COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE
 HEADLINE NEWS                                                                                                                                                                                                             CAICA EN FRANÇAIS
 

CAICA     HOME   │   NEWS  │  PROGRAM NEWS  │  STORIES │  DEATHS  │   WWASPS   │  PARENTS' CORNER  │  MISSION  │ SITE MAP │  LINKS & RESOURCES
  _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

              AUTISM  │ LITIGATION  │  LEGISLATION  │ JUVENILE JUSTICE  │ MENTAL HEALTH │ LIGHTER SIDE │  EN FRANCAIS  │ COMMENTS  │ LIST SERVE  │  BLOGS  
 

 

In center of a storm
State education department report blasts Massachusetts facility for special needs students

BY KARLA SCHUSTER AND LAUREN TERRAZZANO.STAFF WRITERS; Staff writer Jennifer Maloney contributed to this story.

June 15, 2006

Troubled New York students sent to a controversial Massachusetts treatment facility are given electric shocks for minor offenses, strapped to wooden boards and sometimes denied most of their daily meals - behavioral therapies that threaten their "health, safety, privacy and dignity," according to a state report.

The scathing review released yesterday of the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass., based on surprise visits by the New York Department of Education, describes an institution where students get virtually no social interaction, academic instruction or mental stimulation, save for a battery of aversive therapies that are administered by staff with little training in how to deal with emotionally disturbed children.

"The privacy and dignity of students is compromised in the course of JRC's program implementation," the report stated. State education officials have ordered the Rotenberg Center to "immediately take corrective actions" and provide documentation of that by Monday, or risk being dropped from the state's list of approved facilities for New York students. Right now, approximately 148 New York students are enrolled at the Rotenberg Center, which houses 255 students.

Also Monday, the state Board of Regents is to consider asking lawmakers to approve legislation that would bar placing New York students in schools that use such aversive therapies.

"This is everything we said it was and the one question I have is why is this place still on the state's approved list?" said attorney Ken Mollins, who is representing a Freeport mother in a $10-million lawsuit accusing the state of negligence for placing her son there.

Said the boy's mother, Evelyn Nicholson: "I wish they would just shut it down. I don't think anything good happens for kids in there."

Michael Flammia, an attorney for the Rotenberg Center, called the state's review unfair. "It's the product of a biased review team that was sent to JRC for the purpose of making adverse findings," because of the increased media attention on aversive therapy since Mollins filed the lawsuit, Flammia said. He noted that the state had given the center a more positive review last November. "The observations are false and the conclusions are false."

Among the findings:

The review team observed that most students were restrained in handcuffs or leg shackles as they arrived or left the school, and in some instances, in wheeled chairs that keep them in four-point restraints.

Academic instruction often consists of rote tasks at a computer, punishments are given in tandem - one student was given five shocks in 10 minutes while strapped to a four-point board for pulling a fire alarm - and electric shocks are given during baths, a violation of federal safety rules.

Sometimes, the reviewers found, students are goaded into negative behavior so that aversive therapies can be used.

While most of the children placed at the center are special-education students sent there by local school districts, some are foster children in need of institutional care sent by county social service departments.

Peter Clement, director of administration for Nassau's Department of Social Services, had not seen the report as of yesterday afternoon, but said "the county would not consider placing any more children there" if the findings are true.

The center is also under investigation in Massachusetts, as that state's Department of Early Education and Care probes allegations that students were burned by the electric shock device and that one Roslyn Heights autistic girl suffered significant weight loss.

The autistic girl, identified in an earlier interview by her mother, Marcia, as Samantha Shear, 13, is being treated there. Yesterday, Marcia Shear staunchly defended the center.

"It's a totally one-sided report," Shear said. "I go to the school all the time. I know exactly what goes on there."

Staff writer Jennifer Maloney contributed to this story.

More ....

Disabled Kids Said Hurt in Shock Therapy
 Forbes - 14 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY , 06.14.2006, 06:48 PM. A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled said electric shocks were administered ...
 
