Seclusion Room (aka Time-Out Rooms)

A practice that is unfortunately still way too common is the use of seclusion rooms, also known as time-out rooms, in schools for the “behavior management” of children with special needs. This practice is unethical for many reasons, not the least of which being that isolating children in seclusion rooms borders on abuse because children are literally locked in these rooms until they’re deemed “calm enough” to be let out. Since when is it okay with anyone to lock a child in a cage?!? It is unfathomable to me that schools continue to use this practice without more regulations.

Currently, most states still allow the use of seclusion rooms with limited to no training and limited documentation. The biggest problem is that many use seclusion rooms without any other interventions to actually address the behavior (i.e. through the use of Positive Behavior Supports), rather these “educators” are content to continue to abuse these children and make them fear being tossed into the “cage”. Parents and teachers need to take a stand against the use of these seclusion rooms anywhere and hold the schools and educators accountable for actually teaching these students using positive practices.

Please click on the link below for a recent news story about the use of seclusion rooms:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/17/seclusion.rooms/index.html