6-Year-Old Boy's Story

2006

Zach's Story

My name is Ange and this part of my son's story regarding seclusion and restraint.

(You can see Zach's video at the left here. You may wish to pause the video at bottom left of player until it is completely finished buffering.)

Zach has been diagnosed with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (the part of the brain that connects the two hemispheres did not develop) and PDD-NOS. He has been receiving special education services in the local school district since the age of 3 years old (educational diagnosis of Other Health Impaired).

During Zach’s transition from Early Childhood to Kindergarten, much information was shared from preschool teachers and parents regarding Zach’s strengths and weaknesses, successful interventions, and continuing concerns. Data was shared regarding Zach’s ability to perform independently in the Kindergarten environment.

Zach is able to develop decent compensation skills, but a manifestation of his disability is inconsistent performance, one of the reasons explosive and aggressive behaviors were problematic. Although a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) was verbally requested by myself at his Transition meeting, no FBA was conducted prior to the discussion of a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). Several notes were jotted down on a BIP form, and eventually became Zach’s official BIP in his IEP, which was inadequate to help him with the behaviors he was exhibiting. Zach started Kindergarten in July 2005.

In August 2005, a research opportunity was made available to us through the school district, and an FBA was part of this research project. However, since this was a research opportunity, the evaluation was not held to the same timelines required by IDEA. In December 2005, as Zach’s behavior continued to escalate without proper support, I requested a district performed FBA. It was discussed that the research FBA was almost done, so I agreed not to duplicate efforts.

In February 2006, the finalized FBA was shared and a detailed BIP was written. It was at this time that the seclusion room was added as a “crisis intervention.” (The person who conducted the FBA had left the meeting before the creation of the crisis plan.)

The seclusion room was added with much trepidation by me and my husband. Zach was struggling with the transition to Kindergarten, and my husband and I believed much of his concerning behaviors could have been prevented or reduced by our earlier concerns and data being taken seriously and the proper interventions being implemented before he reached this crisis mode. But because of the IEP team’s concern of the possibility of hurting himself or someone else, and my husband and my concerns about suspension (we were both working full-time jobs at the time), we agreed to the placement of the seclusion room as a crisis intervention.

We specifically discussed that the room was not to be used as punishment or as a threat. My husband and I believed that the seclusion room would not be used except in the case of imminent danger. We would regret that decision forever, but at the time felt overwhelmed, confused, trapped, and desperate.

According to the documentation provided, the seclusion room was used seven times, several times as a first line intervention rather than in a crisis situation (i.e., squeezing a staff member’s hand). The antecedent data (what happened before the incident) was not recorded and how Zach was escorted to the seclusion room was not documented. On one document, it did not list what Zach did to be placed in the seclusion room and he was placed in there quietly and remained quiet until he was released after a duration of 18 minutes. The longest recorded time he stayed in the seclusion room was approximately 40 to 50 minutes.

During this time, Zach’s regular teacher was on maternity leave, his paraprofessionals were frequently changed. Minimal support was given to Zach to assist him in learning how to self-regulate. He did not understand the cause and effect consequences of his actions and was very emotional and upset when placed in the seclusion room. It is our opinion that the room was used as punishment and not in a times of extreme safety concern.

The room was finally removed from his plan after a request in writing. He was placed in the seclusion room one more time after that request was acknowledged.

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District Information:

Assessed Valuation: $2,407,289,409
Total Enrollment: 22,092