AutComBlog

ASK CONGRESS COSPONSOR KEEPING ALL STUDENTS SAFE ACT

2012-02-19T12:51:00.000-05:00

CALL TO ACTION:
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR TWO SENATORS AND CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND ASK THEM TO COSPONSOR THE KEEPING ALL STUDENTS SAFE ACT (S.2020 in the Senate and H.R. 1381 in the House). These bills will protect children nationwide from restraint and seclusion in schools. A Government Accountability Office study found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death from restraint and seclusion in school. They included a young teen who hanged himself in a seclusion room while a teacher sat outside and a 7 year old who was restrained face down and died because she could not breathe. Most of the students in the GAO study had disabilities.

The Senate bill, S. 2020, was introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (Chair, Health Education Labor and Pension Committee). The House bill, H.R. 1381, was introduced by Congressman George Miller (Ranking Member, House Education and Workforce Committee). The bills will ban physical restraint except in emergency situations when there is an immediate threat of physical harm. Only 14 states limit the use of restraints to physical safety emergencies today. Both bills protect children from dangerous seclusion. The bills also ban restraints that interfere with breathing and mechanical and chemical restraints. The bills require schools to notify parents on the same day that the technique is used. Too many parents never find out what happened to their child.

Please email your two Senators and Congressional Representative and ask them to COSPONSOR the Keeping All Students Safe Act. This means that they will put their name on the bill as one of the sponsoring members. The bills need cosponsors to move forward. Ask your friends, family members, fellow advocates, and colleagues to send emails.

HOW TO SEND AN EMAIL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
SENATE. You can email your Senators through their Senate website forms. Go to http://1.usa.gov/Senat .You can find your two Senators by choosing your state at the top. PLEASE EMAIL BOTH OF YOUR SENATORS. Letters mailed through regular mail to the U.S. Congress are delayed for anthrax screening. So, please use EMAIL.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. You can find your Representative and send an email through the House website, http://1.usa.gov/HouseWrit . You will need your zip code.

SAMPLE EMAIL MESSAGE YOU CAN SEND.
Here is a sample email you can copy and paste into the forms above. Please change it as you would like.
Dear Senator/Representative,

Please COSPONSOR the Keeping All Students Safe Act, S. 2020 in the Senate and H.R. 1381 in the House of Representatives. The bill will create minimum standards to protect all children nationwide from abusive restraint and seclusion.

(Special instructions if your child/family member/friend was restrained or secluded: tell their story if you feel comfortable. Or just add a short sentence to say it happened to your child/someone you know. Even if you do not have a story or do not want to share one, please email your Senators to ask them to cosponsor the bill. We need a lot of emails to go to Congress.)

The Keeping All Students Safe Act will ban physical restraint except in emergency situations when there is an immediate threat of physical danger to a person. Only 14 states require this today. Both bills protect children from dangerous seclusion, where they are locked in a room or forced into a room where the door is otherwise blocked. Far too often, children have been restrained or secluded for not doing assignments, being noisy, behavioral control, discipline, or punishment. A Government Accountability Office study found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death from restraint and seclusion in school. They included a young teen who hanged himself in a seclusion room while a teacher sat outside and a 7 year old who was restrained face down and died because she could not breathe. The GAO documented at least 20 stories of children who died from restraint. Other children suffered injuries, including broken bones and bloody noses, or had post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The bills will require schools to notify parents on the same day if a child has been subjected to the techniques, and to follow up in writing within 24 hours. Too many parents never find out what happened; 27 states have no parental notification requirements at all, and others have no deadlines. Parents need to know quickly, so they can watch for concussions, hidden internal injuries, and trauma. The bills ban life-threatening restraints, such as those that interfere with breathing. They ban chemical and mechanical restraint, like locking children into devices and chairs, and tying and duct-taping them to furniture. The bills require the collection of data to improve decision-making and provide the public with information. Neither bill prevents schools from using time out, where staff can work with a child to calm him/her in a quieter space together.

While some states have laws protecting children, many do not, and others are not very strong. Please COSPONSOR THE KEEPING ALL STUDENTS SAFE ACT, S.2020 and H.R. 1381, to ensure that all children nationwide are protected from these abuses.

