APRAIS

The Alliance to Prevent Restraint,
Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion

http://www.aprais.org/index.html

Vision

All children should grow up free from the use of restraint, seclusion, and aversive interventions to respond to or control their behavior, and free from the fear that these practices will be used on themselves, their siblings or their friends.



Every day in this country, children with disabilities are needlessly being subjected to harmful practices in the name of treating "challenging behaviors." They are brought down to the ground and straddled, strapped or tied in chairs and beds, blindfolded, slapped and pinched, startled by cold water sprays in the face, deprived of food, secluded in locked rooms, and more, despite the fact that research and practice show that these techniques exacerbate challenging behavior and do nothing to teach the child appropriate behaviors.

The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion is a joint effort of the nation's major disability advocacy organizations, formed in response to this alarming problem.

Alliance members are working at the national level to assure children with disabilities of equal protection across funding systems and service delivery settings. At the state level, we are working to ensure to ensure adequate training and systems of reporting and accountability to enforce these protections. In addition, we are engaging in an aggressive educational outreach effort to assure that individual parents and advocates are knowledgeable and empowered to support each other and partner with APRAIS in effecting systems change.

Mission

To seek the elimination of the use of seclusion, aversive interventions, and restraint to respond to or control the behavior of children and youth.

To prohibit the incorporation of these practices into the education, habilitation, or other service delivery plans provided to children and youth with disabilities.

To promote nationwide consistency in the protections, monitoring, and reporting that will keep children and youth safe from restraint, seclusion, and aversive interventions, ensuring that children enjoy equal rights and protections across all settings in which they receive education, health services, mental health services, correctional services, residential or foster care, and all other services.

To educate our constituencies, providers, policy makers, and the public at large to understand that restraint is not treatment but represents failure to provide appropriate services and supports, that there is no evidence to justify the use of seclusion and aversive interventions under any circumstances, and that tolerance of restraint, seclusion, and aversive interventions:

· Causes serious physical and psychological harm,

· Results in the dehumanization of all involved,

· Prevents the development of respectful and supportive relationships between children and adults, and

· Leads to the segregation and exclusion of children from their communities.

To carry out this mission on behalf of all children and youth, with or without disabilities, regardless of diagnostic label or degree of disability, so that no child is left behind.

APRAIS Member Organizations
National Down Syndrome Society www.ndss.org
TASH www.tash.org
National Disability Rights Network www.ndrn.org
The Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and Neglect www.thefamilyalliance.net
National Down Syndrome Congress
The RespectABILITY Law Center
The Arc of the United States www.thearc.org
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law www.bazelon.org
National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities www.nacdd.org Autism National Committee www.autcom.org

COPAA
P.O. Box 6767
Towson, Maryland 21285
www.copaa.org

NAMI
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-3042
www.nami.org/



It is important that you make it clear to your child’s teachers or other program staff that you expect an environment free of aversives, non-emergency restraint, and seclusion. You should also expect the elimination of emergencies to be a priority. To put this message on record, sign and date a No Consent Letter and have it placed prominently in your child’s IEP or treatment plan. If you have seen warning signs which you believe may result from the way your child is treated at school, or in any situation where you are not present, it is important to ask questions immediately.


No Consent Form

This is a suggested letter for parents to send, adapted by TASH from a letter written by Tricia and Calvin Luker of The RespectAbility Law Center. Please feel free to change and personalize before sending or taking a similar letter to your child's school.

(School District)
(Your address)
(Your telephone number)
(Address)
(Date)

Re: (child's name and birthdate)

Dear (Principal, Program Director, or IEP Team Leader):

My child, (child's name), is a ________ grade student at ______ school. (Child's name) has a disability (or insert label) and is receiving special education services. I want to thank you for all of the help and positive support you and the teachers and staff at name of school have provided child's name over the years.

We are concerned that child's name's behavior challenges are being, or might in the future be, addressed in part through the use of aversive interventions, restraint or seclusion (including seclusionary time-out or procedures referred to as "physical management" or "restrictive procedures"). Examples of these practices include, but are not limited to: forcible holding or dragging, the use of ties or straps, sprays in the face, slaps, deliberate humiliation, deprivation of nutrition or exercise, and time out rooms. This letter is to make clear that I have not authorized and will not consent to any activity that involves the use of any of these procedures at school or while child's name's is transported to or from school. I know that special education law requires the use of a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) which is expected to lead to a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) plan to address behavior challenges. If the school feels child's name's behavior is so challenging that aversive or restrictive procedures, seclusion, time out, physical management, or restraint are being considered or used, it is clear to me that there is need for a FBA and the development of an effective PBS plan. I expect to participate in this assessment and the development of a PBS plan for my child.

