Texas students with disabilities face broad use of restraints
November 10th, 2009By Emily Ramshaw in the Texas Tribune:
State data shows that Texas educators forcibly pinned down students with disabilities more than 18,000 times in the last school year, sometimes causing injury. A handful of districts reported more than 40 incidents of restraint per every 100 students with disabilities during the 2007-2008 school year, with one reporting more than 70 such incidents.
Statewide, school staff restrained four of every 100 special education students, with some students being restrained dozens of times.
Educators say restraints are sometimes the only way to prevent disasters. They point to the September 2009 case of a 16-year-old Tyler special education student who fatally stabbed his music teacher in a classroom.
But disability rights advocates say the numbers point to a crisis in Texas special education. They say teachers are resorting to physical restraints because they aren’t properly trained to manage their students’ disabilities – posing a threat to vulnerable children and to themselves.
See also:
Student Restraints Day 2: How Texas school districts compare — Texas Tribune
TribBlog: Restraints: A gut-wrenching case — Texas Tribune
Special ed teacher charged in restraint case — WISTV [Columbia, SC]
Teacher’s aide charged with cruelty — WISTV [Columbia, SC]
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