Special Education Controversy
Some parents in the Francis Howell School District recently filed complaints about the use of padded seclusion rooms in schools. To me, padded seclusion rooms sound outrageous in a regular neighborhood school, although some commenters on the article say that increased mainstreaming brings some children with severe behavior problems into schools that have no choice but to use these rooms.
Anyone have thoughts on this? (Other than speculations that Nadya Suleman’s children will end up in these rooms in a few years?)
I too felt the urge to write about this but was at a loss as to what to say. It definitely feels “icky,” but all good free marketers know what public policy based on “ick” can lead to. The mainstreaming point is a good one–mainstream teachers simply aren’t equipped to deal with some of the problems these kids bring with them.
I used to work for an evidence-based program for children with conduct disorders at the University of Washington, and the evidence points to ignoring acting out, thereby allowing children to learn to self-regulate and not encouraging acting out with attention. One could see this as an extension of that philosophy.
Like I said, I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of locking up kids any more than the next person, but I’m loathe to denounce it entirely without providing a reasonable alternative.
Comment by Chaya — March 2, 2009 @ 10:39 p.m.
Thanks for the comment. What you say makes sense–I’d just like to emphasize that this isn’t a practice arising naturally in the free market, but something the government-run schools are doing. So while free-marketers might be reluctant to make policy decisions one way or the other, in this case it already is a matter of public policy.
Comment by Sarah Brodsky — March 3, 2009 @ 9:48 a.m.