From CNN, National Public Radio, CBS News, and USA Today:

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is releasing a report today which documents the widespread abuse of techniques used to restrain or discipline students with disabilities in both public and private schools across the country.

The GAO report will be considered by the House Education and Labor Committee, which today is holding hearings about restraints and seclusion techniques. The committee is considering new laws to govern what actions teachers can take to discipline students with disabilities. (A live webcast of the hearings can be seen here. Written testimony is being posted on the committee’s webpage here as it is given.)

“I think what we’re going to hear from the GAO is that very often, special-need children are subjected to the policies of seclusion and policies of restraint that have turned out to be lethal in a number of circumstances,” said Rep. George Miller, D-California, the committee’s chairman.

Some cases include the use of face-down restraints; the use of seclusion rooms for hours to discipline children as young as 6 years old; and death or injuries that have occurred after children have been tied, taped, handcuffed or pinned down by adults.

Earlier posts here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 9:27 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, abuse, education, law, marriage, personal stories, restraints and seclusion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.