Just Claim They Were Autistic

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In a story on the wire yesterday, a man in Salem, Oregon was arrested and jailed after shocking his four children with a shock collar meant to train dogs. According to the story

"Todd Marcum, 41, said he did it "because he thought it was funny," Salem Police Lt. Dave Okada said. ...

Marcum was taken into custody on four charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment. He is in the Marion County jail."

Now if Marcum had had a lick of sense, he would have just told the police that he thought his children were autistic, and needed some training. Because he had been on the internet, and he knew that the Judge Rotenberg Center uses shocks to control autistic kids. And it's perfectly legal. Other states even send their autistic kids to Massachusetts to the JRC so they can be shocked, too.

Marcum could have stated that his children were swearing, nagging, or flapping their hands, and thus qualified to receive shocks.

Now the only problem is that the dog collar that Marcum used was probably a lot less powerful than the one that is routinely used at the JRC. The dog collar is a small, self contained unit, while the JRC devices need a backpack to haul around. The dog collar will stimulate for up to a half second, while the "GED" devices used by the JRC will shock you for up to 2 seconds.

I found out while poking around that dog collars are subject to legal regulations, which state (amongst other things) that they can be applied for no more than 12 hours in any 24 hour period, and they can't put out more than 15 milliamps root mean square. The JRC uses devices that put out an average (not maximum) of 15 milliamps RMS, and a maximum of 45 milliamps RMS (fully three times as powerful as the maximum allowed for a dog collar).

So Marcum, if you or your lawyer are reading this, just claim you were using a tried and tested method of disciplining your kids, who you suspect are autistic (don't forget the autistic part-people might not approve of your behavior otherwise).

Perhaps the Massachusetts and New York legislatures would be interested in the torture by electric shocks that is occurring if there were dogs that were being shocked. Because they haven't been interested when it was only autistic individuals involved.

Fighting Restraints and Seclusion

Blogger Ange at http://nomoseclusion.blogspot.com/ has been waging a quiet, persistent campaign against the use of restraints and seclusions in Missouri schools. She's been gathering accounts of children's experiences when put into seclusion rooms in schools, and the people at the Misssouri
Protection and Advocacy Services have taken an interest in this cause. She's also traveled to the state capital to testify regarding pending legislation that would shield teachers from prosecution when they get physical with kids in school.

This week her efforts have really paid off, as she's gotten media attention. Two television stations have aired stories on this this week (one of them on two successive nights), and a popular local radio call in show also took on the topic today.

The local NBC affiliate story can be found here. Do drop by and (respectfully) let them know that it's just not right.

And if you see Ange around here, remember to thank her.

Spanking Bad, but Shocking Still OK

In Massachusetts, it's a good day to be a kid. That is, unless you're an autistic kid.

A story in today's Boston Herald online edition details how the state legislature is set to debate outlawing spanking of any kind in the state, including in one's own home. As stated in the article:

...If signed into law, parents would be prohibited from forcefully laying a hand on any child under age 18 unless it was to wrest them from danger, lest they be charged with abuse or neglect. ...

This would make Massachusetts the first state in the US to ban spanking. Massachusetts has long been known to be a very liberal state. And this proposed ban on spanking is evidence of that bent. Inexplicably, however, that liberal concern of the state for the welfare of children doesn't exist if you happen to be on the autism spectrum.

As this article in the online Village Voice pointed out, at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts, administering electric shocks to autistic students in this residential "school" is an everyday occurrence.

...The only thing that sets these students apart from kids at any other school in America (aside from their special-ed designation) is the electric wires running from their backpacks to their wrists. Each wire connects to a silver-dollar-sized metal disk strapped with a cloth band to the student's wrist, forearm, abdomen, thigh, or foot. Inside each student's backpack is a battery and a generator, both about the size of a VHS cassette. Each generator is uniquely coded to a single keychain transmitter kept in a clear plastic box labeled with the student's name. Staff members dressed neatly in ties and green aprons keep the boxes hooked to their belts, and their eyes trained on the students' behavior. They stand ready, if they witness a behavior they've been told to target, to flip open the box, press the button, and deliver a painful two-second electrical shock into the student at the end of the wire. ...

So, as the Boston Herald notes, laying a hand on a child forcefully in any manner would earn you being charged with abuse or neglect, while in the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) withholding food and shocking kids is considered therapy. And if a small shock doesn't get the desired result, then just increase the level of shock.

...They still withhold food from some students as an aversive, but shocks are their main treatment. The school began using electric shock in 1989, but the device they first used, called SIBIS, was so weak that many students grew accustomed to it, eroding its effectiveness. So Israel developed the GED, which he registered with the Food and Drug Administration in 1995. (The GED was classified in such a way that it only required FDA registration, not approval.) When students grew innured to that, Israel brought forth the GED-4, three times as powerful as the original GED. That version is not registered with the FDA, which now says the Rotenberg Center is exempt because it's only using the machines in-house. ...

And although Dr. Israel, the founder and head of the JRC, justifies the use of involuntary shocks because of self injurious violent behavior on the part of students, its use is not limited to that.

...But the GED isn't only used when a life is at stake, or when a student hurts himself or another, but also for "noncompliance" or "simple refusal." "We don't allow individuals just to stay in bed all day," says Dr. Robert von Heyn, a Rotenberg clinician, in a video for parents. "We want to teach people. So we may use the GED to treat noncompliance." Other behavior that doesn't appear dangerous also could earn a zap. While it might seem excessive to shock a student for nagging his teacher, Israel asks, what if the kid nags all the time, every minute, every day? The nagging interferes with his learning, so he can't learn self-control and develop normally. JRC's choice is to shock him, stop the nagging, and let him learn. ...

