School put Autistic Boy in 'Time Out' Closet, says Mom

School put Autistic Boy in 'Time Out' Closet, says Mom

www.courier-journal.com

An Oldham County mother has filed a complaint with the state after learning that Crestwood Elementary officials put her 8-year-old autistic son in a small, empty room nearly 80 times last fall because of his behavior -- sometimes locking him in.

"They keep calling it a time-out room," said Jeanie Montgomery of Centerfield, who has pulled her son from Crestwood. "It is a closet."

Montgomery has filed a sworn complaint with the state Department of Education, alleging the school has violated her son's rights when it locked him in the 32-square-foot room built specifically to deal with disruptive behavior.

Her complaint cites school records showing that Matthew was placed in the room 78 times during an 11-week period last year.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 14-4-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

Yikes...There's a potential giant lawsuit waiting to be awarded...Locking an autistic kid in a 4 x 8' room because he was 'unruly'? Seems pretty heartless to me...

Department of Education guidelines, issued in 2000, state that placing a student in seclusion is a "drastic measure that should only be used as a last defense measure" and that schools should "never lock a student in a closed setting."

Montgomery said the school removed a lock from the time-out room's door in December after she complained.

Coorssen said the lock on the outside of the door was placed there to keep students from entering the room -- not to lock people in. She said school officials ordered it removed as soon as they learned of it and are investigating to determine who placed it there.

"There was a lock placed on the door," she said. "If they were using that to lock a student in, that would be a problem."

www.courier-journal.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

"They keep calling it a time-out room," said Jeanie Montgomery of Centerfield, who has pulled her son from Crestwood. "It is a closet."

locked him in the 32-square-foot room built specifically to deal with disruptive behavior.

Man I hope theres no waterboarding going on in this specially designed room.

This is horrible.

Originally posted by ATruGod
This is horrible.

Indeed, yet another school pushing the boundaries, I'm so glad I grew up in school in the 70's/80's.

I'm also glad on a short note, that I don't have kids these days (or rather yet) as being a parent, I'm sure I woulda been locked away with how teachers treat their students cause they can't handle them.... they'd just send us home with a phone call to our parents and our parents would handle us the propper way..

... recalls the belt a few times...

That is just not to be tolerated in any educational institution.

It seems that teachers in the US are just as bad as teachers in Oz.
What is it about these people who think that they know better than everyone else what is good, or how to manage children?

They think that because they have a qualification they can bully and mistreat our children? I do NOT think so.

Half of them need to be booted out of any kind of career where they may encounter children. They are just people and not possessed of any magical powers because they have a qualification.

If this is a mainstream school then why is an autistic student able to attend? Is there a special needs unit there? Is the teacher specifically trained to deal with these students ?

res

I can see how this happened. Autism isn't just Dustin Hoffman(Rainman), there are many different types. There's this kid in my youngest daughters class. He was non-verbal. His mother didn't allow him to be treated any differently. He's no longer non-verbal, he's an interesting person to talk with.

Why is he in my daughters class? Because she's autistic too. FAR from non-verbal, she never shuts up. Active to the MAX.

My point? I don't think this school has the knowledge and resources to deal with autistic kids. They just did what came to mind. They either need some(much) training or they need to be replaced with someone that has the ability to do the job.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Your killing me tongiht Dimension. It seems I am chasing down every thread you have been writing (all the Constitutional ones at least)

I didn't read anyones post so if I restate the obvious I apologize

That mother is going to win big time. If it was a public school that it was state action and it was abusive. End of story. I hope I get a case like that someday

reply to post by intrepid


That was the first thing that came to mind-That they did not have someone qualified to deal with an autistic child. If they had, this treatment would have NEVER happened. Hopefully this school WILL hire staff that know the ends and outs of autism, and the behaviors associated with it, as well as humane, sensible ways to deal with these children.

Locking the kid in a 4 x 8 room because of THEIR ignorance is sickening.

reply to post by intrepid


Need to hire Special Ed. teachers. Or fire the ones they have now if thats how they do these things.

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
reply to post by intrepid

 

That was the first thing that came to mind-That they did not have someone qualified to deal with an autistic child. If they had, this treatment would have NEVER happened. Hopefully this school WILL hire staff that know the ends and outs of autism, and the behaviors associated with it, as well as humane, sensible ways to deal with these children.

Locking the kid in a 4 x 8 room because of THEIR ignorance is sickening.

A question:

If one out of every 150 kids born now is autistic, and the rate is still increasing, how will taxpayers afford to hire more "qualified" (what you specifically mean by that I'm not sure) staff to deal with all of them? It seems that special ed classes will eventually be only for students without a learning disability.

reply to post by WalkOn


This is how I was dealt with in school as well. I believe no teacher, or ANY person in the WORLD has the right to discipline someone else's kid. None!!!

If any kid, disabled/autistic or not, is out of control.. They can be sent to the principal's office so as to not disrupt anymore class time from the others, and have the principal call the child's parents to deal with it.

No one, has any right to punish or discipline someone else's kid, especially if they have no idea HOW to. I have never heard of a teacher taking it into their own hands, to punish someone else's child.

This subject is kind of upsetting.