RESTRAINT INJURES AND TRAUMATIZES!Both child and parent face terrible consequences in a country that refuses to outlaw dangerous restraint and/or aversive "treatment' (emotional or/or physical assault on the world's most physiologically reactive, biochemically sensitive and verbally limited population) The Autism Society of America was founded by the proponents of aversive treatments and has set the agenda for our nation. Norms continue to flourish that both encourage and allow our children to be abused, bullied and brutalized in both treatment facilities and school districts. CIBRA has received reports from abroad that confirm world-wide proliferation of violence being used as the solution to "education" and "heal" our children. Violence concealed in psychological jargin such as "aversives," "overcorrection," "prompting," etc. The term "autism" defines a population that includes those who have severe and sometimes permanent lags in cognitive and emotional developent including the understanding of "cause and effect." Social understandings and social language may be severely limited. The use of violence in the service of "educating" and "caring" for our children is tyranny and should elicit a full scale response by the civil rights community. CIBRA calls for peaceful demonstration, consolidation and action. No parent should consider their child immune from the dangerous situation present in the prevailing norms. The legal system is dangerously imbalanced in favor of the institutions and professional alliances that sit in judgement of each individual act of abuse. Simply put, the fox is guarding the hen house. ----------- The widespread use of restraint, coersion, force and violence points to the two serious problems. 1) The continued presence of those who support the maintainence of a pre-civil rights era agenda in the professional organizations that wield legislative power in both the United States and abroad. 2) The lack of adequate organization and apathy in the parent community----those who are to be the fire wall in protecting our children's rights. The following testimonies demonstrate how families are being catastrophically victimized by the prevailing professional norms created by the proponents of aversive treatments (in both APA's, the ASA, etc.) and the imbalances of power resulting from them. |
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| We're being sued by the school principal who disciplined me. Mommy made the mistake of calling this "child abuse." |
They used brutal force....Last year my son was abused at school. He was not harming anyone, nor was he endangering anyone. A school official saw that he did not comply and do as his teacher told him to do. (My son was doing so well mainstreamed, and with little assistance, except adapting some of his school work). This person decided to intervene, and she decided to use force on my son, even though he was in his seat, and hiding his face in his sweat shirt. She told him to get up and go to the office. When he did not she decided to drag him. Not only did she put fear in my son, but extreme panic, they used such brutal force. She had four others help her . She saw that the use of force was upsetting him more, she refused to stop and rethink the situation but added another person and another and another, till four people dragged him out in front of all his classmates and friends. Tears come to my eyes as I try to retell this story again. In hopes that someone will soon listen and can help. |
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What if this had been THEIR child? My son, had a sweatshirt burn across his face, over his eyes, and it did not end until it disappeared into his hairline. He had an indention in the center of his eye, a lump under his eye, scratches over both shoulders and down the center of his back. He had contusions, and nails were dug deep into his arm . He had bruises under his arms where they also dug in. Within 2 days the bruises under his arms became, very visible fingerprints. |
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If I as a parent had put the marks on my child which the school personnel did, I would be in jail right now. We have laws to protect teachers. Where are the laws that protect children, especially when you have a child with special needs? My child was not hurting anyone, or himself and he had no dangerous weapons. He was not endangering anyone. The only danger that was happening was that the people I left my child with to educate and protect him were unaware of how to properly handle my child. Federal Law states that physical force is only to be used on a child that is a danger to himself or others, and then the amount of force is to be reasonable. Who decides what is reasonable? |
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Since this incident, my child has been shunned by the school. They are turning the other way when other students abuse my son. They are not helping him with class work. And because I went to the police things are way out of hand and my son is paying for their mistake more and more each day. I still have no closure to all this. I have pictures, letters, tapes... This has happened to other disabled children in my son's school also. We really need help and exposure. We need to start protecting these children! |
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After this incident occured, the children - his own peers - began hurting him and doing things acting out what they had saw done to him. The person in charge of special services at the school said that he was sorry, but that since the incident he "hated to use the word 'IGNORE,' being it was such a negative word, but that is what the teachers were doing because they didn't want to become involved. |
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Now my son has done a backwards slide. Trying to finish the school year with him -- he would scream and cry and hide under furniture and blankets and beg not to have to go. It has sent me back to that scary day when I was told he was autistic. I feel as if I have lost him all over again. I used to be able to get him out to go swimming. This past summer he would just hide himself. His room was always the place where he would spend most of his time. But now he will not leave it even for his favorite things. |
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Other children are slipping through the cracks being abused and neglected and punished because of their special needs. We now are facing a SLANDER LAWSUIT because we dared speak out to defend our child's rights. |
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"She had been TRAINED to do this"My son was 7 yrs. old in an autistic impaired classroom with 5 other students. He also has an asthma condition and seizure disorder. The Teacher pulled him to the floor (she said "I'll teach you not to hit") place a sleeping bad over his head until he vomited. The prosecuting attorney in my area said this was okay because the teacher said she had been "trained' to do this and the director of the school told him that my husband and I agreed to ths "therapy." Even though I wrote the prosecutor saying we never said those things he never looked any further into the case. |
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There was a lot of mental abuse to the other children (teasing, name calling, etc.). One child was constantly placed in a highchair for so long that he would cry to get out so he could go to the bathroom. The teacher refused so he would wet himself. The teacher then would call the child's mom and say that the child deliberately did it and the child was taken home and punished. |
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Protection and Advocacy conducted an investigation and found several aides that stepped forward all confirming the abuse. Nothing more was done! We are looking for an attorney to take this case. Parents of a child mentally harrassed is suing in a Federal Court because their child regressed. Our son started the school year at a 3 yr. old developmental level (documented) and left it at a 9 month old developmental level (documented). |
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The director is still there. The teacher is NOW teaching in a different school district. I heard through the grapevine that this teacher was forced to leave the previous school she was teaching at because too many parents complained about "her behavior towards the children." --------- HOW MANY CHILDREN IS SHE HURTING NOW? |
INTRUSIVE, AGGRESSIVE, ABUSIVE APPROACHES....I pulled my daughter who has autism from a once well known autism program where she had been successful for the past 6 yrs. The person who took over the program at the beginning of this school year used intrusive, aggressive, intimidating, abusive approaches that my daughter was not used to nor did I approve of. She has been severely traumatized by this. |
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Since I pulled her from the program another parent pulled their child for similar reasons and many parents have come forward concerned that the district continues to employ this woman to work with our kids. When they did an investigation in my daughters case, they agreed that the way she was treated was "inappropriate" not abusive stating that if the kids are "violent" they will take whatever measures to ensure they and others are not in danger. This is a crock! My daughter had not been displaying aggressive behavior UNTIL she was mistreated! Since then many people have come forward to tell just exactly what they had been doing to my child and it is not good. THIS IS SO WRONG! |
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