Improper use of Restraints

[Stephanie]

Hello to all of you! :) My little guy, Ryan, was abused at the hands of his special education teacher. This teacher, along with the teachers assistants would restrain Ryan's wrists and ankles to a chair for extremely long periods of time, anywhere to 45 minutes up to 3 hours at time, on a daily basis. This teacher had been doing this for 2 years unbeknownst to me. I just happened to accidentally find out. There is so much more to this story that I could write a book before I am through, however, I will just stop here. ;) I am currently working with two agencies in Indiana, and the Indiana Board of Education on writing a "No Restraint Law" for Indiana. I am in the process of gathering information for the Education Roundtable. My question is...Has anyone ever gone through something like this with their own children? The improper use of restraints? The more data I can gather, the more likely this law will be implemented. All of your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time and your stories!

[JoshP]

I'm moving this to the "Legal" forum.

[AutMom]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I don't have an experience to add that would help you, but just wanted to say how horrifying it is to hear stories like this. We did have a time when our son arrived for his first day at a Vocational program, and the head teacher would not let his aide come into the building with him!:mad: :mad: :mad: It was a disaster![/font]

[Stephanie]

It has been a horrifying situation! The things that my little guy indured while being in this classroom are unbelievable. I have teachers assistants who came forward and told what they were instructed to do by this teacher. We are in the middle of a huge legal battle..and the manhours that have been spent fighting this battle are long and grueling, although, well worth it!!. Ryan is now being homeschooled, and doing things that the school said that he could never do!! And now Indiana could get a "No Restraint Law" because of Ryan and other children like him. I know that Ryan's situation is not an isolated incident. I know that, unfortuanately, it has happened to other children and I want to do everything in my power to make it stop!! Goodness, I could stand on my soapbox forever and talk. However, Ryan's sister needs my help with history! Take care Autmom!!

[AutMom]

[QUOTE=Stephanie]It has been a horrifying situation! The things that my little guy indured while being in this classroom are unbelievable. I have teachers assistants who came forward and told what they were instructed to do by this teacher. We are in the middle of a huge legal battle..and the manhours that have been spent fighting this battle are long and grueling, although, well worth it!!.[color=navy] Ryan is now being homeschooled, and doing things that the school said that he could never do!! And now Indiana could get a "No Restraint Law" because of Ryan and other children like him.[/color] I know that Ryan's situation is not an isolated incident. I know that, unfortuanately, it has happened to other children and [color=navy]I want to do everything in my power to make it stop!![/color] [color=navy]Goodness, I could stand on my soapbox forever[/color] and talk. However, Ryan's sister needs my help with history! Take care Autmom!![/QUOTE]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3]It's a good thing you can stand on your soapbox![/size][/font]

It must be hard to even know what effect this may still have on your son and all those others.:(

[Stephanie]

Hi again Autmom...yes, because of this incident with the school, Ryan has had to see a Children's Psychologist, and has been diagnosed with an Anxiety disorder. We can take him nowhere near the school because he seems to go into panic attacks. Then once the panic attack is over he has spells where he stares off into space. Has even gone into fetal postion. These episodes have lasted from 3 days up to two weeks after taking him just by the school. So this does still affect him, and the psychologist says that it probably always will. Makes me very sad to know that my poor little guy has had to endure such abuse. Especially by the people whom you are supposed to trust the most..."his education team". Take care!

[Lucas]

I can tell you a funny story about restraints. It doesn't seem appropriate, but I'm Autistic; I'm not supposed to be appropriate.

I've only been to America once, visiting my Dad and other family members that I have never met before. I went with my sister, we were both under eighteen so we were classed as 'unacompanied minors'. This means that we would always have someone with us to make sure we got on the right plane seeing as we had to go to Indianapolas via Amsterdam and Detroit. To make sure this happened, my mom rang the airline ahead and told them to expect a sixteen year old girl and her Autistic brother: "He has Asperger's Syndrome" she said.

When we arrived at Leeds/Bradford airport, we were greeted by a few people who had a wheelchair on standby with optional limb restraints. Just for the fun of it, my sister agreed on my behalf for the wheelchair to be used, but the restraints wouldn't be neccessary: "He's very well behaved". So I was being wheeled around the airport in this wheelchair and every so often I would stand up and do something funny like use a vending machine while everyone had their backs turned.

Let me know how it goes with this 'No Restraint Law'; I know a lot of parents that would pack up and move to Indiana if such a law was inforced.

[tpigford]

:( Stephanie, It breaks my heart to hear of the pain this has caused Ryan. I do hope and pray that he can heal from this. From our experience, Jacob would literally try to stop the car from going to the school he was attending when he was abused and for quite some time after he left, get very upset when we would turn down a certain road headed in that direction (biting hands, holding on to me, etc.) Now almost 4 years since he attended, he does not get upset when we drive past, I think he finally realized he would never have to go there again and knows he is safe and secure in his current program. Hopefully Ryan can get past this for his sake and yours.

[tpigford]

I should have mentioned a website that has tons of info covering many disabilities. It is www.parentsunitedtogether.com. It still has info posted about Jacob from our case.

