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A Call to Colorado Lawmakers: It’s Time to End the Reliance on Seclusion and Restraint in Our Schools
As an occupational therapist, I, Julianne Kamp, am committed to supporting equitable and developmentally appropriate school environments, and I am deeply concerned about the continued reliance on seclusion and restraint as behavioral interventions in Colorado schools. Research and clinical experience demonstrate that these practices carry significant physical and psychological risks, yet policies governing their use remain…
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As a Former School-Based SLP, I Knew About the Harm Caused by Seclusion and Restraint, Then It Happened to My Son
I worked as a school-based SLP for seven years in Washington state. My population consisted of elementary and middle-school-aged children, and I purposefully volunteered to work with special population students, including autistic children. The caseload was enormous, and it was an eye-opening experience into the disparities in teaching and support for the population of students…
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A Letter to Ask Massachusetts Lawmakers to Ban the Use of Electric Skin Shock
As a long-time advocate for disability rights, and as the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint’s representative to the Stop the Shock Coalition, I am deeply troubled that Massachusetts continues to permit the use of the graduated electronic decelerator on disabled students in the name of “behavior control.” The attached letter shares our concerns with Massachusetts…
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Punitive School Discipline and Its Public Health Implications: A Literature Review
Childhood is the developmental stage during which the foundation for an individual’s identity, personality, and self-regulation skills is established (Montroy et al., 2016). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that can profoundly shape development, both physiologically and psychologically (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). The majority of the existing literature surrounding childhood…
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Urgent Call to Action: Support Bill H.245 to Stop the Shock in Massachusetts!
Massachusetts families and advocates urgently need your voice to end the use of abusive “therapy” — including electric shock, forced restraints, food deprivation, and more — on disabled children and adults. On Tuesday, November 18, 2025 (1–5pm), the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities will hold a public hearing on Bill H.245,…
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Hacking School Discipline: A Short Book Review
Current research demonstrates that autistic learners face rates of school suspensions and expulsions at much higher rates than their non-autistic peers. It is likely that many of these punitive and exclusionary discipline practices are a direct result of unmet environmental needs within the school environment. While not specifically focusing on neurodivergent learners, Jeffrey Benson’s Hacking…
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What’s at Stake if Federal Special Education Protections Are Dismantled
Across the country, parents, educators, and advocates are sounding the alarm about recent moves to dismantle key parts of the federal system that protect students with disabilities. The potential elimination or weakening of federal special education offices and oversight doesn’t just change the system; it puts millions of children at risk. In recent federal policy…
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Call To Action Wisconsin: Take Action to Protect Vulnerable Students from Harmful Discipline Bills
Call to action! –In Wisconsin, AB613 and AB614 are two new education bills that are bad news for Wisconsin families and schools. They are discriminatory, promote the use of seclusion and physical restraint, and would do nothing to solve the root cause of problems in education. We need to stop this bill to help families…
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Being Twice-Exceptional: A Short Book Review
The book, Being Twice-Exceptional, by Dr. Melanie Hayes, is, in the author’s own words, a form of activism. While the book focuses on the lived experiences of the 2eA community (individuals who are considered both gifted and autistic), the author’s advice is relevant to the twice-exceptional community as a whole. A champion of the twice-exceptional,…
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The Illusion of “Play-Based ABA”: The Gentle Mask of Control
One of the newest rebrands of Applied Behavior Analysis is “play-based ABA.” At first glance, it looks comforting to parents and teachers who may have heard critiques of traditional ABA. Instead of a child sitting at a table with flashcards, they’re on the floor with toys, building towers, pretending with dolls, or rolling cars back…
