ERIC Number: EJ1251844
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-May
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-775X
EISSN: N/A
The Use of Time-Out and Seclusion for Students with Disabilities: The Latest Case Law Update
Zirkel, Perry A.
Communique, v48 n7 p22-24 May 2020
Seclusion, used broadly to include time-out (Bon & Zirkel, 2014), and other aversives, such as restraint, continues to be an active area of legal activity, particularly for students with disabilities. The September 2016 issue of "Communiqué" provided an update of the case law specific to school district use of seclusion (Zirkel, 2016) (EJ1200678). This 3-year update identified 24 pertinent court cases. For more user-friendly summarization, the analysis changed the previously more fine-grained claim rulings into three broad categories: (1) constitutional, such as Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process (SDP); (2) federal legislation, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or, more commonly in this specific context, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (§ 504); and (3) state law, such as negligence or assault/battery. The overall outcomes distribution of these broad "claim category rulings" was: conclusively for the plaintiff -- 0%; inconclusive -- 51%; and conclusively for the defendant -- 49%. Upon conflation using the aforementioned best-for-plaintiff basis, the outcomes distribution using cases as the unit of analysis expanded the inconclusive category to 63%.
Descriptors: Students with Disabilities, Discipline, Court Litigation, Constitutional Law, Federal Legislation, State Legislation, Violence, Educational Legislation, Punishment, Behavior Modification
National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-657-0270; Fax: 301-657-0275; e-mail: publications@naspweb.org; Web site: http://www.nasponline.org/publications/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Fourteenth Amendment; Rehabilitation Act 1973 (Section 504); Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A