ERIC Number: EJ1234955
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Nov
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-775X
EISSN: N/A
The Use of Restraints for Students with Disabilities: The Latest Case Law Update
Zirkel, Perry A.
Communique, v48 n3 p10, 12-15 Nov 2019
Restraints and other aversives continue to be an active area of legal activity, particularly for students with disabilities. The March/April 2016 issue of Communiqué provided an update of the case law specific to school district use of restraints (Zirkel, 2016). Since then, various sources have provided successive snapshots of state restraint and seclusion laws (e.g., Butler, 2019; Ober, 2018; Rafa, 2018). Similarly providing continuing coverage, the U.S. Department of Education (2016, 2019) has issued additional policy statements specific to this legal issue. However, the coverage of the more recent case law has not been comparably comprehensive and current. The purpose of this article is to provide an update of the relevant court decisions for the most recent 4-year period ending on September 16, 2019. The methodology was the same as the previous analysis, including exclusion of cases where the restraint did not play a role in the court's rulings. The findings of this latest analysis are closely consistent with those for the previous 4-year period, thus reinforcing the interpretive observations in the earlier Communiqué article (Zirkel, 2016), including that in most of the cases the challenged district conduct included but was not limited to restraints. Overall, the frequency of cases and the successively smaller units of decisions, claim category rulings, and claim rulings are almost identical with the corresponding results in the predecessor analysis. The bottom line is that such systematic information, along with basic legal literacy, should facilitate the pivotal position of school psychologists in helping the stakeholders, including parents, students, teachers, and school administrators, participate in prudent policies with regard to restraints and related practices. Rather than a knee-jerk reaction or black-or-white resolution, the use of restraints and other aversive procedures merits carefully conceived state and local policies, with appropriate training and accountability for implementation with fidelity.
Descriptors: Students with Disabilities, Student Behavior, Discipline, Behavior Modification, Court Litigation, School Psychologists, School Policy, State Policy, Training, Program Implementation, Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Multiple Disabilities, Injuries, Federal Legislation, Civil Rights, Student Rights
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A