an excerpt from Wrighstlaw
Across America, children are restrained, confined in seclusion rooms, and subject to aversive interventions. A Government Accountability Office study found “hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death related to the use of these methods on school children during the past two decades. Examples of these cases include 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.” GAO, Seclusions and Restraints: Selected Cases of Death and Abuse at Public and Private Schools and Treatment Centers, GAO-09-719T (May 19, 2009).
In 2009, the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates also documented nearly 180 reports of abuse in school in Unsafe in the Schoolhouse. The National Disability Rights Network issued its ground-breaking School is Not Supposed to Hurt, reporting on dozens of cases resulting in injury and death.
To protect children from such abuse, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (H.R. 4247) was introduced in Congress on December 9. 2009.
