[Youth-list] New Important Law for Children/Youth

[JMRab at aol.com]

     (http://www.nhregister.com/site/News.cfm?brd=1281)       06/25/2007  New 
 law aids parents of kids with disorders   Maria  Garriga , Register Staff 
Parents of children with special  needs and behavioral problems can heave a 
sigh of relief over a new  state law. 
The law, which goes into effect, Oct. 1, requires  public schools to 
immediately notify parents if their children have  been physically restrained or 
placed in seclusion.

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(http://bannerads.zwire.com/bannerads/redirect.cfm?ADLOCATION=4000&PAG=791&BRD=1281) The  law also applies to students whose eligibility for special needs 
 services is pending.

State Sen. Ed Meyer, D-Guilford,  chairman of the Committee on Children, said 
he promoted the  legislation because special needs children, such as those 
with  autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities or psychiatric  
problems, may be prone to acting out and requiring restraint.  Restraints should be 
avoided unless a child is an immediate danger  to themselves or another 
person, he said.

In the past,  schools were only required to report use of restraint or 
seclusion  when a child was injured, which Meyer believed was unfair to  parents.

"Parents have the right to know whenever something  happens to their child," 
Meyer said.

The new law permits use  of restraints and seclusion rooms in public schools, 
but requires  school administrators to notify parents immediately, keep 
records of  each incident, explain the restraint used, and explain why it was  
needed. Schools also must file summary reports of restraints with  the state Board 
of Education, which must review the records. In the  past, that kind of 
detailed record-keeping was left to the  discretion of school administrators.

State law already  regulated use of these techniques on people from regional  
educational service centers, which often work with special needs  children, 
and various state departments including Children and  Families, Mental Health 
and Addiction Services, Mental Retardation,  Public Health.

The law also applies to any agency licensed by  these departments, such as 
hospitals, but does not apply to nursing  homes or the state Department of 
Corrections.

The law also  requires the state Board of Education to report serious 
injuries to  the state child advocate and the Office of Protection and Advocacy  for 
Persons with Disabilities, which are given the authority to  investigate and 
report on the incidents.

That kind of  protection means a lot to parents with special needs  children.

Angela Spino, 36, Plainfield, has a son, 10, with  autism who attends the 
River Street School in Hartford. She said  learned her son had been restrained 
when she discovered bruises on  him from the top of his shoulder blade to his 
elbow. "He was six  years old. Parents just don’t know schools can do this. My 
child is  nonverbal," said Spino, a disability policy specialist. "Many  
parents are afraid to complain and the outcome is that their  children are being 
injured. Some of the kids were not being placed  in padded rooms, the seclusion 
rooms were in janitorial closets and  small spaces."

Most schools do not have restraint training  for staff and Connecticut is one 
of a few states that had not made  restraint reporting mandatory for public 
schools, she  said.

Many educators favor "de-escalation" as a technique to  quiet children whose 
behavior could be potentially harmful to  themselves or others. The technique 
essentially calms a child with  speech rather than force.

Staff members from every school in  Stratford receive training in safe 
restraints every year, said  Stratford Schools Superintendent Irene Cornish. "We use 
physical  restraint as a last resort. Parents are always notified, that’s our 
 protocol," Cornish said. "In extreme cases, when we can’t get a  child to 
calm down, we call 9-1-1." She calls the law "a good idea  because when you 
restrain a child things could go wrong that result  in injury to yourself or to 
the child."

Sara-Jane Querfeld,  superintendent of North Haven Schools, said her district 
has a  single special needs classroom for children five to six years old  
with a padded room attached. "It’s not an isolation room because  there is no 
door. It’s for their safety when they have tantrums. You  can’t always talk 
things out with children that age," she  said.

Querfeld said she was not familiar with the new child  restraint law but said 
North Haven schools already notify parents  whenever restraints are used.

Patricia Charles,  superintendent of Westbrook Schools, also spoke out in 
favor of the  new law and against use of physical restraints. "Staff here know 
how  to de-escalate a situation so you don’t get to the point where you  have to 
restrain. There are no seclusion rooms here, children are  always in full 
view of an adult," she said. "A child should never be  left alone," she added.

Larry Schaefer, acting superintendent  of Milford Schools, said children with 
behavioral problems are  attended by staff trained in proper use of physical 
restraints to  minimize harm to the child and the district does not have 
padded  rooms.

"We do have time-out rooms for when a student is out  of control. Sometimes 
students with emotional and behavioral issues  are very violent. We train the 
teachers who work with these kids.  There is documentation every time we 
restrain a child and it is  reviewed by administration," Schaeffer said. "We have 
been very  careful."

Schaeffer said he welcomed the new law because it  will make parents more 
involved with their children when they act  out.

"In order to change behavior you have to involve the  parents," Schaeffer 
said.  

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(http://bannerads.zwire.com/bannerads/redirect.cfm?ADLOCATION=1&PAG=791&BRD=1281)   ©New Haven Register 2007 
 
Janice M. Gruendel, Ph.D.
Governor's Senior Advisor on Early  Childhood
Co-Chair, CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet
Senior Youth  Consultant
Office for Workforce Competitiveness
Home office:  203-481-9940
Blackberry: 203-824-4766
Mail to: 28 Juniper  Point
Branford, CT 06405

"Few will  have the greatness to bend history itself. But each of us can work 
to change a  small portion of events and in the total of those acts will be 
written the  history of this generation." Robert Kennedy



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