In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the use of restraint and seclusion.
Teri A. Marx and Joshua N. Baker have an article at the Journal of Disability Policy Studies titled "Analysis of Restraint and Seclusion Legislation and the Policy Across States: Adherence to Recommended Principles." The abstract:
This review examines each state’s educational legislation and policies on restraint and seclusion in relationship to their alignment with the U.S. Department of Education’s (U.S. DOE) Restraint and Seclusion: Resource Document. Although the Resource Document is not a federal mandate, it provides the U.S. DOE’s recommendations for policy and legislation to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion in schools and create safe learning environments for all students. State educational legislation and policies on restraint and seclusion were coded and compared with the U.S. DOE Resource Document’s 15 guiding principles. Results were variable and found that some states’ policies adhered more to the guiding principles than their legislation. In addition, some states recognize the document in their legislation and policy. A summary of the descriptive data and current state statuses are reported.The conclusion:
The present investigation examined states’ legislation and policy in relationship to the guiding principles as a way to identify whether states are incorporating best practices, including preventive and proactive approaches, in their restraint/seclusion legislation and policy. Thirty-eight states have existing legislation and 45 have policy on restraint and seclusion, with improvement noted over time. Now that federal guidance is available, states may want to revisit their existing policies and legislation on restraint and seclusion
and consider alignment with the guiding principles. The U.S. DOE’s release of the esource Document provides the first evidence of federal guidance with regard to restraint and seclusion. Although the Resource Document is not a federal mandate, it is the most current federal guidance to date on restraint and/or seclusion, and is presently the best source of guidance for states to consider for reducing the use of restraint/seclusion and for promoting safe learning environments.
