Restraint and Seclusion

Provide Safe Guidelines for Restraint of Children

and

Eliminate Seclusion and Prone Restraint

As a form of Discipline

The Council strongly supports the development and

Implementation of statutory authority that will provide

for the safety of students with developmental disabilities

while simultaneously offering school personnel clear and

unambiguous regulations on the use of restraint

and seclusion.

The use of restraints or seclusion on children has had

extremely negative and tragic consequences. Injuries,

trauma, and even death are well-documented consequences

of the use of restraints or seclusion.

Parents of children with developmental disabilities have

pushed to gain more access to mainstream schools and

classrooms for their sons and daughters. Unfortunately

schools are using precisely the sort of practices families

hoped to avoid by steering clear of institutionalized

settings: takedowns, isolation rooms, restraining chairs

with straps, and worse.

As schools transition students with disabilities out of

segregated settings into regular education classrooms

it is critical that teachers and staff are trained and prepared

to provide the necessary support. Research

demonstrates that lack of teacher training can lead to

inappropriate staff responses to problem behavior, thereby

increasing the chances that student behavior will escalate

and become severe.

Research and practice have demonstrated the practical use

and benefits of functional behavioral assessment and positive

interventions for helping address behavior issues in children

with disabilities. Unfortunately, even with this information,

we continue to see over and over that the use of

restraints or seclusion has been the response of first choice in

far too many situations. Policies should stress the importance

of employing non-physical techniques. They should emphasize

prevention, positive behavioral intervention strategies,

And de-escalation techniques to help students manage their

own conduct. These practices teach children to build social

relationships and skills they need to progress to adulthood.

They also create an environment that values healthy

relationships and conflict resolution skills.

The Council’s Position:

• First, physical restraint should be used only as

a last resort and when there is a demonstrable

and imminent physical danger to the student

or others.

• Second, the statute should include a requirement

that all instances of restraint must be reported as

soon as possible to the parent(s) of a child who has

been restrained, the Department of Education (DOE)

and an outside independent agency.

• Finally, the statute should contain prohibitions

against any form of forced seclusion or prone restraint.