear that child screaming in pain from the broken hand. There's something so inherently wrong with that, I'm not sure where to begin! Lt's face it, this is tantamount to torture.
hidden behind metal doors and separated from the main school building
originally posted by: DYepes
Ok anyone with an autistic kid (dont have any but I have had experience seeing the horrible behavior they are capable of.) knows how violent and loud they can become when upset. If my child were behaving that way, I would have no problem allowing the school to send him to an isolation room as long as they used a restraint chair similar to the ones in jail. This would ensure they cant even move, let alone hurt themselves on the walls or bang their head until unconscious.
Heck I would approve that for my kids now if they became violent in school at all anyways.
originally posted by: daftpink
a reply to: DYepes
Autism isnt a 'mental disability'. It's a neurological disorder. It has nothing to do with their mental state of mind.
Aggression usually stems from the person being misunderstood, frustrated due to communication difficulties, sensory overload, disruption to routine... the list goes on. If the staff understood autism they would not detain this boy in this way. There seems to still be a huge lack of understanding about autism and this could be another factor here.