As a parent, I am not the biggest proponent to spanking. Generally speaking, I try my hardest to avoid it, and consider each episode at least partly a failure of parenting on my part. But I also think that parents need to be given latitude in raising their own children, and that a swat to the butt is not the worst thing in the world.

I believe that I know the difference between a swat on the butt and child abuse. Unfortunately, it would appear that the state of Massachusetts has gotten it entirely backwards. A swat on the butt will get a parent arrested if this law passes, but starving kids or jolting them with electric shocks for non-compliance in school gets you paid hefty sums of money from the state.

I'm Number 1!

Well, at least I was this morning when I went to vote. It's hard for me to predict that I'll get out on time at the end of the day, so I always try to vote at the beginning. But I have to get there early, otherwise I don't get to work on time.

So I was in line at 0530 this morning, and was the first one to vote. The only thing of import on the ballot was a funding initiative for the school district. The rest of the ballot were unopposed local officials standing for re-election. Public school enrollment continues to swell in our district, and all of the primary and middle schools are going to have auxiliary classrooms in trailers next year. The new initiative would remodel the schools, and add some space. I hope it passes.

I was glad to get out of the polling place this morning. We vote in our local grammar school, which is the place that Buddy Boy went to school last year. The place that was conspiring to expel him (we withdrew him for homebound school before they were able to do this), and the place where they wanted him shipped to a separate school for emotionally disturbed kids. My stomach roils whenever I go in that building. I was waiting to vote outside the room where we used to have our IEP's. I know I should forgive and forget (or at least try to forget and move on), but it's difficult sometimes.

Perhaps it's worse because of some of the forms we were filling out for Sweet Pea last night. Sweet Pea will be starting Kindergarten next year. We got permission from the school district for her to attend the same school as Buddy Boy next year (it's in the same district, but is not our assigned school). This will make it much easier logistically for Liz for getting them to and from school, and much easier for both of us to be active in the Parent Teacher Organization.

One of the forms we had to sign said something like (and I paraphrase from memory) "I affirm that this child has never been expelled from school due to disciplinary action for the use or possession of drugs, dangerous weapons, or assault on another person". This is a form that we will have to be attest to each year for the next 12 years. If the school district had been successful last year in expelling Buddy Boy for his tantrums (throwing staplers, half hearted kicking at them) in Kindergarten, we would have had that following him throughout the next 12 years. The fact that the school district would do that to an autistic 5 year old kid who was having control issues that were part and parcel of his disability (as well as the fact that they were, IMO, purposely provoking him) really gets my goat. I touch on some of our dealings with the school district here, here, and here.

How dare they do that to my child, or any child for that matter. I know that they justify their actions because they have to "serve all the kids, not just the special needs ones", and "we have to have a single standard of punishment for everyone". Irrespective of the fact that both of those attitudes are addressed in the law, which states that disabilities are to be taken into account, and that if a student's actions are a part of their disability they are not to be disciplined for it, these kind of things happen all the time. I only hope that there is some kind of cosmic retribution waiting for those who would conspire to crush a child's spirit, and deny him an education and chance at success in life.

Pressure Applied to Autistics

photo credit- leappbaby

In a troubling incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a mother is accusing the school system of child abuse for "rolling up" her 7 year old autistic son when he was out of control. This incident is troubling for a couple of reasons. First, most likely this is an all too common scenario of untrained staff overreacting in an inappropriate manner.

...The mom told police the boy's face, neck and shoulders were covered with marks that appeared to be tiny broken blood vessels under his skin. We talked to the doctor who saw the boy that day. He said the injuries were likely from screaming while being in a tight restraint for a long time. ...

This description is consistent with the child having force applied to him (squeezed tightly) while he was "rolled up". It was fortunate that asphyxiation injury did not occur, which could have caused brain damage or death. Although the injuries in this case were certainly uncalled for and serious, they didn't warrant any medical attention, and the child has returned to school.

The parent may be absolutely correct in pursuing legal redress, but this case is also troubling in that stories like this only serve to paint all autistic kids as wild, violent, and out of control, which makes it easier to dehumanize them and leads to societal acceptance of further abuse.

I certainly sympathize with the mother. About 18 months ago I had a similar incident occur with Buddy Boy. Although he did not end up with petechiae, and it wasn't a part of his Positive Behavioral Support Plan, staff at the school wrapped him in a heavy rug while he was screaming at them that he didn't want to be wrapped up. Deep pressure only works if it's what the person is seeking to calm themself, not if they're just pissed off about some innane thing that you're doing to them.

But I hate to see these things made into police matters. I'm worried that the next time the child is perceived to be "out of control" that the school calls the police, who will treat the child as a criminal and taser them (or worse). I'd much rather the school district act responsibly and realize that this technique was absolutely wrong (and could have resulted in worse injury or death), apologize (I can dream), immediately have an IEP meeting to determine whether the Positive Behavioral Support Plan that was in place was followed, and whether that plan needs to be revised.

The school district has already lined up another parent of an autistic child to defend their practice. So even if the original child's Positive Behavioral Support Plan wasn't followed, and even if the district overstepped their bounds, this case is lost in the forum of public opinion, and the biggest losers are all autistics, who are further viewed as violent, out of control, subhuman creatures.

Joe is 211