Experts question benefit of school time-out rooms

[samanthajane13]

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press Writer Michael J. Crumb, Associated Press Writer – 36 mins ago



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.

Some educators say time-out rooms are being used with increased frequency to discipline children with behavioral disorders. And the time outs are probably doing more harm than good, they add.

"It really is a form of abuse," said Ken Merrell, head of the Department for Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. "It's going to do nothing to change the behavior. You're using it as an isolation booth."

Segregating children removes them from the positive aspect of the classroom and highlights that they're different from other children, said Stephen Camarata, director of the Kennedy Center for Behavioral Research at Vanderbilt University. And isolating an autistic child might be particularly counterproductive.

"They don't like being around other people so they might increase their negative behavior because they view it a reward," he said.

Though there is no data on the use of time-out rooms, Camarata speculates that they've become widespread as schools confronted a growing enrollment of children with behavior disorders.

"I believe it's because classrooms are much less flexible with more focus on compliance," he said.

The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, Calif., receives calls from parents across the country who complain about time-out rooms, said Cheryl Theis, an education advocate for the organization.

"Parents call and say their child's disability has been exacerbated by this and are traumatized by this," she said.

Merrell said he's encountered time-out rooms he felt were unsafe.

"I once consulted with a school in another state and had a weekly appointment with a child to do some counseling and when I got there they told me he was in a time-out room," he said. "He was in a janitor's closet with no windows, no ventilation, open cans of paint, a mop bucket with disinfectant and he had been in there for over an hour."

Merrell, who has published nearly 100 studies and 10 books on teaching social and emotional skills, said time-out rooms can be used effectively but seldom are. The key, he said, is to combine the time outs with social skills training.

Patti Ralabate, a special education analyst with the National Education Association, said time-out rooms are common but should be used sparingly.

"And when they are used, all of the educators involved need to have appropriate professional development to see how this is used and how to use them appropriately," she said.

Ralabate said a time-out room can be effective if it is intended to provide a space for a child to calm down and reflect on their behavior.

"If it is used to isolate the child, punish the child for a behavior, then we would view it as not productive and not positive," she said.

In Iowa, Doug and Eva Loeffler started to notice changes in their daughter in December 2004, soon after she began school in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee. It prompted them to take Isabel to University Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for evaluations.

"We laid awake at nights thinking we'd have to institutionalize her," Doug Loeffler said. "We went to three evaluations at the hospital and all of a sudden we find out she's being mistreated."

Loeffler said they weren't told in school evaluation reports that their daughter had been restrained and placed in a time-out room. During one incident in December 2005, Isabel wet herself because she was locked in the room for three hours and not allowed to use a restroom, he said.

Loeffler said the time-out room rules required that before she could be released, she must sit on the floor with her legs crossed without moving a muscle for at least five minutes.

"If she said something, grimaced at them, they would restart the clock and she was not capable of doing that," Loeffler said. "That's why it was three hours."

Loeffler said the couple homeschooled Isabel until he took a new job and the family moved last year to California. Isabel has shown signs of progress and is back in public school, he said.

David Wilkerson, superintendent of the Waukee school district, declined to speak about the accusations because of the pending lawsuit. But he said time-out rooms are a "pretty common practice" and that the district complies with the state's guidelines for such rooms.

Loeffler said he is pressing ahead with the lawsuit and hopes to draw attention to the need for nationwide standards for time-out rooms.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081017/ap_on_re_us/time_out_rooms

[delaineyrae]

my timeout room experience was the best discipline i got all through school. the room was small with carpeted walls and a door they never closed on me but it did have a vent and floor to ceiling window. it also had a beanbag to sit on, so it wasnt uncomfortable as much as inconvienient. as a child i had behavioral issues and i would have conquered them if i would have been able to keepnup with the program my elementary school had, but i got adopted and went to a private school that had spankings as thheir only means of discipline.and they spanked in front of your whole class, so it was very humiliating.

[sharlock]

my timeout room experience was the best discipline i got all through school. the room was small with carpeted walls and a door they never closed on me but it did have a vent and floor to ceiling window. it also had a beanbag to sit on, so it wasnt uncomfortable as much as inconvienient. as a child i had behavioral issues and i would have conquered them if i would have been able to keepnup with the program my elementary school had, but i got adopted and went to a private school that had spankings as thheir only means of discipline.and they spanked in front of your whole class, so it was very humiliating.

No way should a teacher be allowed to hit a student. That is terrible. I am training to be a teacher at the moment and I do have serious concerns after working at many schools for prac, about the amount of students coming into the classroom with serious behavioural emotional and developmental issues and the lack of additional support provided for the teachers. I am also worried about the amount of parents who themselves are innappropriately disciplining their children as this too causes problems at school. In one class there was a beviour management strategy that involved putting the childs name on the board with a sad face so their parents could see when they were picked up to deter bad behaviour. One student though after 3 months of nearly constantly being on the board each afternoon finally told the teacher that he got a beating every night because his parents were angry about him being on the board and then his parents confirmed that this was true. The teacher was horrified, the board itself was the punishment and the teacher felt responsible for the additional abuse that had occured because of it. It is so hard nowadays for teachers to do anything at all. You have some teachers trying so hard and then you have these others who are abusive. It makes me so angry.:flamemad:

[Drumbum]

Time out forced me to focus and think about what I did wrong.

