MEDIA CONTACTS:

Nancy Anderson, J.D., ADAP

205/348-4928

nanderso@adap.ua.edu

 

Robin Lunceford, ADAP

205/348-4928

rluncefo@adap.ua.edu

 

 

DISABILITY ADVOCATES CALL FOR RESTRICTIONS ON

SECLUSION AND RESTRAINT IN SCHOOLS

 

TUSCALOOSA, AL (June 9, 2009)   -- Citing injuries to students and teaching staff, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP) seeks restrictions on the use of seclusion and restraint in Alabama schools.

 

In a report released today, ADAP notes that Alabama is one of nineteen states that have no laws regulating the use of either practice in the state’s public schools and that these potentially dangerous practices are used disproportionately on children with disabilities.

 

The report highlights more than a dozen chilling incidents of school-based seclusion and restraint that ADAP investigated over the last three years, including one involving a mechanical restraint being used on a five year old child with autism and mental illness.

 

Among the recommendations made by ADAP is an outright ban on the school use of seclusion and any chemical, mechanical and prone restraints -- a particularly unsafe restraint in which the restrainer forcibly keeps a child’s body face down on a surface.  Tighter controls on the use of other restraints are called for, along with required staff debriefing after a restraint incident and data collection for performance improvement purposes.  

 

“A restraint should only be used by well-trained and monitored staff and only when there is clear, imminent danger of injury to a child or others,” said ADAP staff attorney Nancy Anderson.

 

A recent congressional hearing shined a spotlight on the use of seclusion and restraint.  In response to the hearing testimony, including testimony from one mother whose child died as the result of a prone restraint, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called for state school chiefs across the country to address the use of seclusion and restraint.

 

“To its credit, the Alabama State Department of Education has begun thinking about how to eliminate the use of these practices and how to enhance the safety and behavioral needs of students,” said Anderson. “No teacher wants to restrain or seclude a child.  Prevention is key.  We have to provide teachers with intensive training and supports in positive behavior management and crisis de-escalation so they have better skills to handle challenging situations before they get out of hand – so the perceived need to restrain or seclude a child doesn’t come up in the first place.”

 

To download and view ADAP’s report, visit http://www.adap.net.

 

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ABOUT ADAP:

ADAP is Alabama’s federally-funded protection and advocacy (P&A) system for persons with disabilities.  Collectively, the P&A system is the largest provider of legally-based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States.  ADAP’s mission is to protect, promote and expand the rights of persons with disabilities in Alabama.  Housed at The University of Alabama, ADAP provides individual advocacy services to approximately three thousand persons annually. The agency impacts the lives of thousands of other Alabamians with disabilities through the systemic litigation and policy work it undertakes.