The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion (APRAIS), a coalition of 17 national disability advocacy organizations, is conducting a survey of parents and guardians. Responses must be entered by October 12.
The survey investigates the extent to which restraint, seclusion and aversive procedures have been used with students with disabilities and special needs in public or private schools or in residential facilities. Plan 5-10 minutes to complete the survey.
To participate, go to: http://www.lifewithoutlimits.org/site/R?i=85dfJ8h0Hg1tmk8EVATKtw..
21 comments:
It is a wonderful idea that The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion(APRAIS)is conducting a survey to really get an accurate idea of how much students with disabilities are being discriminated against in the educational environments at all levels. However, I think that the students should also be included in the survey because many students do not tell their parents what they are experiencing at school for fear of certain actions they may take. The survey will be a great benefit because APRAIS will be able to identify how many school districts are not following what should have been implemented for children with disabilities.
Amy G.
I think that the APRAIS implementation of the survey will help find those responsible and help prevent it from happening again. It is surprising to me that anyone would do such things to children, but unfortunately it does happen. I must also agree with Amy that maybe the kids should be allowed to take the survey. I know that some kids may feel ashamed or even responsible and they never told their parents. Who else is going to know what went on in the classrooms other than the children? It is extremely important to identify these schools and those responsible to help improve the quality of education of children with disabilities.
Noemi R.
I must say it is hard to imagine any individual being treated with such disrespect let alone children who attend school to learn and prepare for their present and the future. I think that the survey issued by The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion is going to yield a vast amount of important and pertinent information for children with disabilities, caregivers, rehabilitation counselors and educators alike. It would be very interesting to see the results and the action that will be taken to prevent, educate and advocate concerning the issue. The survey is a great way to have the voices of those who have suffered through this kind of treatment to be heard. I am in total agreement that the students themselves should be allowed and motivated to provide personal vital information about the current behavior and treatment that they are having to deal with within the educations system. Gloria P.
I have to be honest and say I was not aware of The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion (APRAIS), and I am glad I heard of it, especially when they are taking an active role in the investigation of discrimination and abuse that students with disabilities can go through. I think it is a great way to do research that has an impact on such a specific population, which are students. I am really curious in what they find.
-Leivy S. Resendiz
I will have to disagree with individuals who are "against" using restraint with individuals, namely children, who are being belligerent and/or uncooperative. The fact is, sometimes, children/students reach that point-of-no-return, at which, no matter how you try to appease them, they will not subdue. What else is left for a teacher, paraprofessional, and/or residential treatment facility staff to do, but physically restrain the child before he/she hurts him/herself, peers and/or staff? I would even venture to say that if physical restraint was not exercised on the student/child, and this child hurt him/herself and/or others, legal ramifications would quickly follow the fact that staff was “ill-prepared” to deal with the situation, and as a result, injury occurred. Of course, it all depends on the type of restraint being the appropriate measure for the child/student. If a 6-year-old child is being uncooperative and kicking and throwing his/her head backwards, is tackling the child warranted? Obviously not! I underwent a non-violent physical restraint training during my tenure at a behavioral center, and I am proud to say, that during my time at the center, I employed physical restraint once on a 7-year-old male child who had been diagnosed with IED. He was kicking the table he was sitting at, and when he refused to desist his behavior, I approached him, calmly, and again, asked him to stop kicking the chair, in fear that he would hurt himself. Well, this didn’t go down well because he was used to getting his way. So when I again, made the request of him to stop kicking the table, he began kicking more forcefully, and starting swinging his arms wildly to hit me and anyone else nearby. I was able to physically restrain the child prior to him kicking over the table and before he was able to hurt himself and others around him. So yes, at times, it is definitely needed.
Elizabeth C.P.
I viewed the survey. It has 23 items to be answered. It is very easy to answer the questions as all one has to do is click on the item and it gets checked. There are no ambiguous questions; it is very straightforward in my opinion. Some of the questions ask for detailed responses. There is a disclaimer before one takes the survey warning the responder that some of the questions might evoke “unpleasant emotions.” I’m not even a parent and question seven really got a physical reaction from me. I felt that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach because the question asked what kinds of procedures were used on the child. Some of the choices were forced exercise, ammonia over the nose, and slapping. There were many other choices as well, and I just thought, “Oh my God. You know they are asking this because it has happened in the past. How terrible.” Although I browsed the survey, I didn’t answer the questions because I’m neither a parent nor a guardian. However, I think it’s a good idea that APRAIS took the initiative to conduct this survey. It’s a start. I’m very curious to find out the results at the end of this project. I’m guessing that some of the results might be shocking.
Vanessa C. (6345)
I think this survey The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (APRAIS) is a really good thing; it gives us (the public) a greater understanding of what is going on within the school system. This will also give parents who are not aware of what is going on with their children a heads up. Some of the responses to the questions asked “don’t know.” If the parent is not aware of what is going on with their children, I think it is time they start getting involved. Some of these children with disabilities are being restrained and secluded and at the same time being abused and treated in ways they do not deserve.
Ruby Quesada
I was looking over the survey and questions asked. As i was reading over them, I wondered how many parents even know what type of abuse or if their child is being abused. As the Amy's mentioned :)I believe the child should able to take the survey. I know at a young age children are embarrassed and think that they are doing something wrong. If the parents know about it this is a good opportunity for those schools to be reported and taken into account fir these atrocious actions against children! I cannot believe people have the mentality to harm and traumatize a child in a such a manner. Hope this survey is a beginning to a successful project.
Gabby Sanchez
Ugh! I am reminded of my elementary school days when a teacher in the special education department was reprimanded for locking their students in a small, unlit closet for extended periods of time if they misbehaved.
