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New Federal Data Show More Than 400,000 Reported Incidents of Restraint and Seclusion in U.S. Schools
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has released the latest available Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2023–24 school year. The data show that public schools reported 406,794 incidents of physical restraint, mechanical restraint, and seclusion. That number is alarming. But it is also important to understand what it represents…
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The Rules Are Changing in Massachusetts. But Are We?
Massachusetts changed its regulations governing seclusion, time-out, and physical restraint in schools on August 17, 2026. The changes matter: the new regulations place tighter limits on seclusion, establish a clearer distinction between time-out and seclusion, and reinforce that physical restraint is an emergency procedure of last resort. Massachusetts has also stated an explicit goal of…
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The Day My Son Came Home in a Police Car
I am the mother of two neurodivergent Latino boys. My youngest was diagnosed with autism around the age of two, and that diagnosis became a passport to supports and services. His older brother, however, went under the radar for far too long, masking his own neurodivergence. Both of my boys have always been described as…
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A Difficult Truth: I May Never Know What Happened to My Daughter
When I read that three former employees from Greensburg Salem School District’s Nicely Elementary School pleaded guilty and received only probation for abusing disabled students, my heart sank. This wasn’t just another news story. One of those employees had been my daughter’s preschool teacher, and another had been her Therapeutic Staff Support (TSS). In this…
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Behavior Is Not the Brain: Why My Childhood Made Me Question Behaviorism
When people hear me criticize behaviorism, they often assume I’ve never taken the time to understand it. They tell me to read B.F. Skinner. They recommend Israel Goldiamond’s Constructional Approach. They point me toward nonlinear contingency analysis and explain that ABA has changed. The implication is usually the same: If you understood modern behavior analysis,…
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Trends in Restraint and Seclusion Practices in U.S. Schools: A Civil Rights Data Analysis (2015–2021)
The current study investigates the prevalence of restraint and seclusion within U.S. public school systems at both the national and state levels, using CRDC data collected during the school years 2015-2016, 2017-2018, and 2020-2021. A descriptive analysis with a repeated cross-sectional study design was used to investigate changes in physical restraints, mechanical restraints, and seclusion…
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See the Child Behind the Story: Jojo’s Story
Our son, Jojo, is a bright, loving six-year-old with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), multiple vision disabilities, and a history of early childhood trauma. Like every child, he has unique strengths and challenges. With appropriate accommodations, supports, and trauma-informed care, we believed he could learn, grow, and thrive alongside his peers in…
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Owning Our Truths to Show Up Authentically for Our Children
We can not meet our children on a level of creating potential if we have no sense of what it means to meet them in their full, unique truth. The truth is: we were taught to move away from our truth. Culture has created and sustained behaviorism, and faith that it would teach us how…
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Evaluating Disability‑Inclusive Education Frameworks Across Countries
This paper provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of inclusive education frameworks across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom, benchmarked against the United States’ Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Drawing exclusively from country‑specific policy documents and scholarly literature, the paper examines each nation’s legislative foundations, implementation structures, and conceptual approaches to disability.…
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My Students Understand. Why Don’t Some Adults Get It?
Of those things people recognize me by at this point, yesterday one of my 4th graders pointed at it and asked, “What do ALL those words mean?” Not just one—every single one. So instead of brushing it off, we sat down and talked about it, and honestly, it turned into one of the most meaningful…
