Autism and time out room

[dnjsmom]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
My son has an IEP for Autism. He is very disruptive in general ed. classes but the school will not put him in full time special ed. Instead they have him attend the first few minutes of class then when he gets in trouble, (always within the first 5 minutes of every gen. ed class) he is sent to another room. If the room he is sent to is occupied by other students they place him in another room which is about 10 X 5, has a small window that is covered with paper and another smaller window in the door. He has to stay in this room by himself for up to 50 minutes at a time. I just learned about the size of the room and the conditions. I knew there was a time out room but I had no idea it was so small and that it looked and felt like a jail cell. It breaks my heart to think about him kept in this kind of condition. Is it legal for a public school to do this? He is in 6th grade which is middle school here.

 

[Perky]

It certainly seems excessive to me.

Does your son's IEP include the use of a time-out room as a behavior intervention? Is he supervised in any way while in the room?

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
My son has an IEP for Autism. He is very disruptive in general ed. classes but the school will not put him in full time special ed. Instead they have him attend the first few minutes of class then when he gets in trouble, (always within the first 5 minutes of every gen. ed class) he is sent to another room. If the room he is sent to is occupied by other students they place him in another room which is about 10 X 5, has a small window that is covered with paper and another smaller window in the door. He has to stay in this room by himself for up to 50 minutes at a time. I just learned about the size of the room and the conditions. I knew there was a time out room but I had no idea it was so small and that it looked and felt like a jail cell. It breaks my heart to think about him kept in this kind of condition. Is it legal for a public school to do this? He is in 6th grade which is middle school here.

If you don't like what the school is doing in this case, request another ARD, and have his IEP modified to either not have him placed in the confining room, or placed in a full time special ed class. He does not seem to have success with the inclusion program, so this is a case to argue for a contained special ed class.

Best of luck to you.

 

[dnjsmom]

Thank you

We have an upcoming IEP meeting. We just had a debriefing on suggestions from a ASD specialist. The school teachers and principal wouldn't agree to any of her suggestions. The principal even left right in the middle of our meeting because he needed to get funding approved for an IA, but the sp. ed. director wouldn't agree to it.
His current IEP does not include a time out room, but his behavior intervention plan does. However, I thought it would be in the office, in another classroom or some other place not completely isolated. There is an IA sitting outside the door, but the door is closed and the window which face into the classroom it's conected to is completely covered and the door is closed. Also, there are no air vents in the room. The only thing this room has going for it is that it cannot be locked.
I plan on demanding that he not be put into this room, I just want to know if it is legal for them to confine him in such a small room for such a long period of time.

 

[Zigner]

And, if you don't have success with the school/district, you should look for a special ed advocate to assist you.

 

[Perky]

What you describe may be legal; however, the length of time in the room should be in the behavior plan, as well as the behavior that makes it necessary to send him there. The Washington code that addresses your son's situation can be found here:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=392-172A-03135

The entire listing for the chapter is here:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=392-172A

Good luck