[AutMom]

Thanks for posting that site. :cool: I just took a quick look, but it seems to have lots of info. Which link is your case in?

[tpigford]

There is a section called Friends, click on Jacob Pigford. I didn't realize it was still on there until this week. Our case has not been resolved to it may stay on until there is an update.

[AutMom]

[size=3]This brings tears to my eyes. [/size]
[size=3]So sorry - How is he doing now?[/size]:(

[tpigford]

He is doing quite well. If you go back to some previous thread you'll see it took awhile but he seems to have gotten over his fear of the school. Don't know how he might react if he ever is around the guilty guy. Thanks for asking, it was the worst thing we have ever been through with him - totally helpless feeling.

[AutMom]

tpigford, Thanks, I looked back in this thread to reread what you posted. I'm so glad he doesn't have to go there any more. These things do take a long time to get over! I would love to hear more about how he's doing now if you want to start a thread in the appropriate place.:)

My son had an experience at a vocational program whereby they would not let his aide in on his first day there! :mad: Then they wondered why he got out of control. :rolleyes: That's like taking away someone's wheel chair and wondering why they can't walk, duh.

[Julie]

Has anyone heard of Matthew Goodman and how he died while being constantly restrained? His mother and some other parents are working to pass "Matthew's Law", which would restrict the use of retraints in their state.

http://matthewslaw.bravepages.com/ is the website. The information has all been moved to another site (link posted on the site), but there is a picture of Matthew in his restraints (bandages all up his arms because he used to pick at his scabs and such and a hockey helmet). Perhaps you might get some support and advice from these folks about getting the law passed in Indiana.

It is sad to see that in this day and age, this type of primitive abuse is condined and sponsored by governments in supposedly civilized countries. (It happens here in Canada too)

CIBRA is another good site to visit and I believe the parents there are working to get similar laws passed. http://users.1st.net/cibra/

Why is it that abuse is tolerated with autism? Why di they believe they need to go to such extreme measures because of autism? I understand that it is hard for parents to raise an autistic child...my mother had enough fun with me, I'm sure! But why must therapists resort to abuse and torture?

Would they torture a person who has epilepsy? It is neurological, but you don't see therapists blaming their seizures on behavioural problems. How about Huntington's Disease or Parkinson's? Why do they do it to autistic people? Autism is neurological too. Autistic people do not want autism anymore than their parents do. They do not behave as they do on purpose. I don't remember ever saying to myself "Hmmm...how can I drive my parents to drink today? I know... I'll spin and scream and bang my head against the wall! That always gets a reaction out of em! Yeah!"

I see why people want to cure autism. It's not fun for anyone...even those of us who are autistic. But we cannot be cured now that we are born and live. Why can they not focus on support and advocacy instead of torturing our ways out of us?

My rant of the day. I really and truly hope the parents who are advocating for their kids and doing what they can to get these laws passed are successful!

[cindie2]

My name is Cindie and I have 4 children and I am married to a wonderful man. I have twin boys who were diagnosed with autism pdd, one mild, one moderate.
The school district has been a constant struggle and this year they have mentioned restraints. That the school personnel would be trained and that it would be used as only a last resort. This school district has not done anything right so far. I have now had to call a lawyer twice. I am very worried because I am still learning so much about the school system. They are able to get away with so much that it is unbelievable. I would love to get some information from other Texas residents that have been having problems with the school system. I have some ideas on how to hold these school districts that don't want to deal with our special kids accountable. I think the more we talk to eachother and share our stories the more we could learn from eachother on how to make these schools better. Thank you all for letting me express myself. Hope to hear from other struggling parents and others who have ideas about restraining our kids.

[AutMom]

About the restraint training....Do you know what the name of their course is?
Are they training in some kind of crisis prevention?

[sharon]

Just wondering, Stephanie, was your little boy confined to one of the famous "Rifton" or Rifton like chairs and did the teacher and school tell you that this was for his benefit and protection?
(Sorry to hear they could not have decided on a kinder and more appropriate way)

[zelda]

:) Hi Stephanie.
I am sorry to here about what happend to your son, i don't know how someone can be so cruel.How is your son doing now i hope is is doing well.
I work in a care setting enviroment in the uk (started 8 weeks ago)
I have had alot of training and what we were trained to do is supportive holds
and we do not ever strap anyone down so they are totally restricted in there movements.It is against the law here.With supportive holds the client as we call them are not totaly restricted of there movements and we talk to them in a calm and understanding voice (it is no good shouting at someone who for what ever reason is upset,they only hear your anger and it make them worse)
once they start to calm down we walk away.
We are also trained to breakaway from anyone who is holding us but never do any of the clients get hurt.
Oh and we have to write a report on any incident that may occur.

[NiteCat4Ever]

This board needs to come back to life. I have been homeschooling my child now for almost four years; because of the school restraining him without my permission and than imagine how surprised I was when an FBA was completed on my son and I found this out...."Students and Staff were provoking and harrassing.....and was not allowing him to have role models/peers to become friends with."