Sincerely yours,
Your name here

========================
More Resources:
Senate Bill, Keeping All Students Safe Act S.2020: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112s2020
House Bill, Keeping All Students Safe Act H.R.1381 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112hr1381
S.2020 Bill Description: http://1.usa.gov/SenHarkRS1
H.R. 1381 Description: http://bit.ly/RepMillrRS
GAO study describing the dangers of restraint/seclusion: http://1.usa.gov/gaors7
See what your State restraint/seclusion laws say: http://bit.ly/RSStatelaw

Thank you very much for asking Congress to Cosponsor the Restraint/Seclusion bills, S.2020 and H.R. 1381. We very much appreciate everyone's help. Together, we will end the use of abusive restraint and seclusion in schools.

Jessica Butler
Congressional Affairs Coordinator
Autism National Committee (AutCom)
21 years of advocating for children and adults with autism and related disabilities
jessica@jnba.net
http://www.autcom.org/

FEDERAL LAW SHOULD BAR RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION AS PLANNED INTERVENTIONS IN IEPS AND SIMILAR DOCUMENTS

2010-09-10T23:00:00.005-04:00

The following issue brief was developed for The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion by COPAA's Leslie Margolis, Bob Berlow, and Jessica Butler. AutCom is a proud member of APRAIS and supports the ideals in this issue brief.

APPRAIS The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion
PREVENTING HARMFUL RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION IN SCHOOLS ACT, S. 2860

FEDERAL LAW SHOULD BAR RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION AS PLANNED INTERVENTIONS IN IEPS AND OTHER EDUCATION AND BEHAVIOR PLANS

ISSUE BRIEF: AUGUST 19, 2010

INTRODUCTION

Last spring, Congressional hearings and a GAO investigation revealed that students across America have been abused and neglected in school: they have been locked alone in closets or concrete rooms, tied to chairs, left for hours in their urine or feces, and restrained, sometimes to the point of death. Most are children with disabilities. Congress took action. Senator Dodd introduced S. 2860,the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act. The House already has passed its version of the bill, H.R. 4247. Both bills direct the Secretary of Education to establish minimum standards regarding restraint and seclusion in schools. These standards:

* Permit restraint and seclusion only in cases involving imminent danger of physical injury, if less restrictive interventions would be ineffective, and then only for a very limited time;
* Require that restraint and seclusion be applied only by trained, certified staff, except in rare emergencies;
* Prohibit all mechanical and chemical restraint, any physical restraint that restricts air flow to the lungs, and any aversive behavioral intervention that compromises health or safety;
*Prohibit restraint and seclusion as a planned intervention in students’ education plans, including behavior plans and IEPs designed pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1414(d).1
1Other standards would require states and local education agencies to ensure that a sufficient number of school personnel receive state-approved training and certification in first aid and certain safe and effective student management techniques, and would require schools to establish procedures to quickly notify parents if physical restraint or seclusion is imposed on their child, and to quickly notify the state Protection and Advocacy System if a child is seriously injured or dies from the use of restraint or seclusion.

The IEP prohibition is critically important. Only students with disabilities have IEPs; this group of students has been disproportionately subjected to the dangers of restraint and seclusion. Without the prohibition, the IEP team would freely be able to add restraint and seclusion to IEPs as a planned intervention. Planned use of restraint and seclusion as an intervention is inconsistent with preventing and reducing their use; including restraint and seclusion in IEPs will increase, rather than decrease their use, thereby undercutting the purpose of S. 2860 and H.R. 4247.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND THE IEP PROCESS
The IDEA requires that services be individualized and that they be designed to provide the student with an appropriate education, one that will enable him or her to progress in the general curriculum. The IEP must be based on the information that has been gathered about the student through assessments and other sources, and is supposed to be developed by a team of school system professionals and the student’s parents. Under the 2004 IDEA amendments, the services to be provided to the student are to be based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable.

