Category: People
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What Our Nervous Systems Will Need When School Begins
As we reflect upon our current educational landscape and the social and emotional implications of the pandemic over the past 15 months, we are already seeing the critical impact of this collective trauma on so many of our students, educators, and families! Elevated levels of adverse mental health conditions, substance use, and suicidal ideation were…
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What is the difference between the medical and social models of disability and why does it matter?
According to the medical model of disability, ‘disability’ is a health condition dealt with by medical professionals. Disabled people are thought to be different to ‘what is normal.’ It’s seen as abnormal. Disability’ is seen to be a problem of the individual. From the medical model, a disabled person is in need of being fixed…
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Respectful parenting, my journey
As a mother to 6 children, I have witnessed my share of the ups and downs in child-rearing. However, shortly after my 4th son was born I knew there was something missing and it wasn’t in him – it was in me. I was unsure of how to handle his sensitivities and dysregulated emotions. He…
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Kieran’s Story: The impact of restraint
I am writing this on behalf of my son, Kieran with his consent. Kieran is a beautiful boy who is now twenty. The events I will describe happened when he was 15 years old. As a bit of background, Kieran was born with multiple disabilities. He has cerebral palsy, autism, a cyst on his brain…
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Restraint and regression
Many folks don’t know that seclusion and restraint techniques are used as interventions when students aren’t able to comply with the task at hand during the school day. Unfortunately, these methods cause trauma and sometimes irreparable damage, developmental regression, injury, and even death.
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Exclusionary discipline in the virtual classroom
My son is, Stryder, is in 5th grade. Stryder has autism, learning disabilities, auditory processing disorder, sensory processing disorder, and ADHD. This school year has been difficult for him to say the least. Stryder is in a hybrid model where he receives in-person instruction at school 4 days a week and on Wednesdays, he does…
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A letter regarding Powhatan, Virginia’s restraint and seclusion policy
The story that follows is an email that Alexander J. Campbell wrote and sent regarding the restraint and seclusion policy being proposed in Powhatan, Virginia. I hope this email finds you well. I am writing this tonight with grave concern and fear regarding the future of our school system. The truth is when I originally…
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Supporting the Keeping All Students Safe Act
Now is the time to take action to ask your representatives to support legislation to reduce and eliminate the practices of restraint and seclusion.
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Changing my lens on Oppositional Defiant Disorder
I have struggled with letting go of my viewing lens for my youngest son; I seem to have seen him as oppositional (and subsequently then push him to be defiant) since he was about a year old. We recently went to his first real optometry appointment because he advocated his need for glasses (it was…
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Interview with Ron Garrison on Restraint and Seclusion
The following is the partial transcript of an interview with Ron Garrison in early 2018. Mr. Garrison is a retired educator with experience at all levels of the educational sector. He holds a master’s degree in school safety and has been an expert witness in more than eighty-five cases involving restraint and seclusion.