Category: Restraint
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Advocating for change in Pennsylvania
Being an advocate is not just my career. From the day we brought our daughter home, I have fought for her. You see, my daughter is on the Autism Spectrum with severe anxiety. This journey hasn’t been an easy one. Before she was diagnosed it was a constant battle getting doctors to hear me when…
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How is that legal?
I drove my 5th-grade son, Caleb, up to a historic brick building on a brisk, sunny March morning. I told Caleb that this was the first school built in the district, and promised to look up the year it was built after the tour if the school director didn’t know.
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Is Your Child “Violent?” Why the answer to this question may save your child’s life.
Schools are telling us year after year that children are becoming increasingly more violent. In fact, they use this to justify restraint, seclusion, mass suspensions, expulsions, and zero tolerance policies. Many children have the word ascribed to them in their IEP documents as early as Kindergarten. Yes, we are expected to believe armies of violent…
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Help! I’m trapped in the “safe room”
Kindergarten and First grade were challenging. My son, who is biracial and autistic, was suspended regularly and I took him out of school for the last two months of Kindergarten, as they were unable to support him. By the end of First Grade, he spent most of his days working one on one with an…
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Reflections on my childhood: Locked in the principal’s office
Today’s guest author is Jennifer Abbanat. Jennifer is a wife and mom to 3 kids ages 18, 16, and 13. Jennifer is an advocate and voice for her neurodiverse children. She and her family live in Northern California.
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Advocating for change in Billerica Massachusetts
Today’s guest author is Carole Reardon. Carole is an advocate and parent from Billerica Massachusetts. Currently, she is a stay at home mother, however, she spent over 20 years in the education field and has an undergraduate degree in human development, with a minor in early childhood education. Additionally, Carole has a Master’s degree in curriculum and…
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Autism isn’t a crime
Autistic, especially non-speaking children, are one of the largest groups to be subjected to restraint and seclusion. Restraint and seclusion are the inevitable outcome of the failures of behaviorism. Autism isn’t a “behavioral problem.” It only becomes one when autistic people are denied appropriate accommodations and mistreated. The behaviors schools are trying to modify are…
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An open letter to Senator Amy Sinclair
What follows is an open letter we sent to Iowa State Senator Amy Sinclair regarding her proposed legislation Senate Study Bill 3080. The bill encourages the segregation of behaviorally challenging children with special needs. The bill would make it easier for teachers to use restraint and seclusion and grants immunity to school staff that injure…
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Introducing Alexa Zagorites
Join me in welcoming Alexa Zagorites to the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint team. Alexa’s daughter Gigi has faced seclusion & restraint within a classroom setting since 2008. Since her daughter was diagnosed with a chromosome disorder when she was two years old it has been my Alexa’s life mission to not only protect Gigi…
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Compassion and positive relationships – not restraint
I am a special education teacher of 15 years and have seen and experienced many challenging behaviors in children with disabilities. For many years, my job was working with severely disabled students. In the past year, I have been working with children with lower support needs. These are academically capable students some of whom might…