When enacting the IDEA, Congress envisioned that the educational planning process would be a partnership between school personnel and parents. However, school staff control the entire IEP process, which is complex, even under the best of circumstances, and many parents do not fully understand the process or the rights they and their children have in the process. Further, often, parents are treated dismissively and if they disagree with provisions of their children’s IEPs, such as restraint and seclusion, rather than the meaningful discussion Congress intended to occur at the IEP planning meetings taking place, the parents are told the school will call the police if their child has a behavior issue at school or are simply told that they can file for a due process hearing. Other times, restraint and seclusion are added to the IEP disguised as crisis intervention or under an acronym such as PCM, but no explanation is given to the parents as to what the term means.

RESEARCH-BASED REASONS WHY RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION MUST NOT BE INCLUDED AS A PLANNED INTERVENTION IN IEPS AND OTHER EDUCATION AND BEHAVIOR PLANS

The IDEA requires that to the extent possible, services included on a student’s IEP be based on peer-reviewed research. Proponents of restraint and seclusion have cited no research, peer-reviewed or otherwise, to establish that restraint and seclusion serve any legitimate educational purpose or that they are even effective. In fact, the only peer-reviewed research of which we are aware demonstrates that restraint and seclusion do not have any treatment or educational value and that no amount or type of staff training can assure their safe use. (Haimowitz, Urff, and Huckshorn, 2006; Harper, 2003; Nunno, Holden, and Tollar 2006). Indeed, Section 2 of this bill expressly finds, as documented by at least three recent reports, that restraint and seclusion have been responsible for injury and death to children in the education setting, as well as in other settings.2
2 The reports, prepared by the General Accountability Office, the National Disability Rights Network, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, make clear that children have been physically and emotionally injured by the use of restraint and seclusion in the school setting, even when restraint and seclusion were administered by staff who had received training.

Additionally, a comparison of the settings in which children receive services offers persuasive reasons why restraint and seclusion should be prohibited as a planned intervention in schools. Restraint and seclusion cannot be included as planned interventions in treatment plans in children’s mental health and other health care settings; they are harmful and non-therapeutic as planned interventions. Notably, these are settings with clinical staff. Research in these settings has found that seclusion has been used regardless of children’s ability to cope with their environment and that seclusion did not positively shape behavior—children spent more time in each subsequent seclusion episode, rather than less. K.H. Millstein & J.S. Cotton,
Predictors of the Use of Seclusion on an Inpatient Child Psychiatric
Unit, 29 Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 256, 256-64 (1990). Rather than calming children, restraint and seclusion have the opposite effect, causing anxiety, fear, and a decreased ability to learn. W.K. Mohr & J.A. Anderson,
Faulty Assumptions Associated With the Use of Restraints
with Children
, 14 Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing 141, 141-151 (July-Sept. 2001). Schools are not health care settings and do not have clinicians on staff or, if they do, they are not staffed in the way that mental health and health care settings are. If restraint and seclusion cannot be used as a planned intervention in a setting in which clinical staff are available to assess and intervene if there is a problem, restraint and seclusion have no place on an IEP as a planned intervention in the school setting.

Finally, directly contrary to what many people assume and what some proponents claim, research show that both planning for and using restraint and seclusion actually increases, rather than decreases, the number of incidents involving their use. (Kansas Public Schools Year End Report of Seclusion and Restraint for Students with Disabilities (2008-2009).

PRACTICAL REASONS WHY RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION MUST NOT BE INCLUDED AS A PLANNED INTERVENTION IN IEPS AND OTHER EDUCATION AND BEHAVIOR PLANS

Under H.R. 4247 and S. 2860, restraint and seclusion could only be used in an emergency. In all other situations, less restrictive alternatives should be used. In many states today, restraint and seclusion are often included on IEPs, even over the objection of parents. Once on an IEP, restraint and seclusion are often used in non-emergency situations, simply because they are on the IEP. Interventions included on the IEP become the default and are used as a routine practice. This is inconsistent with the intent of S. 2860 to reduce and prevent the use of harmful restraint and seclusion. It is also inconsistent with the IDEA’s requirement that IEP teams consider the use of positive behavior interventions, strategies and supports to address a student’s behavior needs and that the student’s unique needs be considered in designing his or her IEP.

