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Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Momma_bear
What is sickening about it? Many times when a person is out of control the best way for them to get back under control is to get away from whatever stimulus is getting them out of control. An isolation room lets them calm down without injuring any one or being further disruptive.
You're right. I teach in the south Bronx, which is notorious for its violent students. In my 1st grade class I have a boy who's severely autistic but still in my class because his mom won't sign off on the papers to put him in a special school. This kid is almost FIVE FEET at 6 years old. Very tall and also a very large boy. He lashes out to the kids who are half the size of him. He can do a lot of damage. I'm the only teacher in the classroom the whole day and I would just love to have him put somewhere to calm down sometimes. Most of the time I can't even get a hold of my AP since I'm out in a portable outside the main building and kind of forgotten about. I would just love to have a separate room that would let kids vent and let it all out before they're back in the presence of other kids.
[quote=TANaples;7152883]I work with this population. I now work with 1:1 with an autistic 6 year old boy in a regular elementary school. Out of the blue, he has gone around the room throwing anything he can get his hands on, has hit the other kids with his fists and objects.
Just last Friday, he climbed a fence and ran away. He was found by a parent 6 blocks away from the school. She and a garbage man could not contain him to put him in her car to take back to the school. The male principal AND a 6 foot custodian had to carry him screaming, kicking, and BITING into a car. He was still going off (kicking and biting) when he got back to school. Now where do you put this child until he can calm down? Back in the regular classroom with the other children? We don't have "time out" rooms here. The principal carried him, kicking and biting, into the conference room where there were only a table and chairs. We left him there and blocked the doors so he couldn't get out until his parents could come get him.
I don't think these children with severe behavior problems should be in regular schools. We need special public schools for them with the staff and facilities for their needs. We cannot put the other children in danger because of them.[/quote]
When all were de-institutionalized, that's what happened. "Least restrictive environment" was not supposed to mean a free-for-all, yet that's what it has become. There are LOTS of kids of all ages who don't belong in general classrooms, but because of all that passed years ago, there they are. Schools are helpless. It has to go back to lawmakers who can better define "Least restrictive environment", because apparently it wasn't spelled out very well the first time.
Well, I would think that if I were throwing my "out of control" special needs child in a CLOSET, the social service people would be knocking on my door. Do you really think it's okay for a teacher to do this to a student?? Especially a special needs student??
Many special needs students are "set off" by sensory overload. The world is very large and has many stimuli in it. To many stimuli and a lack of way to process them all is sometimes a trigger for these students' outbursts so a small, confined space with few (if any) visual and aural stumuli is GOOD for calming these students.
A large, light, bright room with many visual stimuli is not what these kids need. It's not like throwing them in a closet and neglecting them. Rather it shuts off all the crazy signals they are receiving so that they can return to a normal state. Have you ever been with a child with sensory overload?
If education was privatized, you would have complete control over which discipline measures are used on your children, if any, and you certainly won't be forced to pay for methods you don't agree with to be used on other people's children as well. With socialist education, you have as much choice as cattle in a stampede!
If education was privatized, you would have complete control over which discipline measures are used on your children, if any, and you certainly won't be forced to pay for methods you don't agree with to be used on other people's children as well. With socialist education, you have as much choice as cattle in a stampede!
Right! That's why I choose not to use to public school for my own children. Though I suppose I am paying for these questionable-at-best "discipline" methods to be used for other children, unfortunately.
I have no issues with any school having that type of room. Some kids are drugged up to control behavior which can lead to bigger problems. Schools are forced to take students who don't want to be there, and have parents that think there kids should be the only focus of a teacher. It is sad that society has come to this, but I am not shocked by schools having an isolation room.
I taught a Special Ed "behavior class" in a middle school and we had a "time-out" room similar to what you're describing. It was approximately 4' x 5' inside, but had an open entryway (no door). It was fine if a student simply needed a (relatively) quiet place to decompress. However, we also used it for out-of-control students, so that they couldn't injure themselves or others. In those instances -- which were far more frequent -- the staff and I would have to place ourselves IN that doorway to keep the student from getting out until someone (parent, school security, police) arrived to remove the student from the classroom.
I guess prior to encountering the room, I had a somewhat utopian view of the school, where all the kids behaved most of the time and the ones that didn't were sent to the principal's office for either a strong lecture or parental conference. The tiny reinforced room just seemed so "mental institution-y" to me...
But after thinking about it, what ARE you going to do with a kid who is going berserk, destroying property and potentially hurting other kids? You can't beat them, you can't shoot them with a tranquilizer dart, and I don't think gang-tackling them and hog-tieing them is PC either. So the bounce-off-the-walls isolation closet is the next best thing.
Many special needs students are "set off" by sensory overload. The world is very large and has many stimuli in it. To many stimuli and a lack of way to process them all is sometimes a trigger for these students' outbursts so a small, confined space with few (if any) visual and aural stumuli is GOOD for calming these students.
A large, light, bright room with many visual stimuli is not what these kids need. It's not like throwing them in a closet and neglecting them. Rather it shuts off all the crazy signals they are receiving so that they can return to a normal state. Have you ever been with a child with sensory overload?
I have worked with both children and adults in both school/day hab settings and in a group home. Too much outside stimuli sets them "off". It is far, far better to PREVENT an outburst than to have to stop one. Coming in the in the mornings, changing classes, recess, and especially packing up and leaving at the end of day are the worst times for the little boy I work with in a "regular" elementary school. There is far too much stimulation for him in this normal school environment. When I worked in Day Hab with adults, they would start getting "antsy" towards the end of the day. We would dim the lights and put on instrumental classical music to relax them. Many would put their heads down on the table and nap, or just quietly do their work. Music "therapy" really did calm them. How can this be done in a regular elementary school environment? Not possible or practical.
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