'Isolation box:' Abuse or therapy for Longview school kids?
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LONGVIEW, Wash. -- Longview Public Schools administrators call it an "isolation booth" and photos of it are creating a Facebook firestorm.
Some parents say they're worried kids are being abused when they're locked inside it at school.
The isolation booth has been at Mint Valley Elementary School for the past four years. That's because the school hosts a special education program for disabled students with behavioral issues. The booth is used to calm down some of the students when they're at risk of hurting themselves or others.
Just hours after they were posted, photos of the isolation booth were shared on Facebook about 100 times.
The pictures show that from the outside, the booth is located in a storage area and has two peepholes at different heights. Inside, students can sit on the floor of the small padded room, and the ceiling has air holes for ventilation.
The original Facebook poster, Ana Bate, a Longview mother, criticized its use as abusive, arguing children are locked in for crying or tapping on their desks.
Comments echoed by other Facebook posters like Darren Pirtle asked "seriously ... have the police been notified that this is being used??"
Marcy Brinkerhoff-Hogg wrote, "that is terrible and should NEVER be used regardless if the child is out of control or not."
And Jena Raelyn Brown suggested, writing in all capital letters: "if a parent did that at home they would get put in jail!!!"
Bate, whose 10-year-old son is not in the special education program, told KATU News late Tuesday night that her son told her he saw several kids go in the box.
In one instance, a female aide came up behind a boy, picked him up off the floor and dropped him into the isolation box, she said. He landed on the floor and cried the entire time. In another instance a boy, who was placed inside the box for lifting up a desk, became violent while he was inside.
"My question for the school district is how is that therapeutic if not directly opposite from this supposed reinforcement they'd like everybody to believe it to be?" she said. "If they are being paid to lock people up, get extra education and work in mental health or psychiatric units, not with children that have minds that need to be explored, need to be expanded, that need to feel safe."
But the district does not think it is abusive.
"People have their own opinions without having a lot of the information about it. I would not classify it as abusive," said Sandy Catt, director of communications for Longview Public Schools.
Catt said the isolation booth is designed as therapy for children needing to calm down.
Of the 6,500 students in the Longview School District, only eight or nine are allowed to go inside, and that's because the school has permission from their parents.
"It is concerning to us that there may not be a complete understanding of the situation," Catt said.
She said some of the eight or nine kids voluntarily go inside the booth for a break from stimulation. She added when the door is locked a school staff member is outside, monitoring what happens.
Catt said the school district had never received a complaint about the isolation booth until Tuesday, and still, none of those complaints has come from parents whose students went inside.
And for those parents who object, their students would never be placed inside because the district requires parent permission. Bate told KATU News she questions parents who agree to let their kids go inside the box.
Some parents say they're worried kids are being abused when they're locked inside it at school.
The isolation booth has been at Mint Valley Elementary School for the past four years. That's because the school hosts a special education program for disabled students with behavioral issues. The booth is used to calm down some of the students when they're at risk of hurting themselves or others.
Just hours after they were posted, photos of the isolation booth were shared on Facebook about 100 times.
The pictures show that from the outside, the booth is located in a storage area and has two peepholes at different heights. Inside, students can sit on the floor of the small padded room, and the ceiling has air holes for ventilation.
The original Facebook poster, Ana Bate, a Longview mother, criticized its use as abusive, arguing children are locked in for crying or tapping on their desks.
Comments echoed by other Facebook posters like Darren Pirtle asked "seriously ... have the police been notified that this is being used??"
Marcy Brinkerhoff-Hogg wrote, "that is terrible and should NEVER be used regardless if the child is out of control or not."
And Jena Raelyn Brown suggested, writing in all capital letters: "if a parent did that at home they would get put in jail!!!"
Bate, whose 10-year-old son is not in the special education program, told KATU News late Tuesday night that her son told her he saw several kids go in the box.
In one instance, a female aide came up behind a boy, picked him up off the floor and dropped him into the isolation box, she said. He landed on the floor and cried the entire time. In another instance a boy, who was placed inside the box for lifting up a desk, became violent while he was inside.