Parents who oppose the inclusion of restraint or seclusion in their child’s IEP may be told they have no choice but to accept the IEP; that their child must attend a more-segregated school or a school far from their neighborhood and friends; that if they do not agree to the use of restraint or seclusion, the school will call the police if their child has a behavior issue at school; or they may be told to ask for a due process hearing, an option that only a very small minority of parents are able to pursue, primarily because of cost or the lack of available advocacy resources.

LEGAL REASONS WHY RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION MUST NOT BE INCLUDED AS A PLANNED INTERVENTION IN IEPS

Two federal appellate court decisions decided against injured children reinforce several of the points discussed above, including the imbalance of power between parents and school officials, and the imprimatur of legitimacy given to dangerous techniques by virtue of their inclusion on an IEP. In Couture v. Board of Education of Albuquerque Public Schools , 535 F.3d 1243 (10th. Cir. 2008), an elementary school age child with an emotional disability was repeatedly placed in an isolated room from which he could not exit; at times, the door was barricaded shut by school staff. His mother had approved an IEP that included time out as an intervention without understanding that the school was actually placing her son in a room from which he could not exit voluntarily. Although the child’s behavior deteriorated even further when he was in the isolation room and the practice was not effective, the court upheld the practice, finding that time out was on the child’s IEP, that his mother had approved the IEP, that the educators must be given a chance to implement the IEP, and that in fact, they could be held liable if they did not implement the plan. The court deferred to the child’s teachers, finding that the specifics of the use of the isolation room was a pedagogical judgment.

In the second case, C.N. v. Willmar Public Schools, Independent Sch. Dist. No. 347, 591 F.3d 624(8th Cir. 2010), an elementary school age child with a communication disorder and other disabilities was placed in restraint and seclusion, which were included on her IEP. The lawsuit alleged that C.N.’s teacher physically mistreated her and used restraint and seclusion in improper ways. The court cited the Couture case and faulted the parent for not appealing if she objected to the use of restraint with her daughter. The court held that C.N.’s IEP authorized the use of restraint and seclusion and that her IEP set the standard for accepted practice. Failing to acknowledge that the IDEA requires services to be based, to the extent practicable, on peer-reviewed research, the court determined that an authorized professional’s treatment of a person with a disability is reasonable if the professional’s actions do not substantially depart from accepted professional judgment, practice, or standards.

These two cases vividly illustrate the legal danger inherent in explicitly failing to prohibit restraint and seclusion as a planned intervention in IEPs or in permitting them as a planned intervention. Once restraint and seclusion are included in an IEP, they are given a presumption of legitimacy. It may be difficult for parents to keep restraint and seclusion out of an IEP for the reasons discussed above. Parents who wish to challenge restraint and/or seclusion in an IEP face the hurdles inherent in exercising their due process rights, which include access to experts (whose costs are not reimbursable to parents), access to legal assistance (often beyond many families’ financial means and not always geographically available), and the added deference accorded to educators.

Ironically, proponents of restraint and seclusion seek to use the IDEA, a law that requires schools to provide appropriate educational services based on research, to authorize non-research based techniques that have caused injury and death to school children. Instead of the positive interventions and supports encouraged by the IDEA, proponents of including restraint and seclusion in IEPs seek the ability to use aversive interventions.

Especially because H.R. 4247 and S. 2860 are not enforceable through a private right of action, the IEP prohibition is essential to protect schoolchildren with disabilities throughout the nation.

LEGISLATIVE REQUEST

The House has acted and has passed a bill that includes a prohibition against including restraint and seclusion as a planned intervention in any kind of individual education or behavior plan. S2860 must continue to include the same provision. Too many children have sustained injuries, been traumatized, or have died while being restrained or while in seclusion at school. This is simply unacceptable.

Dated: August 19, 2010

ASK Your Senators to Support S. 2860, The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act! Make a Call or Send an Email this Month!

2010-04-13T21:00:00.003-04:00

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill to protect children in school from restraint, seclusion, and aversives. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn to pass a bill.

This month, please take the time to call both of your Senators and urge them to support S. 2860, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act.

