Extensive Psychology Today Blog Post on Seclusion and Restraint

See this post, which begins:

A urine soaked scream room. A child stuffed in a duffel bag. Vinegar soaked cotton balls put in a child's mouth. Slapped on the head with plastic bottles. Child dragged through a playground across asphalt with pants down. Shoved to the floor and dead from asphyxiation. Handcuffed and duct-taped. Degraded. Dehumanized. Traumatized. Mob stories? No, it is just a scratch of the surface of what has happened to children in special education in the past year. Not in a third world country, but here in America.

Today, as I write, children with autism are regularly and legally restrained and secluded against their will. Most states have little to no laws regarding seclusion and restraint. What is even worse is the fact that seclusion, restraint and aversives have been proven to be an ineffective way to modify behavior, but they are still used in education. In fact, it actually increases behavior in many children, and has the potential to cause physical and long lasting trauma to a child.