"My question for the school district is how is that therapeutic if not directly opposite from this supposed reinforcement they'd like everybody to believe it to be?" she said. "If they are being paid to lock people up, get extra education and work in mental health or psychiatric units, not with children that have minds that need to be explored, need to be expanded, that need to feel safe."
But the district does not think it is abusive.
"People have their own opinions without having a lot of the information about it. I would not classify it as abusive," said Sandy Catt, director of communications for Longview Public Schools.
Catt said the isolation booth is designed as therapy for children needing to calm down.
Of the 6,500 students in the Longview School District, only eight or nine are allowed to go inside, and that's because the school has permission from their parents.
"It is concerning to us that there may not be a complete understanding of the situation," Catt said.
She said some of the eight or nine kids voluntarily go inside the booth for a break from stimulation. She added when the door is locked a school staff member is outside, monitoring what happens.
Catt said the school district had never received a complaint about the isolation booth until Tuesday, and still, none of those complaints has come from parents whose students went inside.
And for those parents who object, their students would never be placed inside because the district requires parent permission. Bate told KATU News she questions parents who agree to let their kids go inside the box.
Let's hope the child isn't also claustrophobic !!
put one of my kids in here and they better have one hell of a dental plan ....
Put my child in that box and there would be hell to pay!! I can't  understand any parent giving permission to put their child in there!! Talk about giving a child nightmares and possible life long issues!! Makes me very angry :-(
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@Peggy Hiles You might be more understanding if you walked a mile in these parents shoes Peggy.  These are difficult situations that require care and understanding not anger.Â
A load of horse-poo...parents don't give permission for this abuse, they just don't know that when they sign the Aversive Intervention Plan that rooms like these (sometimes called timeout rooms, scream rooms too) even exist or are being used. Tacoma Public Schools has at least five of these in their elementary schools (Jennie Reed, Franklin, Roosevelt to name a few) and University Place has a couple as well. They are not therapeutic, and cause damage and PTSD to these kids. Makes me sick to my stomach that our son with autism went through this...we come from good families, educated, and still we didn't know. We even have the log....hours and hours, every single day for a month (until we discovered what was happening) in this room for refusing to do his work. And yet, this is perfectly legal in Washington state. Yuck! Restraint and seclusion exists....people need to know, and need to do something about it!
@A Carr You say you have a child with Autism does he or she ever lash out aggressively to strangers when he is in an environment that is overwhelming? What do you do tell the stranger " I'm sorry about the fresh wound on your arm my child has Autism". Is that a good reason to allow violence in your family. Or how about this. Their is a student that bangs his head when given a difficult task. He has lost one eye from retinal detachment from banging his head.  Would you say" Oh just forget the remaining eye we'll get him a seeing eye dog but whatever you do don't put him in the padded room to calm down." Well in my opinion violence is never ok even if you are disable or on the Autism spectrum. Thats what these rooms are for. They are not used for any other reasonh except when nothing else works and they are almost alway phased out of use as their behavior improves. It's called the least restrictive alternative. I have worked with parents that want their childrden to behave and wonder why these practices have to be used. The reason is that these have to be used is because no one intervened soon enough to prevent the problem behavior that garners these methods. You probably have more knowledge of the challenges that face disabled children than most but you don't know everything. Â
maybe the restraint chair would be a better bet along with spit masks that the police use .. i dont think that the booth is proper and is not therapedic.. there is other less invasive methods used for restraints these days if they get too out of control use the tazer .. it used to be a few good whacks with the paddle on the behind solved the issue now its you cannot touch them to punish them.. i think the belt or the paddle was a very good deterrent and should be used today in schools there would be less problems.. the law protects the kids but it should allow for use of a strap or a paddle to get ones attention instead it makes it hard to run a school and the kids run out of control leaving the school little else to correct the matter...
 @Bart Vaughan I'm sorry to say that you really don't have a clue about EBD (emotionally/behaviorally disturbed) children.  Restraints don't work for EBD children. Whacks with a paddle don't work either. In all honesty until you have experience and education for EBD children, it's best to not talk about it. Â
 @Karen Marie  @Bart Vaughan i have an EBD child and you restrain him he will get 10x's worse , give him his stuffy and he will calm down right away and let him go to an area he feels the most comfy an then call me, my cell on 24hrs and so is my home phone , if they cant contact me then they didnt try to call...