Across America, schoolchildren are placed in restraints and confined in seclusion rooms that are locked or from which they cannot exit. Children are injured, traumatized, and have died. The majority of students subjected to these techniques have disabilities and many have autism. Almost half of all states provide little or no protection against restraint, seclusion, and aversives. The bill will require those states with laws below the federal minimum standard to upgrade their laws.

AutCom believes it is time for America to protect all children everywhere against restraint, seclusion, and aversives. Children are protected if they are in hospitals and medical facilities. Isn’t it time to extend the same protection to schools, where children spend most of their day?

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death from restraint and seclusion in public and private schools over the last two decades. Examples included a 7 year old who died after being held face down for hours by school staff; 5 year olds allegedly being tied to chairs with bungee cords and duct tape by their teacher and suffering broken arms and bloody noses; and a 13 year old who hanged himself in a seclusion room after prolonged confinement. The majority of students in the GAO study had disabilities. For additional information about why Federal legislation is urgently needed, see Unsafe In The Schoolhouse (pdf).

The Senate and House bills are very similar. The House bill was HR 4247 and at the end was simply renamed the Keeping All Students Safe in School Act. The Senate bill is S. 2860, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act.

AutCom thanks Senator Chris Dodd for his strong support of children with disabilities and his work to pass the Senate bill.

TAKE ACTION: CONTACT YOUR SENATORS THIS MONTH! SPREAD THE WORD AND ASK FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND COLLEAGUES TO HELP!

Find out who your Senators are. Go to http://www.senate.gov/ and clicking on Senators.
Telephone your Senators at 202-224-3121. Ask for the Office of your Senator, and then ask for the Staffer who handles Education or Disability matters. You can also find direct dial and local phone numbers for Senator on his/her webpage at http://www.senate.gov/.
Email your Senator, if you have difficulty using the telephone. Go to http://www.senate.gov/ and click on Senators. There will be a link under each Senator’s name to use their special form for their constituents.
Meetings can also be helpful. You can meet with Senators’ staff and educate them about the importance of preventing harmful restraint, seclusion, and aversives in school. Most Senators have local offices across their state.
Avoid using U.S. postal mail. U.S. postal mail goes through anthrax screening which delays mail for 10-14 days. Also, in the email era, it is much easier for staff to respond to correspondence they receive electronically.

AutCom Applauds House of Representatives for Passing Restraint and Seclusion Bill; Urges Quick Senate Action

2010-03-08T19:06:00.003-05:00

The Autism National Committee (AutCom) today thanks the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 4247, the Keeping All Students Safe in School Act. The bill is the first national effort to impose a floor of protections against restraint, seclusion, and aversives for children in school.

Across America, schoolchildren are placed in restraints and confined in seclusion rooms that are locked or from which they cannot exit. Children are injured, traumatized, and have died. The majority of students subjected to these techniques have disabilities and many have autism.

Almost half of all states provide little or no protection against restraint, seclusion, and aversives. The bill will require those states with laws below the federal minimum standard to upgrade their laws.

AutCom believes it is time for America to protect all children everywhere against restraint, seclusion, and aversives. Children are protected if they are in hospitals and medical facilities. Isn’t it time to extend the same protection to schools, where children spend most of their day?

AutCom is deeply grateful for the excellent work and leadership of Congressman George Miller, Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and their staffs. Chairman Miller and Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers introduced the bill in December.

We are also grateful to Senator Chris Dodd, who introduced a similar bill in the Senate, S.2860. We ask the Senate to pass a bill quickly and then for the President to sign the bill into law. America’s children deserve nothing less.

You can read more about the House restraint and seclusion bill here: http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2010/03/houses-approves-bill-to-protec.shtml

You can watch Chairman Miller’s fantastic speech in support of the bill here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K239Glb77y4

The restraint/seclusion bill is supported by dozens of national organizations, including AutCom. You can read AutCom’s letter to Congress urging passage of the bill here:
http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2010/01/supporters-of-the-preventing-h.shtml
and then click on "Autism National Committee" (links to pdf file).

