Support H.R. 4247 and S. 2860 to prevent restraint, aversive interventions, and seclusion in classrooms!
APRAIS is proud to announce the recent introduction of legislation to protect ALL children (ESPECIALLY children with disabilities who stand at greater risk) in schools from abuse, restraint, and seclusion (H.R. 4247, S. 2860).
 
Please advocate for these bills because they will provide a federal floor of protection for all children against aversives, restraints, and seclusion. 
 
Our Nation's children deserve to be safe in their schools! 
 
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Contact your Representative and Senators and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 4247 and S. 2860.  Go to www.congress.org for more information on how to get in touch with them. 
 
Read the bill language - H.R. 4247 and S. 2860.
 
Check out National Autism Association's "We've Got a Problem" film clip on the need for federal protections.
 
Talking Points about legislation

Talking Points Relating to IEP Provision and Requested Private School Exemption in H.R. 4247
 
Myths and Facts about legislation 

Latest News: Many States Don't Regulate Seclusion, Restraint (2/25/10 - Associated Press)

APRAIS Letter to Congress: Supporting a Debriefing Provision

APRAIS Letter to Congress: Keeping Restraint and Seclusion out of a Students IEP and/or BIP

APRAIS Letter to Congress: Response to CAPE Request for Exemption

TASH Leads APRAIS Request to the White House on Restraints and Seclusion

The 17 member organizations of the Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion (APRAIS) sent a letter to the White House on June 12th, asking President Obama and his Administration to take a series of steps to limit the abuse of children with disabilities in public schools through the use of seclusion and restraint.  This effort, led by TASH, the convening organization of APRAIS, as a result of our long-standing concern about this issue, and in response to the releast of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress, Seclusions and Restraints; Selected Cases of Death and Abuse at Public and Private Schools and Treatment Centers (www.gao.gov).  The report was released during a House Committee on Education and Labor on May 19th, and discussed at a White House meeting on May 26th, attended by APRAIS members as well as leaders in education and mental health.  
The APRAIS letter is available (Click Here for Letter)  and Congress is expected to introduce legislation later this summer.

APRAIS Call to Action to Prevent the Use of Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion in Schools
View this important PowerPoint Presentation on TASH's Call For Action

• Enact Federal Legislation to ensure adequate protection of all students in our nation’s schools. Legislation that:
  
  
  • Enforces the right of all children to be treated with dignity and receive necessary behavioral and educational supports and programming in safe, healthy and least restrictive environments.
  • Is based on the principle that restraint and seclusion are not a treatment, program, or plan, but constitute a failure of treatment, programming, and planning; and indicates the likelihood that behavioral supports, educational methodologies, and placement are inadequate.
    
  • Bans the use of prone restraint. Hundreds of children nationwide have died and been seriously injured using this dangerous technique. There is no defensible rationale for its continued use.
  • Bans the use of aversive interventions. Aversive strategies have no legitimacy as a scientifically validated practice; have no value as effective educational strategy; and directly contradict IDEA’s clear preference for positive behavioral interventions.
    
  • Recognizes that the practice of seclusion is unsafe, potentially traumatizing, and of questionable value in an emergency. Secluding children in locked rooms is experienced as a dehumanizing form of punishment and may result in intense panic, fear, and even self-injury. Seclusion should not be confused with the practice of providing a quiet, comfortable, accessible, unlocked space where a child may choose to take a break from sensory stimulation or may be supported to calm down and self-regulate, and which is used within the context of a positive behavior support plan that is directly related to the function of the child’s behavior.
    
  • Requires and defines the necessary elements of positive educational and behavioral interventions that reflect scientifically validated practice. Effective legislation should build on the decades of available research and experience by practitioners, researchers, and policy makers who have committed to and achieved positive behavioral intervention and restraint and seclusion reduction.
    
  • Requires training for all personnel, including administrators and support staff, which emphasizes positive behavior supports and include crisis reduction and de-escalation techniques.
    
  • Emphasizes the requirement for written parental notification immediately following the use of restraint or seclusion. Notification needs to include identification of the specific danger involved that led to the use of restraint or seclusion, and all circumstances surrounding the event, including the action taken, and must be placed in the child’s educational record. The child/family must be supported to de-brief and tell their story and to meet with staff to develop an improved support plan designed to prevent a recurrence of the emergency.
    
  • Assures that parents receive procedural safeguards. Parents must be given the opportunity to complete a No Consent Form to clarify that coercive interventions will not be used as part of their child’s education, behavior, habilitation, or treatment plan. Parents must also be given the opportunity to place in their child’s file any medical or psychological information which contraindicates the use of certain forms of restraint even in an immediate safety emergency. If a dangerous emergency necessitating the use of restraint should occur, every effort must be made to contact parents before or as soon after the onset of the restraint as possible, to explain the situation and to obtain their permission. Information and advice concerning how to avoid a repetition of the emergency must be sought from parents as soon as possible after the restraint is concluded and incorporated into a new or revised positive behavior support plan.
    
  • Requires timely review of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and 504 Plan and requires that children whose behavior impedes their learning or that of others receive appropriate Functional Behavioral Assessments and Positive Behavioral Intervention Plans as part of their IEP or 504 Plan.
    
  • Restores parent’s right to recover expert witness fees. To protect against the use of aversive interventions, seclusion, and restraint parents often must turn to due process and litigation. Expert testimony is necessary for parents to prevail and families should not be deprived of their right to due process for lack of resources.
    
  • Provides incentive for schools across the country to implement Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) programs that reduce and demonstrate effective strategies to eliminate the inappropriate use of restraints, seclusion, and aversive interventions.
    
  • Values the need for effective leadership, continuous quality control, and accountability.
    
• Allocate adequate funding for grant programs that provide training and technical assistance of school professionals on reducing and eliminating the use of restraint, seclusion, and aversive interventions.
  
• Require the gathering and reporting of data to the applicable state agency on each restraint, seclusion, and aversive intervention. Data needs to include numbers of deaths, injury, lasting psychological effects, and other harm; the events and actions precipitating the use of these methods, and the use of positive behavioral interventions and de-escalation methods.
  
• Adopt a comprehensive national mechanism to monitor data, recognize trends, and enforce the requirement for positive behavioral and de-escalation interventions.