SchaferAutismReport: Children Forced Into Cell-Like School Seclusion Rooms

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EDUCATION

Children Forced Into Cell-Like School Seclusion Rooms

Autistic Boy’s Family Wins Ruling

New Method of Scoring IQ Tests Benefits Children With Intellectual

Disabilities

PEOPLE

Jim Carrey Clears Up His Stance on Antidepressants

Girl of Five Died After Swallowing Balloon

CARE

Autism Study: Fears For The Future

Autism Study Findings

RESEARCH

Autism and Schizophrenia Share Common Origin

RESOURCE

The Lifelong Journey of Asperger’s Syndrome

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EDUCATION

Children Forced Into Cell-Like

School Seclusion Rooms

Story Highlights

• Mentally disabled, autistic kids injured, traumatized in school

seclusion rooms

• 13-year-old Georgia boy hanged himself in room with cord

teacher gave him

• Autistic Iowa girl confined in school storage closet where

she pulled out her hair

By Fantz for CNN. is.gd/cjSG

Murrayville, Georgia - A few weeks before

13-year-old King killed himself, he told his parents that his

teachers had put him in " time-out.”

The room where King hanged himself

is shown after his death. It is no longer used, a school official said.

The room where King hanged himself

is shown after his death. It is no longer used, a school official said.

" We thought that meant go sit in the

corner and be quiet for a few minutes, " Tina King said, tears washing

her face as she remembered the child she called " our baby ... a good

kid.”

But time-out in the boy's north Georgia

special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a

concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece

of paper.

Called a seclusion room, it's where in

November 2004, hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to

hold up his pants. Video Watch 's parents on their son's death »

An attorney representing the school has

denied any wrongdoing.

Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out

rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children.

Critics say that along with the death of , many mentally disabled

and autistic children have been injured or traumatized.

Few states have laws on using seclusion

rooms, though 24 states have written guidelines, according to a 2007 study

conducted by a Clemson University researcher.

Texas, which was included in that study, has

stopped using seclusion and restraint. Georgia has just begun to draft

guidelines, four years after 's death.

Based on conversations with officials in 22

states with written guidelines, seclusion is intended as a last resort when

other attempts to calm a child have failed or when a student is hurting

himself or others.

Michigan requires that a child held in

seclusion have constant supervision from an instructor trained specifically

in special education, and that confinement not exceed 15 minutes.

Connecticut education spokesman Tom

said " time-out rooms " were used sparingly and were " usually

small rooms with padding on the walls.”

Only Vermont tracks how many children are

kept in seclusion from year to year, though two other states, Minnesota and

New Mexico, say they have been using the rooms less frequently in recent

years.

Dr. , New Mexico's education

secretary, said her state had found more sophisticated and better ways to

solve behavior problems. , whose brother is autistic, said, " The

idea of confining a child in a room repeatedly and as punishment, that's an

ethics violation I would never tolerate.”

But researchers say that the rooms, in some

cases, are being misused and that children are suffering.

Public schools in the United States are now

educating more than half a million more students with disabilities than

they did a decade ago, according to the National Education Association.

" Teachers aren't trained to handle

that, " said Dr. Pierangelo, executive director of the National

Association of Special Education Teachers.

" When you have an out-of-control

student threatening your class -- it's not right and it can be very

damaging -- but seclusion is used as a 'quick fix' in many cases.”

Former Rhode Island special education

superintendent told CNN that she thought she was helping a

disabled fifth-grader by keeping him in a " chill room " in the

basement of a public elementary school that was later deemed a fire hazard.

" All I know is I tried to help this

boy, and I had very few options, " said. After the public learned

of the room, she resigned from her post with the department but remains with

the school.

School records do not indicate why

King was repeatedly confined to the concrete room or what, if any, positive

outcome was expected.

His parents say they don't recognize the boy

described in records as one who liked to kick and punch his classmates.

They have launched a wrongful death lawsuit against the school -- the

Alpine Program in Gainesville -- which has denied any wrongdoing. A Georgia

judge is expected to rule soon on whether the case can be brought before a

jury.

's parents say the boy had been

diagnosed since kindergarten with severe depression and attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder. But his father remembers him as a boy who was happy

when he sang in the church choir.

" He was a hugger, liked to go fishing

with me and run after me saying, 'Daddy, when are we going to the lake?'

" Don King said.

King said that he wanted to know if there

were

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