Call Congress: Vote For HR 4247, Preventing Restraint & Seclusion In Schools Bill

2010-02-28T15:25:00.006-05:00

This week, the House of Representatives will vote on landmark legislation to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens -- children, especially children with disabilities -- from abusive "interventions" in school that have resulted in trauma and death. Please take two minutes on Monday (3/1) or Tuesday to call your Representative and ask them to vote for HR 4247, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (also known as the Keeping All Students Safe Act). HR 4247 will prevent schools from using abusive tactics on school children. Call 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904) and ask for your Representative’s office. (See instructions below. Get your friends and family to call, too!)

The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (HR 4247) is a bill that will stop schools from restraining children, confining them in seclusion rooms, and using aversive interventions to harm them. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death from restraint and seclusion in public and private schools over the last two decades. Examples included a 7 year old who died after being held face down for hours by school staff; 5 year olds allegedly being tied to chairs with bungee cords and duct tape by their teacher and suffering broken arms and bloody noses; and a 13 year old who hanged himself in a seclusion room after prolonged confinement. The majority of students in the GAO study had disabilities. For additional information about why Federal legislation is urgently needed, see Unsafe In The Schoolhouse (pdf).

HR 4247 will create a minimum level of protection for schoolchildren that all states must meet or exceed. Currently, almost half of all states have no laws or laws with little protection for children. HR 4247 will prohibit restraint and locked seclusion of schoolchildren unless there is an imminent risk of physical injury that less restrictive interventions would not stop. It will forbid using these abusive techniques as punishment and behavior modification, and to deal with educational disruption and the like. Positive behavioral interventions are the appropriate ways to deal with disruptive behavior. HR 4247 is designed to encourage schools to use positive interventions and de-escalation, instead of abusive tactics. The bill prohibits schools from using mechanical and chemical restraints or restraints the impede breathing. Schools must notify parents within 24 hours if their child is restrained or secluded; schools will not be able to hide abuse any more. HR 4247 prohibits including restraint and seclusion in IEPs as a planned intervention. The bill bans "aversives" (a.k.a. "painful things intended to modify behavior") that hurt health and safety, such as using electric shock, forcing foul substances into the mouth, eyes, or nose of children, denying them food, water and access to the bathroom; and similar actions designed to cause severe pain and trauma.

HR 4247 will protect all students, whether in private or public school. Many children with disabilities are placed in private schools by school districts and they should not lose vital health and safety protections. Other parents choose to send their children to private school for religious or other reasons; they should not be forced to give up protections from abuse. When you call, please ask your Representative to vote against any amendment to exclude private schools from the bill.

HR4247 is supported by a diverse group of organizations that have joined together and bridged divides to stop abusive tactics against children. They include the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, Arc, Easter Seals, American Academy of Pediatrics, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, American Assn of People with Disabilities, Autism National Committee, National Disability Rights Network, COPAA, CHADD, National Down Syndrome Society/Congress, National Council on Learning Disabilities, Council for Exceptional Children (special education teachers and professional organization), National School Board Association, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, and many others.

For more information about the dangers of restraint and seclusion and HR 4247, see

http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/12/preventing-harmful-restraint-a.shtml and http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2010/02/myth-vs-fact-preventing-harmfu.shtml

*****

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CALLING CONGRESS ON MONDAY OR TUESDAY:

Call and ask your Representative to VOTE FOR HR 4247, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act. Also, tell your Representative to vote against any amendment that would weaken the bill. If you are unable to call due to disability or other reason, send an email on Monday morning. Calls are very important, though. They immediately show that voters want action. When you call or write, be sure to include the bill’s name, “The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act,” and its number (HR 4247). Also be sure to include your city or town, so they know you are a constituent. The House of Representatives will vote on the bill this week, so call on Monday or Tuesday.

Telephone/TTY: Call your Congressional Representative and Senators at 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904). This is the switchboard, so you will need to know your Representative’s name. When you are connected, ask for the aide who handles education or disability. If you get voicemail, please leave a message. If you cannot reach this aide, tell the person answering the phone that you want the Congressional Representative to vote for the bill. Again, tell them your city or town so they know they represent you. It will only take a minute.

You can also find local numbers and direct dial numbers on your Representative’s webpage at http://www.house.gov.