[grneyes]

Time out forced me to focus and think about what I did wrong.

It gave me more time to read because I usually had all my school work done anyway and I was bored which is why I got in trouble to begin with. *lol* I was never bored if I had a book in my hand though.

[delaineyrae]

No way should a teacher be allowed to hit a student. That is terrible. I am training to be a teacher at the moment and I do have serious concerns after working at many schools for prac, about the amount of students coming into the classroom with serious behavioural emotional and developmental issues and the lack of additional support provided for the teachers. I am also worried about the amount of parents who themselves are innappropriately disciplining their children as this too causes problems at school. In one class there was a beviour management strategy that involved putting the childs name on the board with a sad face so their parents could see when they were picked up to deter bad behaviour. One student though after 3 months of nearly constantly being on the board each afternoon finally told the teacher that he got a beating every night because his parents were angry about him being on the board and then his parents confirmed that this was true. The teacher was horrified, the board itself was the punishment and the teacher felt responsible for the additional abuse that had occured because of it. It is so hard nowadays for teachers to do anything at all. You have some teachers trying so hard and then you have these others who are abusive. It makes me so angry.:flamemad:

another way of communicating our disobedience was called the talking book, were my teacher would write down everything that i did and when i got home every night, my parents wouldnt let me past the couch until they read it. nearly everyday my teachers had some problem with my thinking for myself so my dad would spank me. and he had to sign the notebook everyday so the teacher would know he read it.one day he forgot and my teacher wouldnt start classes until my dad came to the school and signed it.
what happened to my little sister was worse, she actually acted up at school when we had these books and my dad wanted to break her of it so badly that everyday she came home with a bad report she got 10 swats and they accumulated, so needless to say she ended up breaking the 100 swat mark pretty quickly and my dad tried to keep his word. i think he lost count after 80 something, but he only stopped because he was tired.
---just a little look into the life of a pastors kid

[sharlock]

another way of communicating our disobedience was called the talking book, were my teacher would write down everything that i did and when i got home every night, my parents wouldnt let me past the couch until they read it. nearly everyday my teachers had some problem with my thinking for myself so my dad would spank me. and he had to sign the notebook everyday so the teacher would know he read it.one day he forgot and my teacher wouldnt start classes until my dad came to the school and signed it.
what happened to my little sister was worse, she actually acted up at school when we had these books and my dad wanted to break her of it so badly that everyday she came home with a bad report she got 10 swats and they accumulated, so needless to say she ended up breaking the 100 swat mark pretty quickly and my dad tried to keep his word. i think he lost count after 80 something, but he only stopped because he was tired.
---just a little look into the life of a pastors kid
Whoa!!! Talk about taking don't spare the rod seriously! To me that is abuse pure and simple; yet even today you hear a lot of people justify these sorts of beatings. Here it is illegal to hit your child but that law is not enforced. People ignore it because they want to be able to lightly smack a taoddler for going near a hot stove and the like. The prob there is that it means those parents who really hit and beat their kids generally get away with it too. You'd think a pastor should no better and at least be able to show compassion for his own children? My mum tells me the nuns who taught were the hardest punishers at her school. One of mum's freinds is dyslexic and the nuns would have her sit in front of a blackboard that swung around; everytime she would read a word wrong the nun would swing the board around and hit her in the face with it. This would go on till the kid was nearly unconscious but because the child was a boarder noone cared! :flamemad:

[sharlock]

It gave me more time to read because I usually had all my school work done anyway and I was bored which is why I got in trouble to begin with. *lol* I was never bored if I had a book in my hand though.
Lol, sounds just like me! If we were given a book to read in highschool I would have finished by the end of the day but they would still be going through it for the next 2mths. My appette for reading was unbelie:read:vable.

[delaineyrae]

I'm reading these posts and I have a lot to say but I won't say it. I had unpleasant experiences at school. Everyone does. That's life. As soon as someone disagrees with your cozy experience of life you will be unhappy.

I am a teacher and you know what? I am pretty god damn well sick to death of stories about teacher ABUSE BLAH BLAH. How about stories of parents who can't teach their children how to behave.

No. Parents aren't to blame. It's all the fault of those dreadful people in the classroom.

i do agree with you. once you hit high school you have the capability to conduct yourself as an adult. it just happened that my school did not like square pegs because we wouldnt fit into their round holes. there were no discussions, no interpretive thinking on homework either. if it didnt meet what they said the Bible taught, you were in big trouble!
i remember every year at the begining of school, pastor t. would tell us if the law didnt protect sinners, stoning would be the only punishment theyd offer.
we even had a chapter in Bible based on how in the old testament, homosexuals were killed. then we went through history and how they were treated, and it wasnt to teach acceptance.

[grneyes]

I'm reading these posts and I have a lot to say but I won't say it. I had unpleasant experiences at school. Everyone does. That's life. As soon as someone disagrees with your cozy experience of life you will be unhappy.