To this day, I am still upset by this. One of the most upsetting things is that many of the students with severe developmental disabilities had no way of telling their parents about the mistreatment and had to endure it every day they went to school.
I am happy they are conducting this survey, but like other people that have posted responses, I wonder, how much do the parents really know?
I think is a great ideal the Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion (APRAIS) thought about his survey in order to identify discrimination in schools. Most of the time parent do know who to turn to when something is happening in school, it is difficult for them to report happenings to administration for fear of more abuse to their children. This is great way to identify the “bad” schools form the “good” schools. By doing this APRAIS may be able to promote trainings requisites among those educators who work with children with disabilities in order to prevent discrimination or avert punishments. It would be also very beneficial to give a similar survey to the educator themselves, and compare results among both points of views.
Mariana GG
I was not aware of APRAIS. I agree with the idea that students should also be part of the survey. I venture to say that there probably is a high level of discrimination against students with disabilities.
I'm a pre-k teacher, dealing with 4 and 5 year olds. I have a student that recently fractured his leg. The day he was send back to school somebody decided to take him to the life skills room based on the fact he was in a wheelchair. The assistant principle quickly realized what was going on and immediately took him out of the classroom and brought him to my room. I thought it was ridiculous that somebody took this child into the special education classroom simply because he was in a wheelchair. Maybe this person did not know any better but I'm glad the assistant principle realized and took immediate action. I analyzed the situation and came to the conclusion that maybe the person that took him to the special education room might have thought that room was more accessible. Any which way I was a little taken back by the action.
-Bibiana Medina
It is great that Duncan , with U.S. Secretary of Education submitted policies and laws prohibiting "Seclusion and Restraint in private and public schools. It is unbelievable situations and cases that have occurred within public and private schools. I can just imagine all the cases that have gone unreported. I am proud to see the U.S. legislative representative George Miller speak up and advocate and testify against the ten cases related to "seclusion and restraint" especially when four out of ten cases were fatal. It is such a shame that there are individuals like Cedric employed by a school district and kills a child through forceful restraint.
I do have to comment my opinion that there has to be programs introduced to assist educators on appropriate restraints or intervention plans. Especially, with the criminal activity taking place on school campuses.
By: Tina Casares
It is good to know that the Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion is conducting a survey to get a much better accurate result of how much students with disabilities are being discriminated in the educational field. I think that this is an excellent idea because always looking for the best of students is a priority.
Ivette Martinez
It is good to know that the Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion is conducting a survey to get a much better accurate result of how much students with disabilities are being discriminated in the educational field. I think that this is an excellent idea because always looking for the best of students is a priority.
Ivette Martinez
I think this is a great idea because a lot of parents don’t know what is going on in the classroom environment. I do believe that maybe the students should be able to take the test because a lot of parents are not aware of what goes on in the classroom. I work with children that have special needs and the first thing I learned was that we needed to give the children certain time to be free from the restraints of their wheelchairs. I’m sure that a lot of children are discriminated against, if they have a severe disability they will not tell you they do not want to be in the restraints, so they are in the hands of those who are taking care of them.
Blanca Perez
This post is significantly interesting because it is a controversial issue. I myself have been told by professionals about methods such as weighted-vest that are used on children with autism. According to this Occupational Therapist that I was talking to, she said that it calms them down, but I personally would prefer to use a different method for my child. I do not think that my child in particular would benefit from this type of method that is being used in some cases. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this survey.
I think that the conclusions of this survwey will be interesting to see. I do know that this was a major issue in the past and am not sure how much this is still occuring in the current context of IDEA and other special education legislation and district mandates that no longer allow this practice. I do know there are isolated cases and probably teachers and or paraprofessionals that should not be in a life skills room. No student deserves to be hurt at school and the proper techniques for restraining kids that are a harm to themselves and or others.
I am pleased that someone as part of The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion is conducting such crucial surveys of those taking care of people with disabilities. There is nothing more important than to receive feedback from people of such instances of restraint, seclusion and aversive procedures done so as to make a change and cease these kind of things from happening. Hopefully the survey was a success and will allow The Alliance to look into this even further to develop a plan to minimize these happenings.
Heather Bocanegra
I was not aware of the The Alliance to Prevent Restraint Aversive Interventions and Seclusion(APRAIS) group but it is good to know that they are conducting this survey to target those students that are affected by discrimination in their natural settings, school. I do not like the fact that children are discriminated in any way because they are different, when in fact all children are different; they are unique to each other. Harsher punishments should be given to those teachers that create the learning environment difficult for children with disabilities because they discourage the child from wanting to return to school and thus stereotyping the child as one that has difficulty learning. All children should be given the equal opportunity to learn, especially when they are so young that authoritative figures such as teachers, can shape their young minds in a positive or negative way.
C. Cardona
The endeavor that the APRAIS coalition conducted is a good way of obtaining data. Hopefully these data will lead to some important decisions in regards to seclusion and restraint of students with disabilities. I have to say I agree with restriction. As I completed my internship year as a specialist in school psychology, I witnessed cases in which restraint was necessary to preserve the integrity of the student. There are definitely cases in which the student is so agitated and aggressive that restraint becomes the only option. However, the district I worked for implemented very carefully policy in regards to training staff to do it properly. We never had complaints from parents or students getting hurt by the restraint, which is very good considering children themselves sometimes get hurt by their own actions.
I wish I had completed the survey to contribute at least in a small scale to their data base.
--Leila Flores
I am a huge supporter of research and think that APRAIS' effort to investigate a topic such as the extent to which restraints are used by parents or guardians can only lead to good things. I think that because of the large influence and clout that this organization has will also lead to promoting other organizations to continue the momentum of research or rather simply utilize the research found to make strides in a positive direction for people with disabilities.
Maggie Ybarra
REHS 6345
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