Email: If you can call, it is extremely important to do so. But if you cannot (due to a disability, inability to use the phone during working hours, etc.), send an email on Monday. Go to http://www.house.gov/writerep for the House of Representatives. Calls have a much greater impact. Since Congress is voting on the bill this week, please call on Monday or Tuesday if you can!

Find Out Who Your Congressional Representative is: If you do not know who your Congressional Representative is, go to http://www.house.gov and put your zip code into the box in the upper left corner. (You usually only need your five digit zip code.)

If you have already contacted Congress about this bill, please do it again. Ask your Representative to VOTE FOR HR 4247, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act.

PLEASE FORWARD AND SHARE THIS ALERT BROADLY!!!

Prepared for AutCom by Jessica Butler, Esq.

jessicabutler@ymail.com (that's y, not g)

Update re House Bill on Restraint/Seclusion

2010-02-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

Congressional Committee to Vote on Restraint/Seclusion Bill Thursday, February 4 at 11:00 AM Eastern

The House Committee on Education and Labor will consider and mark up the Congressional restraint/seclusion bill this Thursday, February 4. The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (H.R. 4247) is the first national effort to address abuse of children in schools and ensure the safety of everyone involved – both students and school staff. It would establish minimum safety standards in schools and increase transparency and oversight.

Last Spring, the Government Accountability Office reported on hundreds of situations in which children were abused through restraint and seclusion in public and private schools across America. There are 23 states which provide either little or no meaningful protection from restraint or seclusion by statute or regulation; see http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/restraint.regs.tablea.pdf. There are no federal laws on restraint and seclusion that protect school children, even though those same children would be protected if they were in a hospital or other facility that receives federal health care funding.

During mark-up, the Congressional Committee will consider the bill and any proposed changes, and vote on a bill to send to the House Floor.

Event: Full Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 4247, The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act

When: Thursday, February 4, 2009 11:00 a.m. ET

Where: House Education and Labor Committee Hearing Room, 2175 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Webcast: The mark-up will be webcast live from the Education and Labor Committee website. You can access the webcast when the hearing begins at 11:00 am Eastern here:

http://edlabor.house.gov/markups/2010/02/preventing-harmful-restraint-a.shtml

More information about the dangers of restraint and seclusion can be found in the GAO's Report: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-719T

You can read HR4247 and track it as it moves through Congress through:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-4247

This action alert was prepared by Jessica Butler, Esquire, and the mother of a child with autism and an attorney who lives in Virginia. She served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) in 2007-08, and was a primary coordinator of COPAA’s Congressional Affairs program while on the Board of Directors in 2004-2009. She is the author of Unsafe in the Schoolhouse: Abuse of Children with Disabilities [pdf] (COPAA 2009). She addressed AutCom's 2009 Conference on restraints, seclusion and aversives and is a strong supporter of AutCom's principles. You can reach Jessica at jessicabutler-at-ymail.com (replace "-at-" with "@).

Action Alert: Support Restraint and Seclusion Bill and Keep it Strong!

2010-01-17T19:52:00.003-05:00

Note: See most recent update in the blog post just above, here.

10 Minute Activist! Tell Congress:
Support Restraint and Seclusion Bill and Keep it Strong!

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND ASK HIM/HER TO COSPONSOR The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act [pdf] (H.R. 4247), AND TO TAKE TWO ACTIONS DESIGNED TO KEEP PROTECTIONS STRONG. See instructions at the end. If you have time, please also call your Senators and ask them to cosponsor the Senate Bill, S. 2860. However, the House Bill is moving quickly and grassroots action is urgent.

(Update: The National Call-in Day on Thursday, 1/21, had a real impact, and sincere thanks to all who participated! But if you haven't called Congress yet, there's still time, and the House Bill remains an urgent priority as of late January to early February 2010.)

(1) Ask your Congressional Representative to cosponsor the bill. It will go far to strengthen the rights of children with disabilities, prohibiting the use of restraint and seclusion unless there is an imminent risk of physical injury that less restrictive interventions would not stop. Schools could not use mechanical and chemical restraints or restraints the impede breathing. The techniques must end when the emergency ends; no longer will children be kept in seclusion room or restraints for hours. Schools must notify parents within 24 hours; no school will be able to hide abuse. The bill will create stronger protections for children in many states that do not currently have laws or regulations. (See this table [pdf] for more information.) And it will ensure that states with good laws that are below the federal minimum bring them up to par.

