My name is Tim Pearnroom.
I'm the School of Psychology Consultant at
the Department of Public Instruction.
So, inclusion in the law is defined very
specifically. It is the involuntary confinement
of a student away from their peers, away from other students
in a room or area where they are physically prevented
from leaving.
A student may grab a scissors and try and
physically attack a peer and adult.
That would be a situation that could
potentially warrant seclusion.
So what is restraint in a educational setting?
Physical restraint is when you immobilize or restrict
a student's ability to freely move their arms,
legs, torso or head.
A student is only to be secluded or restrained in situations
where they present an imminent physical risk to their safety
or the safety of others.
And on top of that, it also can only occur when
seclusion or restraint is the least restrictive
intervention feasible.
So even if a student does present an
imminent physical risk, if there are other least
restrictive interventions or supports that
can be provided, seclusion or restraint
should not be used.
- So what does that look like?
Is that a bear hug?
Is that, what is it different?
- So there are several different training programs
that provide training on techniques
that are quote unquote safe, and I say safe meaning
safer than others.
So there are definitely prohibited techniques,
any technique that restrains a student down on the floor
or restricts their breathing in any way is illegal
for obvious reasons.
So there are safer techniques and methods to do it.
Typically they take more than one person,
particularly for older students, for younger students.
there are techniques that are acceptable for smaller students.
But they are the trainings sort of emphasize
several different things.
One, it needs to be obviously safe for the student,
or as safe as possible for the student, but
also needs to be safe because the person engaging
the student in the restraint is also accepting some
physical risks that they might get injured
on top of the psychological risks that we know occur
both for the student being restrained, that people doing
the restraining and that anyone else who loves or
cares about the kid.
And what happens after restraint is used, is there
an inclusion for that matter?
Is there talking with the student?
What kind of, because you mentioned psychological
impacts, tell me about what happens after?
Yeah, so the law requires debriefing to occur,
meaning that people involved and administrators
and parents need there's certain
communication requirements that need to happen with the
intention of figuring out what happened and
then discussing and determining ways to prevent
that from happening again.
With the student themselves,
there definitely needs to be debriefing.
Often times these students are students with IEPs.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of students
who are secluded and restrained do have IEPs,
meaning they are identified with some sort of disability.
So through that debriefing process
and through just the IEP process and knowing the student
and collaborating with parents, other
staff members, figuring out plans to prevent
that from happening again.
oftentimes with the student that involves teaching new skills,
but certainly after a seclusion or a strain, you know, that
can really impact a student's relationship with the individual
who secluded or restrained them.
It can impact their feelings about school, whether or not
they feel safe and accepted, and welcome there.
So doing supports and interventions
and repairs after a seclusion or a strength
are really important as far as being a part of
keeping it from happening again because if a student
feels like they are not
treated in a way that is safe and respectful that's
not something that's going to prevent that behavior
from happening again.
You get into a cycle where a student just simply
feels like they know what's going to happen.
So why work to change?