Regents bar skin shocks, other methods
for subduing students
By
CARA MATTHEWS
ALBANY BUREAU
September 13, 2006
ALBANY The state Board of Regents voted yesterday to temporarily
continue a ban on schools using electric skin shocks and other
controversial methods of controlling the behavior of troubled
students.
The regents, who set educational
policy for the state, implemented an emergency policy in June to
prohibit certain methods of deterring or punishing poor behavior,
unless a waiver for a specific child was obtained. The practices,
known as "aversive behavioral interventions," include skin shocks,
noxious sprays, sleep deprivation and withholding meals. They
largely have been unregulated by the state Education Department.
Regents had anticipated making the
policy permanent this month, but the Education Department needs more
time to vet oral and written comments from about 400 people during
recent public hearings and make revisions to the regulations, said
Rebecca Cort, a department official.
Regent Anthony Bottar of North
Syracuse, co-chairman of the regents committee addressing the
subject, said he wanted to head off any discussion on the substance
of the issue until the October meeting, when regents may vote to
make the emergency regulations permanent.
Contrary to what some people
believe, the regents have studied the comments made during the three
hearings this summer, Bottar said.
"I'd like to dispel, on behalf of
the co-chair (Merryl Tisch of New York City) and I, the notion of a
segment of those affected that we have not listened," he said.
Parents of students at an
out-of-state residential program have sued the agency because they
want their children to continue receiving skin shocks as part of
their treatment. The 2-second shocks used by the Judge Rotenberg
Educational Center in Canton, Mass., is the only method that has
worked to control their children, they say. They won a temporary
injunction in federal court last week, meaning treatment could
resume for the plaintiffs' children as the lawsuit continues.
The regents began a review of
aversives after receiving complaints about the use of skin shocks at
the Rotenberg Center and about "aversive behavioral interventions"
used in some in-state preschool programs for disabled children. New
York sends more than 150 special-education students to the Rotenberg
Center at a cost of about $50 million annually.
The center treats children with
severe behavioral disorders. Dangerous behaviors for students
include trying to gouge their eyes out and vomiting to the point of
starvation.
Under the regents' policy, parents
have to consent in writing to the therapy, and an independent panel
of experts recommends if a waiver should be approved.
The emergency regulations took
effect in late June. A vote on adopting the policy permanently will
come up in October or December, depending on the changes made, Cort
said. If it is in December, the regents will have to adopt another
emergency extension in October, she said.
"We know there are some changes
that need to be made, based on comments and our research," she said.
Linda Doherty of West Islip, Long
Island, who was not at yesterday's meeting, said skin shocks are the
only thing that have worked for her 20-year-old son, Marc Doherty.
He is autistic and non-verbal.
"In my son's case, it's the first
time since he's 4 years old he's totally off medication," she said,
adding that he was on a dozen prescriptions at one point and lapsed
into a coma.
Doherty said her son has made more
gains at the Rotenberg Center than at all his other placements
combined. "I don't know why it works, but it works," she said of the
skin shocks.
The policy, as written, is not
acceptable because it excludes children who are not physically
harming themselves or being aggressive toward others, Dr. Matthew
Israel, the Rotenberg Center's executive director, said this week.
Students who destroy property, are not in compliance with the
program's rules or who cause major disruptive incidents cannot be
treated with skin shocks, even though the therapy helps them
greatly, he said.
Without treatment this summer,
before the temporary injunction, 80 percent of New York's students
whose skin-shock treatment had been stopped had regressed, Israel
said.
Doherty said her son was among
them.
Aversive behavioral therapies are
used only when children don't respond to positive reinforcement
programs, Israel said. About 50 percent of students at the Rotenberg
Center receive skin shocks, based on court orders. The average
number of shocks given is one per week, he said. The center is the
only institution attended by New York children that gives skin
shocks.
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Means of
control
The following are examples of "aversive behavioral interventions,"
which are used to control troubled children
Electric skin shock
Ice applications
Hitting, slapping, pinching
Deep muscle squeezes
Noxious sprays, inhalants or tastes
Withholding sleep, shelter, bedding, bathroom facilities or
clothing
Withholding meals or limiting essential nutrition or hydration, or
intentionally altering staple food or drink to make it distasteful
Movement limitation, including helmets and mechanical restraint
devices
Placing a child unsupervised or unobserved in a room from which
the student cannot exit without assistance.
Source: state Education Department |
