The school forced a special needs child to use a jail-like time-out room, leaving his mother feeling "betrayed."
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What the school called a "de-escalation room" resembled a prison, which left Nicole Miller's son, Cooper, 10, feeling secluded. Miller told NBC New York that her son questioned why the school put him in what he called "the room." A distressing drawing of the school resembling a prison accompanied the question.
He was referring to his previous school, North Ridge Elementary in Commack, New York. The school told Miller that they had to put her "behavioral" son into the "time-out room" so he could regulate himself.
Miller explained, "They told me, you know, he's very behavioral. Like he will rip up his papers or they were concerned about him being a danger to himself or to other kids."
"They said he has to stay in the room until he regulates and calms down. I didn't know any better at the time. I listened to what they said."
What should have been a supportive environment to help distressed kids calm down turned out to be little more than a cell. "A jail cell. It looked like a jail cell and I felt so betrayed by the system," Miller said.
Commack School District Used Time-Out Rooms 199 Over 8 Months
This is a gross and over misuse of a room that left Cooper feeling "forced" and secluded.
Miller said that the use of the room heightened her son's behavioural issues. "He would have nightmares that he was in a building and all the windows were boarded and mommy was outside and he couldn't get to mommy. I don't think it's that difficult to translate what that dream meant. And it was reoccurring," she said.
Michael Wilson, the director of the Education Discipline and Justice Group, agreed. He said, "Seclusion essentially exacerbates the issues that bring kids to the point where someone is trying to seclude them and then it further causes anxieties and traumatic response."
The school has defended the use of the seclusion rooms. They wrote to the outlet, "These interventions are outlined in the behavior improvement plan which is crafted by a team and discussed with a parent. When a student is in the space for a more extended period of time, it is because the student has requested to remain in that place, working with a known and trusted adult."
