June 17, 2006
Treatment or torture?
Regents to address 'aversive' therapies
By Paul Brooks
Times Herald-Record
pbrooks@th-record.com
Picture this: A person lies strapped
on a board. Electrodes are planted across his body and the power is
turned on. Electric shocks course through his body.
Sometimes, he is left restrained for
hours. A special mask blocks his sight and hearing. His hands may be
bound in holsters. Any attempt to remove them leads to more shocks.
If he doesn't do what he's supposed
to, his food is cut by as much as 80 percent. What sustenance he
gets may be only mashed food covered with liver powder.
He is not a terrorist under
questioning at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or a secret CIA prison.
He is a student, one of more than 200
at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, a special school in
Canton, Mass. Most of them - 148 students - are from New York.
Some outsiders consider the
treatments tantamount to torture. Others, including parents, call
them a lifeline, the last, best chance to save the lives of these
children.
On Monday, the dispute will come to a
head. New York's Board of Regents members, the state's top education
policymakers, are being asked to vote to ban "aversive" treatments
like those at Rotenberg for all of New York's students.
New York has no school of its own
like Rotenberg. As a result, school districts in 11 counties across
the state, including Ulster, Orange and Sullivan counties, have sent
students there with the state's blessing.
The crisis has been building for
months. Earlier this week, the state Education Department issued a
26-page report based on two inspections of the Rotenberg center.
Three behavioral psychologists were part of the survey.
The report says that the Rotenberg
Center was using shock devices in ways not approved by the federal
government. Students would get shocked for minor things, like
nagging, swearing or "failing to keep a neat appearance." Staff were
not sufficiently trained or supervised. Surveillance cameras covered
showers, bathrooms and bedrooms. Students were not getting all the
educational and other services they needed.
A Long Island mother is suing the
center and the state over the treatment her son received there. An
Orange County mother decided to pull her child out of the center
after nine months, according to Goshen lawyer Michael Sussman.
What soured her on the place was the
extensive use of restraints, he said. "These were punitive measures
that one would possibly expect in a correctional facility, and even
in a correctional facility their use would be questioned," Sussman
said.
Matthew Swenson of Middletown
disagrees with the criticism of the center. His 13-year-old daughter
has profound autism and throws severe tantrums. Her life had been
reduced to a drug-induced fog before going to the center, he said.
"Her behavior was so severe, I was
convinced she wasn't going to last. She was basically on a path to
suicide," Swenson said yesterday.
The shock treatments at Rotenberg
made a dramatic difference, Swenson said. Her negative behaviors are
almost gone.
"I believe her placement there is
going to extend her life span. It is wonderful. We couldn't be
happier," he said.
The center's lawyer has said New
York's survey team was biased. Swenson agreed.
"I know a fight between ideologues
when I see it," he said. "I am not fighting for a principle. I am
fighting for my daughter."
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