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Restraint and Seclusion on Children with Disabilities in Florida Public Schools

There are many families from counties all over Florida who have children with Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders that are being restrained, put in time-out and forced locked seclusion rooms in the public school system. Our children are being injured physically and mentally because of their disabilities and the lack of appropriate programs and highly qualified teachers and aides available to educate them.  Most of the aides that are hired have little or no background in children with Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorders.  

Florida has no laws or regulations to protect our children from the over use of restraint and seclusion. Most school districts have no guidelines, no tracking system, no consent from parents and no parent notification in many cases.

Many of our children have little or no communication and the only way they can communicate is through behavior. Because school staff do not understand what our children are trying to say through behaviors, they are punished by being restrained, put in seclusion, put in time out or suspended.  The trauma this has caused our children and the emotional drain to our families should never happen to any child or family.

If you file a complaint with the FLDOE you are filing a complaint with them about them and nothing happens. It's a broken process that many families have tried to get help from only to find that there is no help. And then there are the forged documents that they come up with to prove parents wrong. And let's not forget about retaliation on parents if you speak up too much.

Because filing a complaint with the FLDOE is a waste of time parents have turned to Governor Crist, the School Board, the Department of Children and Family Services, local police departments, Office of Civil Rights, Inspector Generals office, Florida Advocacy Group and so far all we have heard from each group is "there is nothing they can do because they have no authority over public schools."  No authority over children being abused?  It seems that public school districts can do whatever they want and not be held responsible.

By getting this information out in the open we can educate other parents about this growing problem and hopefully find HELP to stop this abuse on our children in the public school system. 

FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and Seclusion
http://floridafamiliesagainstrestraint.blogspot.com/2007/11/advocat-contact-information.html

Families Against Restraint and Seclusion
http://familiesagainstrestraintandseclusion.blogspot.com/

Published June 24,2008


Comments (11)

Kathi Magee
Said this on 6-29-2008 At 05:13 pm
This situation is playing out in many public schools all over our nation. From CA's secret little dark closet to the padded closet in Cherry Hill, NJ. We need a national effort to stop this abuse of America's most vulnerable children. The Child Welfare League of America set guidelines for eliminating restraint and seclusion. The question is, who is going to enforce that in our public schools?

Maybe Special Education families should ban together and consider putting their school taxes in escroe accounts -- until the problems are corrected.

School administrators who authorize this abuse of our children should be locked away like their child abusers that they have become!
Reply to this Comment
Virginia Kenyon
Said this on 6-29-2008 At 05:25 pm
It is time to put a stop to
the cruel and ignorant treatmeny that is being delivered to our children, at the hands of educators, AND law enforcement, ESPECIALLY the children who are born with three strikes against them, in the form of developmental & behavorial challenges.
We're in the 21st Century,
not the 1st! It is the brute-force tactics that are destroying these Beautiful Souls.
Reply to this Comment
Said this on 6-29-2008 At 05:52 pm
All states should have laws which address the use of restraint and seclusion in the public school setting for children with disabilities. Parental notification is a key aspect of this issue. Of course, even with laws, abuse can occur. The above commentary correctly addresses the dire need for highly qualified teachers and aides. In additional, behaviorists/psychologists must be essential members of all IEP teams in which there are behavior concerns.
Reply to this Comment
Families Against Restraint and Seclusion
Said this on 6-29-2008 At 06:03 pm
Thank you so much for posting our article. Almost everyday we receive a phone call or email from a distraught parent telling us about their child being restrained or put in seclusion in public school. When I found out my son was being restrained almost daily in 7th grade I thought I was going to put a stop to it, but I found out very soon that I couldn't do one thing to stop what they were doing to him in public school. I never knew that school staff were allowed to do something like restraint and seclusion to children with disabilities or any child. I felt very helpless and angry that I had not protected my son when he went to school everyday. He must have been terrified. Now I had my answers as to why he would cry in the morning and not want to go to school.

We pulled our son out of public school almost 3 years ago to help him through the mental abuse the school put him through. He has never been the same since.

After we pulled our son out of public school I started doing some checking around and I found parents from all over Florida and in many other states that were going through the same thing.

Our group is hoping to reach as many families and legislatures as we can to educate them about the hidden secret of restraint and seclusion in the public school system. If we all work together we can change laws and create new laws to keep all children safe in the public school system.

Thank you for helping parents to bring this out in the open.

Regards,

FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and Seclusion
Families Against Restraint and Seclusion (National Group)
Reply to this Comment
Debbie
Said this on 6-29-2008 At 06:16 pm
I know far too well that the overuse of restriaints used for children who have behavior problems, related to their disability is widespread in Florida. My son has been manually restrained multiple times & has even hurt himself in an attempt to get out of the CPI hold. When I questioned the bruise on his arm, the administrator become very defensive which made me even more concerned. I asked for a demonstration as to what types of holds are being used with my son & the school refused. The school personnel do not use these types of restraining methods only as "a last resort" as they are supposed to. Instead, they use restraining methods as a method to show who is in control rather than using proper behavior intervention techniques. My son has even been antagonized during a meltdown which escalated his aggressive behaviors. The school has never notified me when my child is restrained, nor have I ever seen it documented on the disciplinary referral form. This is a very serious situation & is a form of abuse. It needs to stop now. I know there is a $100,000 cap relating to lawsuits against school districts in Florida. If that wasn't the case, there would be many families that would participate in a class action law suit against the state of Florida for allowing this to happen in the first place. We need to protect our children.
Reply to this Comment
Joanne Morgan
Said this on 6-29-2008 At 09:43 pm
My sister, who lives in Florida, has a child with an autistic spectrum disorder. He is a very bright young man, but unfortunately has problems with behavior, one of the symptoms of his syndrome. Because of that he was physically restrained at school and that action has set him back tremendously. The school district has done nothing to help my sister and her family and in fact, has done everything they possibly could do not to help them.
Reply to this Comment
Melissa B
Said this on 6-30-2008 At 11:45 am
I can not believe this actually takes place! We have to stop such barbaric treatment of AS children.
Reply to this Comment
Jennifer S
Said this on 7-3-2008 At 10:08 pm
Thank you for posting this. This problem is not just confined to Florida, but all over the U.S. When my then 7 yr old daughter with multiple disabilities was restrained in a public school in Pennsylvania almost two years years ago and I couldn't get help from the the Dept. of Ed, Office for Civil Rights, P&A, or anywhere else, I turned to the internet for support. Sadly, I found that our situation is not unique, but is a rampant problem everywhere. Not only do our laws need to strengthen the protections for children in special education, but there actually needs to be real enforcement of those laws.
Reply to this Comment
Anna
Said this on 1-4-2009 At 12:27 am
Restraint & Seclusion Awareness Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8RlcIRkBkw
Reply to this Comment
Kelly Richardson
Said this on 3-11-2009 At 10:17 pm
I have been working with autistic children for over four years now, and I have been horrified by some of the things I have come across. It is an issue that HAS to be addressed! These children are often some of the brightest in their age group, but that often goes unnoticed. As only an aide in an "inclusion" program, I have seen teachers push the more difficult cases aside in favor of typical learners. I recently moved to a small private school, and the change is refreshing! The teachers genuinely care about their kids, and the smaller setting is ideal.
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