I am a teacher and you know what? I am pretty god damn well sick to death of stories about teacher ABUSE BLAH BLAH. How about stories of parents who can't teach their children how to behave.

No. Parents aren't to blame. It's all the fault of those dreadful people in the classroom.

Hey JB, I was basically a good kid. The worst thing I ever did was skip school (I stayed at home, wasn't running the streets) and sometimes talked when I shouldn't. I always did my school work and had good grades. I just got my work done faster than everyone else so i didn't have anything to do for the rest of class and was bored. Finally I got a great teacher that put me in advanced reading classes and then everything was cool for them and me.

I did end up quitting school as a teen but I went back later and got my diploma and went to College and got an Associates Degree. :-)

I got a few time outs and I even got paddled a couple of times. I survived it and it was no big deal.

On another note, one of my nephews had a teacher literally tie him to his chair in elementary school. That crazy old bat got fired too. It's not always the student that is the problem, especially now a days. Look how many teachers are bing arrested for molesting their students. That sure as heck isn't the kids fault.

But as for paddling (1 whack only) and timeouts, most of the time I don't have a problem with it. As long as it fits the situation and the student.

[delaineyrae]

ok so i promise this is my last teacher punishment horror post:
my ex was in kindergarten and was being naughty by talking out of turn, and his teacher got fed up so she sat him facing the class sitting on his hands with his mouth packed with ice cubes. when his mom found out she had the teacher fired and sued.
this isnt a teacher's doing, but it still messed up:
he also had a student try to slit his throat in junior high, the teachers back was turned and she didnt see. the kid was taken out of school for the rest of the year and his mom was told he wouldnt be back, but the first day of the next year the same boy was there and had it out for my ex, he forced him into the bathroom and tried it again. so eventually, his mom sent him to another school.

[sharlock]

I'm reading these posts and I have a lot to say but I won't say it. I had unpleasant experiences at school. Everyone does. That's life. As soon as someone disagrees with your cozy experience of life you will be unhappy.

I am a teacher and you know what? I am pretty god damn well sick to death of stories about teacher ABUSE BLAH BLAH. How about stories of parents who can't teach their children how to behave.

No. Parents aren't to blame. It's all the fault of those dreadful people in the classroom.
Wow really is a sore point for you isn't it. Joseph I know that there have been huge amounts of space devoted to the discussion of parents who abuse their kids on crime library because it has happened and is happening (regardless of the fact that there are MANY good parents areound and the MAJORITY I hope do not abuse their children. Same with teacher abuse, the topic shouldn't be ignored IMO. Teachers are in the unique position of have a lot of influence over their students and, like a Dr taking advantage of a patient, when a teacher betrays the trust of a child it is elevated into the abhorrent arena. I am a student teacher myself so I do know the problems faced by the teachers in the classroom and I sympathise too; but we are contributing to a crime site here and child abuse by a teacher is a particularly obscene crime in my opinion. This doesn't in any way detract from those teachers out there doing a magnificent job dealing with children suffering from emotional problems due to a lack of parental guidance and control.

[JessHoke]

I don't belive that a teacher should ever hit a child. Teachers all have their bad days but should never take it out on any child. Some children will even come to their teachers for advice. A couple of my family members are teachers and love their job. They would never hit or yell at anyone in the classroom. They belive that every child is different so they don't treat one better than the other. Teachers should keep remembering this throughout teaching children. I also belive anyone working with children should have a lot of patience. There are teachers who only care about the money that they make, for those type they should find a new job. I'm not saying every teacher thinks this way their are some that are great!!! Good Luck for all the now teachers. Jessica

[RaVeN71806]

I believe also that a teacher or principal should not touch a child...I've had two bad experience's with a teacher and still to this day I would like to look the women in the face and tell her what she did too me...she is the main reason why I have such low self-esteem..thank god were only there for a year but it was the worst year of my life...

[sharlock]

I agree that a child should be safe in the classroom and not fear physical discipline. There are a lot of children that present in the classroom with social, emotional and physical deficits which means that a teachers job has multiplied beyond all reason as they try to juggle effective discipline and actual learning mangement; most effective behavioural management strategies are time consuming and need to be applied long term to work so the temptation for the shock treatment is strong, but, totally unnacceptable in my books. It has been proven by empirical data that in schools that allow corporal punishment the children do not achieve as highly as those that don't. It isn't the children who should suffer because teachers are grossly underpaid and unnappreciated. These issues should be forefront with governments that claim they beleive that our children are our greatest assets. Unfortunately the truth is that the almighty dollar matters more to these governments and that is reflected in policy and the underfunding of our schools. Teachers attend university for the same amount of time as most of the degrees take, but, their pay is nowhere near that of their fellow graduates because it is the governments responsibilty to pay the majority of them. Classroom numbers are rising along with the percentage of children that have developmental problems but teachers are for the most part on their own when it comes to support. Only public opinion can change this and for the sake of your children everyone should be writing the education minister and their local polly's in an effort to improve this abysmal situation.
Right just hopped off my soapbox lol.