There are many families from counties all over Florida who have children with autism and autism spectrum disorders that are being restrained, put in time-out and forced locked seclusion rooms in the public school system. Our children are being injured physically and mentally because of their disabilities and the lack of appropriate programs and highly qualified teachers and aides available to educate them. Most of the aides that are hired have little or no background in children with autism or autism spectrum disorders.

Florida has no laws or regulations to protect our children from the over use of restraint and seclusion. Most school districts have no guidelines, no tracking system, no consent from parents and no parent notification in many cases.

Many of our children have little or no communication and the only way they can communicate is through behavior. Because school staff does not understand what our children are trying to say through behaviors, they are punished by being restrained, put in seclusion, put in time out or suspended. The trauma this has caused our children and the emotional drain to our families should never happen to any child or family.

If you file a complaint with the Florida Department of Education you are filing a complaint with them about them and nothing happens. It’s a broken process that many families have tried to get help from only to find that there is no help. And then there are the forged documents that they come up with to prove parents wrong. And let’s not forget about retaliation on parents if you speak up too much. We have also contacted Governor Crist, Office of Civil Rights, School Board, District Superintendent,Florida Advocacy Center,Police reports,Department of Children and Family Services, FLDOE and local Ethics Department and our ESE Director and we have received NO help.

Parents, please contact your local legislatures and request that a law be created to protect all our children from the overuse of restraint and seclusion in the public school system. If we do nothing, nothing will ever change.

Mental Health America is firmly convinced that restraint and seclusion have no therapeutic value, contribute to human suffering and have frequently resulted in severe emotional and physical harm, and even death.