Using Aversives in Schools
Does the Law Allow Schools to use Aversives?
Some schools use aversives to control student behavior in school. What does the law say about using these methods?
Recent news articles about the Judge Rotenberg Center’s use of electric shock therapy on students have raised issues about whether aversives should be allowed in schools. The Rotenberg Center is a private special education school for students with autism, mental retardation, and emotional problems. It is reportedly the only school in the United States that uses electric shock treatment. The Center and some parent’s of students at the Center defend the treatment. Others contend the treatment is cruel and unnecessary.
What Are Aversives?
While shock treatment is rare, other aversives are more common and used in public and private schools throughout the country. Some aversives are fairly benign, like time-outs or the loss of privileges. Then there are more severe aversives, like physical or mechanical restraints where students are held down with physical force, taped or tied to objects, or wrapped in blankets. Aversives can also include other unpleasant methods to discourage student behavior such as odor therapy with ammonia, or force feeding unpleasant liquids like Tabasco sauce or vinegar.
Staff and Student Safety
Restraints in particular are a dangerous aversive for both school staff and students. In 1998, the Hartford Courant ran a series of articles on physical restraints and established a national restraint death database with 142 deaths of both adults and children including some children in schools. Further studies by the Government Accounting Office, the Center for Risk Analysis at Harvard University, and the Child Welfare League have also estimated deaths and untold numbers of less severe injuries by students and staff.
What does the law say?
There is a federal law called the Children’s Health Act that has strict requirements for using restraints in public and private health care facilities, including hospitals and psychiatric facilities, that receive public funds. The goal of the law is to limit the use restraints to emergency situations where other methods won’t work. The law requires trained staff be used to perform restraints when restraints are necessary. The law does not apply to schools.
The decision to allow aversives or restraints in schools is largely up to state and local governments. Federal laws for students with disabilities like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act may apply in some situations and these laws have some requirements that must be followed when they do apply. These laws do not ban the use of restraints.
Some states have banned aversives, but none seemed to have specifically banned restraints as of yet. There are proposals in a number of states to do so, but to date they have been rejected by state legislatures or state school boards. Some local schools ban restraints or have “hands off” policies. A number of states do have very specific laws on restraints with the goal of reducing or eliminating restraint use, but still allowing it in emergency situations. Other states have very few requirements.
In general, the law requires that:
- Physical restraints be used only as a last resort when the health or safety of the student or others is at risk, and when other methods to resolve the situation have failed or cannot be used.
- School staff that perform restraints must be trained and qualified professionals who are competent to make the decision to restrain or not and to implement the restraint if necessary
- Restraints should not be used to punish students or force compliance with rules just for the sake of compliance.
There are a variety of resources on the web that can provide you with more information about using restraints or aversives in schools.
