Another Story About Physical Restraint Being Used and Abused

Unfortunately here is another story of a person with autism (who is also non-verbal) who was allegedly abused by a teacher performing a “restraint” technique. It is so frustrating to continue to hear stories like this and watch those who have abused children and adults go unpunished because their abuse can not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Something needs to change.

The fact of the matter is that many teachers are poorly trained, poorly supervised, and poorly supported. They are put into stressful situations which cause reactions that stem from anger. They do not use appropriate positive behavior supports to avoid situations by teaching people to appropriately communicate and cope. Rather they go for the “quickest and easiest” solution… defend themselves from being potential hurt by physically aggressing back toward the person. I understand that there are rare occasions when measures need to be taken to protect the student and others around them, but if anything these should be used briefly to move everyone to a safe place and then all hands should be off. The person in the story in U.S. News reportedly held the student down on a desk by their head! For any of you who have gone through restraint train know that this is nowhere in the manual. This is not an approved technique…it is ABUSE!!

The second thing I want to address here is proper consent and documentation for use of aversive techniques. Every person with whom these techniques may be used needs to have consent signed by their legal guardian. Before a plan like this can be put into place a Behavioral Intervention Plan needs to be created outlining the intervention that will take place to reduce the likelihood of the person engaging in undesirable behavior. This plan needs to be proactive, not reactive. It needs to include what will be taught to the person to help them learn to not engage in aggressive behaviors, how it will be taught, how data will be tracked and what steps will be taken only in the case of an emergency situation (may include restraint but this is the LAST resort). This plan needs to be agreed upon by all member of the IEP team and all behavior (including antecedents, behaviors, and consequences) needs to be tracked. This is for legal and logical reasons because everyone needs to consent to the plan and its implementation and all instances of behavior need to be recorded so the data can be reviewed and instructional decisions can be made.

There also should be video cameras in ALL classrooms that include students who are non-verbal. Only in this way can we absolutely be sure all interventions are being implemented appropriately. This is also an extremely valuable tool for teachers to view the videos to complete video feedback sessions so they can reflect back on situations in the classroom to improve their implementation of interventions. It would also have the side effect of the teachers and aides making more conscious decisions because they are being “watched” (I know this sounds bad but I believe that a lot of abuse goes down because lack of supervision can lead to people taking things into the “own hands” in times of frustration rather than using best practices).

The most important thing to remember is that people with autism are people first with inalienable human rights. It is never okay to use force against someone, let alone someone who is unable to communicate let alone defend themselves. Parents and educators need to make sure that children and adults with disabilities are not victims of abuse. Speak up and advocate for their rights.

US News Article