(2) Ask Congress to make sure it keeps the bill section that bans putting restraint and seclusion in an IEP, BIP, or other individual educational planning document, (Section 5(a)(4)). Don’t let Congress create one rule for kids without disabilities and a different, more dangerous rule for kids with disabilities. According to the GAO, children with disabilities are at the greatest risk for being abused.

The new law is designed to make schools use less-restrictive interventions unless they would fail. Writing restraint and seclusion into the IEP will only encourage schools to use abusive techniques, instead. Too often, parents have been misled into consenting to restraint and seclusion in IEPs only to find out their children have been abused, injured, and traumatized. School districts are pressing to remove this provision. Prevent school districts from getting around the law by putting abusive interventions in the IEP.

(3) Ask Congress to amend the bill to include rooms that are unlocked but children are physically prevented from exiting. The bill currently applies only to locked seclusion (Sec. 4; applying definition 42 U.S.C. 290jj(d)(4)). Staff should not be allowed to hold doors shut or block them with furniture to imprison children with no protections. A child who uses a wheelchair but cannot operate it or a child with other motor disabilities may be secluded with the door open. Schools could use cheap child-proofing to prevent children with motor disabilities from opening a door that their peers could easily open. Because the rooms are technically unlocked, the protections in the bill would not apply to them.

In its national report on restraint and seclusion, Unsafe in the Schoolhouse [pdf], Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates documented many instances of children confined in unlocked rooms from which they cannot exit. And at least 1/3 of the seclusion cases in the National Disability Rights Network's (NDRN) School Is Not Supposed to Hurt [pdf] involved unlocked rooms from which children could not exit. Ask Congress to amend the bill so schools cannot manipulate this technicality.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. A full analysis of the bill is available on Wrightslaw here: http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/restraint.hr4247.butler.htm. This analysis includes additional explanation of the points above, as well as additional aspects of the bill that are good or that can be strengthened. The bill was introduced on December 9, 2009. Mark up (revision and approval by the full committee) of the House bill is expected in early 2010.

TAKE ACTION! CALL OR EMAIL CONGRESS!.

Please call your Representative ASAP. When you call or write, be sure to include the bill’s name, “The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act,” and its number (H.R. 4247).

Telephone/TTY: Call your Congressional Representative at 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904). This is the switchboard, so you will need to know your Representative’s name. When you are connected, ask for the aide who handles education or disability. If you get voicemail, please leave a message. You can also find direct dial numbers, fax numbers, and local numbers on your Representative’s webpage at http://www.house.gov.

Email: If you need to use email, go to http://www.house.gov/writerep for the House of Representatives. A call is always best because it is personal, but email is helpful too.

Find Out Who Your Congressional Representative is: If you do not know who your Congressional Representative is, go to http://www.house.gov and put your zip code into the box in the upper left corner. (You usually only need your five digit zip code.)

This action alert was prepared by Jessica Butler, Esquire, and the mother of a child with autism and an attorney who lives in Virginia. She served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) in 2007-08, and was a primary coordinator of COPAA’s Congressional Affairs program while on the Board of Directors in 2004-2009. She is the author of Unsafe in the Schoolhouse: Abuse of Children with Disabilities [pdf] (COPAA 2009). She addressed AutCom's 2009 Conference on restraints, seclusion and aversives and is a strong supporter of AutCom's principles. You can reach Jessica at jessicabutler-at-ymail.com (replace "-at-" with "@).

Call to Action: Ask Congress to protect children from abusive interventions

2009-12-21T17:03:00.000-05:00

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study, there have been hundreds of cases of children abused through restraint and seclusion. Examples included a 7 year old purportedly dying after being held face down for hours by school staff, 5 year olds allegedly being tied to chairs with bungee cords and duct tape by their teacher and suffering broken arms and bloody noses, and a 13 year old reportedly hanging himself in a seclusion room after prolonged confinement.

It is important for Congress to protect children with disabilities from abusive interventions.