Longview, WA: Trauma caused by putting kids in 7X5 foot "isolation rooms"

Dec 16, 2017, Longview (WA) Daily News: Is Kelso risking lawsuits by using isolation booths? http://tdn.com/news/local/is-kelso-risking-lawsuits-by-using-isolation-booths/article_6a455532-4a9a-5886-8c5e-a28f6096ec4e.html When Slagle arrived at school, she found Mark inside a 7-by-6-foot isolation room, one of three at Wallace. It was the fourth time in seven days that Mark had been physically restrained and isolated by a staff member, according to the school’s official incident reports. But this time was different. Mark told his mother that a teacher had led him into the isolation room by his wrist and shoved him to the ground as she closed the door. “She hurt me!” he told his mom. A doctor at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center later confirmed that Mark had a bruised chest. The teacher denied the charge, claiming that she “repelled” the 87-pound boy using a technique she learned through a de-escalation program called “Right Response.” But Slagle threatened to sue, and she filed a formal complaint with the district and Kelso police. An investigating police officer ultimately closed the case without recommending charges, and a district investigation cleared the accused teacher of wrongdoing. … “The trauma of the use of isolation increases behavioral problems in the classroom,” said state Rep. Gerry Pollet (D-Seattle), who co-sponsored a 2015 bill designed to limit the use of restraint and isolation in schools to emergencies. Kelso administrators say staff members only use restraint and isolation as a last resort. They also maintain that the practices are essential tools for dealing with kids who are prone to violent outbursts and need to be controlled. … “There is value in giving a student who may be very agitated and aggressive with a sometimes violent set of behaviors some time to calm down and de-escalate without posing a threat to themselves, their classmates or adults,” he said. … “I had heard horror stories of incredible trauma,” said Pollet, who sat on the committee at the time and has led most legislative efforts on special ed in recent years. Autism advocates recounted stories of children being placed in chokeholds and moved to isolation rooms, he said. Pollet said he also heard about adults lying on top of children, which medical professionals later found had caused physical harm, post-traumatic stress disorder and exacerbated their autistic behavioral responses