I am sure you are aware of the number of news reports in recent years describing the deaths, trauma, and injury of children with disabilities while or just after being subjected to aversive interventions, restraint, or seclusion. I am writing this letter as a precautionary action and to provide clear instructions that none of these techniques are to be used with my child. If any of these techniques are currently being used, or have in the past been used, it is important that you notify me of this and terminate any use of such procedures immediately.

If (child's name)'s behavioral issues are a challenge now or at any time in the future, I am requesting that a behavior support team meeting be convened to discuss these challenges, plan for an FBA across environments, and begin work toward establishing a positive behavior program to address child's name's particular needs. I wish to exercise my right to participate in all such meetings.

I want to work with you and with (child's name)'s teachers and professionals at name of school to be sure that child's name learns to develop positive behavioral skills in an environment that is safe for him/her, for his/her peers, and for school personnel. I, like you, want my child's school to be a safe and secure environment where all students can learn. I want to work with you to help create that environment.

Sincerely,

(Your name)



Monitor Your Child's Program

Review your child’s records (especially the contents of the education and/or treatment plan, and any “incident reports” in your child’s files), and make visits during which you carefully observe all aspects of your child’s day.

Keep careful records. Document and date anything your child says or does that concerns you; take and date photographs of any suspicious injuries.

Share your concerns with your child's physician, psychologist, or other health care provider.

Report Abusive Practices

There are a number of ways to report abusive practices and seek help

Reporting to State and Local Agencies

If you have witnessed, or have evidence of abuse of a child, you have the right to call the police. The rule of thumb is: if you would call for police intervention to stop this from happening to a child without disabilities, you should call to stop it from happening to a child with disabilities.

Your State Education Agency (SEA) will have a help line, hot line, or other assistance program to which you should report at once.

Disputes involving your child’s rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), state special education regulations, or state school disciplinary laws and regulations can be addressed through the State Education Agency’s impartial due process hearings. You have the right to request a hearing concerning your child’s placement or program at any time, and your request must be granted promptly. Requests are made by sending a letter to your child’s school principal, with copies to your district’s director of special education and/or superintendent. Your letter should state the problem and your proposed solution.

States also may have public interest education law projects and disability law projects that can provide you with important information and may be able to provide direct advocacy.

Some states have established an Office of the Child Advocate to investigate allegations of systemic abuse and neglect of children within that state’s service systems. This can be an important contact, especially when a group of parents comes forward with similar complaints.

All 50 states, The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the federal territories have a protection and advocacy system (P&As). P&As are mandated under various federal statutes to provide protection and advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities. To find your state P&A contact information to obtain assistance, go to the National Disability Rights Network website (www.ndrn.org) or call (202) 408-9514.

Reporting to Federal Agencies

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education provides the primary administrative enforcement for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), two civil rights statutes that address discrimination, equal access, and reasonable accommodations, as these laws apply to schools.

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Section 504 prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities on the basis of their disability. To demonstrate violation of Section 504, parents would need to show that aversive techniques, restraint, or seclusion were used on students with disabilities who engaged in certain behaviors, but were not used on students without disabilities when they engaged in similar behaviors.
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The ADA addresses the need for accommodations and access in public places and might be involved, for example; if a student is restrained or secluded "for his or her own safety" when environmental modifications would have made this unnecessary. Complaints about the use of restrictive and unsafe practices, and lack of the accommodations that would make these practices unnecessary, can be lodged with OCR for investigation. If necessary, all OCR and SEA hearing reports may also be appealed to federal court.

Complaints under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) can be made to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). CRIPA gives the DOJ authority to bring legal action against state and local governments for permitting dangerous conditions and unsafe practices that violate the civil rights of persons placed in publicly operated facilities, including schools.

Join With Other Advocates Nationwide to End Abusive Interventions

The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (APRAIS) was founded by major national and state disability organizations to address prevention from several directions. We are working at the national level to assure children with disabilities of equal protection across funding systems and service delivery settings, and of adequately staffed and funded systems of reporting and accountability to back up these protections. We are working to convince the states to raise the bar on child safety. In addition, we are partnering with individual parents and advocates, encouraging them to support and inform each other and to act as local watchdogs.

Keep APRAIS informed of what is happening in your state, to your family, or to suggest a link to an article of interest. In turn, we will keep you informed of upcoming opportunities to bring about long-overdue changes in the laws and regulations that should protect our children.

Add to the APRAIS Database by informing APRAIS of an incident involving restraint, aversive interventions, or seclusion



Until all children with disabilities are equally protected under the law from abusive practices — regardless of their disability, where they live, or which funding stream serves them — parents will need to employ a combination of these approaches to ensure their child’s safety.