Time Out Rooms

[MJS]

I saw this today and I will say that I was speechless.

"DES MOINES, Iowa – After failing to finish a reading assignment, 8-year-old Isabel Loeffler was sent to the school's time-out room — a converted storage area under a staircase — where she was left alone for three hours. The autistic Iowa girl wet herself before she was finally allowed to leave. Appalled, her parents removed her from the school district and filed a lawsuit."

 

[MA-Caver]

I saw this today and I will say that I was speechless.

"DES MOINES, Iowa – After failing to finish a reading assignment, 8-year-old Isabel Loeffler was sent to the school's time-out room — a converted storage area under a staircase — where she was left alone for three hours. The autistic Iowa girl wet herself before she was finally allowed to leave. Appalled, her parents removed her from the school district and filed a lawsuit."

THAT IS HORRIBLE! 3 hours is bad enough without having to go to the bathroom for a girl her age... it's a nightmare for one who is autistic!

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

That is terrible!!

Leaving a child like that only enforces fear and desocialization.

A child may not be up to the school criteria which in no way should the child be punished but instead be encouraged to learn more and develop.

A true sad day for the education system.

 

[FearlessFreep]

15 minutes is "timeout"
3 hours is "get out of my hair"

 

[Twin Fist]

wow, a well deserved lawsuit on thier heads

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

That is terrible!!

Leaving a child like that only enforces fear and desocialization.

A child may not be up to the school criteria which in no way should the child be punished but instead be encouraged to learn more and develop.

A true sad day for the education system.

Absolutely and just terrible.

 

[Nolerama]

I know some schools have a "Sensory Room" for autistic children where they can calm down. They're supposed to be intriguing for the senses, dimly-lit, and comfortable for the autistic child. (My ex girlfriend worked with autistic children, so I might be missing some things.)

Apparently, someone didn't check on the kid and/or wasn't aware of the special needs of autistic children. Very sad.

 

[hpulley]

They checked on her but wouldn't let her go until she could sit still and quietly for five minutes. For autistic children this is very difficult (I know...). After three hours of this she wet herself, poor girl.

 

[Gordon Nore]

No excuses for this mistreatment. What I want to know is whether the kid was even supervised. This is what you get when you don't pay the dollars for additional staff -- teachers and ed assistants -- to properly supervise high-need kids.

I saw this today and I will say that I was speechless.

"DES MOINES, Iowa – After failing to finish a reading assignment, 8-year-old Isabel Loeffler was sent to the school's time-out room — a converted storage area under a staircase — where she was left alone for three hours. The autistic Iowa girl wet herself before she was finally allowed to leave. Appalled, her parents removed her from the school district and filed a lawsuit."

 

[bluemtn]

That's awful, and flat out neglect. 3 hours isolated and not able to get out is hard, even for me as an adult. Autistic or not, I can't imagine a child being forced into something like that, and why did they think she would be able to "settle down" after that long?

 

[Mimir]

What a sad state of affairs. The school should have had better understanding on how to work with autistic children. I feel so bad for the little girl.

 

[jks9199]

Let me get this straight...

She's acting out, so they shove her under the stairs.

They check on her, but won't let her out for hours -- despite her wetting herself?!

Someone needs some criminal charges. That's child abuse under color of authority.

Then again, the schools ain't making much sense these days. I was told about an incident today that still has me flabbergasted. Kid wears an offensive t-shirt to school. Teacher tells him take it off or turn it inside out, and kid becomes disorderly. School Resource Officer is called, and has to struggle with the kid, injuring her arm in the process. Kid isn't even suspended! "It was the teacher's fault, and the teacher started it, and shoulldn't have called the SRO at all"... WTF!

 

[Ray]

I agree with everyone else: it's horrible. Forcing a little girl to live in Iowa, that is.

 

[MJS]

I've never dealt with an autistic child before, but I have to wonder on the logic of putting them in isolation. I'm not talking about some room under a staircase, I'm talking about any place where they're alone. Should someone be with them? I don't know, but it seems to me that it'd make more sense to remove the child, if need be, and have someone sit and talk with them. Perhaps things can be calmed down a bit more, instead of leaving them alone.

 

[hpulley]

I've never dealt with an autistic child before, but I have to wonder on the logic of putting them in isolation. I'm not talking about some room under a staircase, I'm talking about any place where they're alone. Should someone be with them? I don't know, but it seems to me that it'd make more sense to remove the child, if need be, and have someone sit and talk with them. Perhaps things can be calmed down a bit more, instead of leaving them alone.

You are right and it makes perfect sense of course but then schools have to pay to have a person or more likely people who are trained in this sort of thing and they have to take a room which could be a classroom and use it for this sort of purpose. This is expensive and for some reason, what should be the most important thing in the world (our kids) are always done on the cheap. Teachers don't get paid much and they don't have time to spend all day on one unruly kid in class so they're frustrated. My son is autistic so I understand all of this stuff too well.

While having an assistant follow him around all day will probably help in the short term it won't help in the long term. I still hope he will be able to function on his own when he grows up! If someone follows him around all the time for 12 years then he will probably need someone to follow him around for the rest of his life. I don't think they know yet how much help is good and how much is too much (detrimental).

Unfortunately it is tough for both the autistic kids and the 'normal' kids in their class. My wife doesn't really care about the rest of the kids (she is a mother after all) but I feel for them as well. It is a tough situation for everyone.

 

[MBuzzy]

It is events like this that are the reason that a teacher can't sneeze without a lawsuit. What these teachers did was HORRIBLE and TERRIBLE and now, because of their stupidity, misjudgement and cruelty, schools around the country will suffer the consequences and things will get even tighter and more difficult for the millions of teachers who are good at their job and care about kids.

Unfortunately though, as parents, we have no way to tell if everyday when we send our kids to school if they will get one of the few million good teachers or one of the small fraction of horrible ones.

 

[Rich Parsons]

I find the article disturbing.

I wonder about people.


But, I remember in school suspension rooms in our school systems when I was there. I have no idea of they are there now. I mean, these rooms by design were old supply closets or storage rooms away from the rest of the school. There was a rest room near by and the children were allowed to use it. Go there use it and then come straight back. Some thought this was bad as it disassociated the child from the rest of the school. It was punishment for an act that lead to in school suspension.

But no where in there did they put know children with conditions, and tell them they could not leave for the bathroom.


I wonder if people still have implemented some old ways and are not aware of modern handling practices.