State: Kids hurt in shock therapy school
Boston Globe, United States - 16 hours ago
By Michael Gormley, Associated Press Writer | June 14, 2006. ALBANY, NY --A state report on conditions at a Massachusetts school ...
 
In center of a storm
 Newsday, NY - 3 hours ago
BY KARLA SCHUSTER AND LAUREN TERRAZZANO.STAFF WRITERS; Staff writer Jennifer Maloney contributed to this story. Troubled New York ...
 
Rotenberg center methods slammed
 Attleboro Sun Chronicle, MA - 6 hours ago
By Staff and wire reports. A New York agency is calling for an end to some of the controversial electric shock treatments administered ...
 
Kids Hurt By Shock Therapy At Bay State School
WCSH-TV, ME - 10 hours ago
Disabled children were given electrical shocks for offenses as small as swearing and sloppy appearance. That's the finding of a ...
 
Disabled kids said hurt in shock therapy
Jackson News-Tribune, WY - 12 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer 53 minutes ago. ALBANY, NY - A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled ...
 
State: Kids hurt in shock therapy school
Staten Island Advance, NY - 15 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY. ALBANY, NY (AP) — A state report on conditions at a school for the disabled documented "skin shocks" — sometimes ...
 
NY report denounces shock use at school
Boston Globe, United States - 3 hours ago
By Scott Allen, Globe Staff | June 15, 2006. New York education officials issued a scathing report yesterday on a Massachusetts school ...
 
Disabled Kids Said Hurt in Shock Therapy
CBS News - 13 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY Associated Press Writer. (AP) A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled said electric shocks were ...
 
Disabled kids said hurt in shock therapy
Boston Globe, United States - 14 hours ago
By Michael Gormley, Associated Press Writer | June 14, 2006. ALBANY, NY --A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled ...
 
Disabled kids said hurt in shock therapy
Wired News - 14 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY Associated Press Writer. ALBANY, NY (AP) -- A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled said electric ...
 
State: Youthss hurt in shock therapy school
 SouthCoastToday.com, MA - 8 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY , Associated Press writer. ALBANY, NY — A state report on conditions at a school for the disabled documented ...
 
Disabled kids said hurt in shock therapy
 Monterey County Herald, CA - 11 hours ago
ALBANY, NY - A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled said electric shocks were administered to students - sometimes as they bathed - for ...
 
Disabled Kids Said Hurt in Shock Therapy
Mankato Free Press, MN - 13 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY. A state report on a Massachusetts school for the disabled said electric shocks were administered to students ...
 
State: Kids hurt in shock therapy school
WFSB, CT - 13 hours ago
ALBANY, NY -- A state report on conditions at a school for the disabled documented "skin shocks" _ sometimes administered while students bathed _ for offenses ...
 
State: Kids hurt in shock therapy school
 Worcester Telegram (subscription), MA - 14 hours ago
By MICHAEL GORMLEY. ALBANY, NY— A state report on conditions at a Massachusetts school for the disabled documented "skin shocks ...

 

 
DISCLAIMER, WARNINGS, AND NOTICE TO READERS: This website does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information, content collectively, the "Materials") contained on, distributed through, or linked, downloaded or accessed from any of the services contained on this website (the "Service"). None of the contributors, sponsors, administrators or anyone else connected with this website in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information or for your use of the information contained in these web pages. All information provided using this website is only intended to be general summary information to the public.

FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

REFERRALS: CAICA is not a referral agency. CAICA does not refer to or promote facilities or transport companies for children or teens. CAICA warns parents that the parent pay / parent choice programs ie. Residential Treatment Centers, Therapeutic Boarding Schools, Behavior Modification Programs, Christian Programs, Positive Peer Culture Programs, etc., are not regulated by the Federal Government and that it is a "Buyer Beware" industry. CAICA provides the following for parents: Message to Parents, Help for Distraught and Desperate Parents, and Questions to Ask and Warning Signs.

© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010