Horror in the Classroom

My cyber-friend Judith brought this CNN article to my attention today. It’s about the use of seclusion or “quiet” rooms in the school system. These rooms are used for kids who are deemed “disruptive” – often these kids have autism.

This article talks about a 13-year-old boy who hanged himself while locked in one of these rooms. His parents didn’t even know the room existed, let alone that their son was repeatedly being left in there alone when he should have been being educated. The school didn’t tell them because, legally, they didn’t have to…because there are little-to-no regulations about the use of these rooms.

The article reminded me of this New York Times story, “Calm Down or Else,” which discussed the mostly-unregulated use of restraints in school for kids deemed disruptive. Several kids have been accidentally suffocated because they were restrained for so long.

Again, many of these kids have autism – some of them can’t even speak, so not only can they not defend themselves, they can’t go home and tell anyone what is happening to them.

Aside from my obvious horror, my reaction to these stories is always, Thank goodness Owen isn’t violent. Thank goodness he can talk. But isn't there something wrong with that? That I'm thankful he'd at least be able to tell me if he was being mistreated?

And even though Owen isn't violent, he does scream sometimes. He has meltdowns. He’s been known to flail a little when he gets really mad. What if one of his meltdowns happened to coincide with a teacher’s really bad day? What if he just pushed her over the edge in that particular minute and she reacted just a little too severely? What if my little boy was thrown into a locked room, alone, and left to sit for hours on end?

Kids are being abused and killed at school. At the hands of the people their parents are trusting to educate them. Yes, teachers are under-trained and overworked and have too many kids to keep track of, but it’s not okay.

I completely understand that all children deserve to learn in an environment without constant disruption. I wouldn’t want one student taking up my boys’ teacher’s attention the whole day, either, but come on. There has to be a better way. There have to be rules and regulations. At the very, very least, a parent should have to be told each and every time a restraint is used or their child is send to a quiet room.

My boys’ school has a quiet room. They told us about it at the beginning of the year (if you read the CNN article, you’ll note that many schools don’t tell anyone about these rooms). The teachers send kids there when they get in trouble or if they need extra time to finish their work. Owen got sent there once because he didn’t finish his work on time. I didn’t find out about it until more than a week later when he happened to mention it.

Having already read that NY Times article, I panicked. I spoke to his teacher and asked why and when and how often he had been sent there. More importantly, why wasn’t I told? She told me that he had only been sent there once and it wasn’t because he was in trouble. She said that if he had been sent there for a behavior issue, I would have been told. He hasn’t been sent back since.

Aside from being vigilant with our own kids, what else can we do? I don’t know, but there has to be something. No one should have to fear that their children are being abused at school.

That's a Good Dog

There's an article on CNN.com today about how service dogs are helping kids with autism. Interesting. I'm all for anything that helps kids with autism (and their families) lead fuller, safer, more independent lives.

With Owen being at the mild end of the spectrum, we are lucky not to have the safety issues that many parents of kids with autism experience -- specifically the impulse to run off without warning -- but there was something else intriguing in the article: Some of these dogs actually intervene and stop meltdowns. The dog apparently calms the kid down, heading off the meltdown. How great would that be?

My husband has been trying to convince me to get a dog for years. Show me a hypoallergenic, non-barking dog trained to stop meltdowns and you've got yourself a deal, honey.