In upstate New York a child with autism died while being restrained during transport. The staff in charge of the child drove around and did not seek medical help for an extended period. As a result of these actions and omissions, manslaughter charges have been filed.
The tragedy of this case once again highlights several pervasive issues:
- staff needs restraint training, and needs to have it reinforced over and over again;
- the police and state’s attorneys need to take seriously charges of physical abuse short of death, and that do not involve sexual misconduct, as there were previous allegations of physical abuse;
- norms of behavioral intervention and planning need to be codified in IDEA and regulations;
- we need to take every opportunity to reinforce the humanity and sanctity of people with disabilities, so that we will no longer see this level of indifference;
- use of aversives and other forms of painful behavioral intervention need to be made illegal at the Federal level;
- systematic positive behavioral intervention needs to be taught and reinforced at all levels of administrative, teacher, and staff training.
Without such positive steps and more, such tragedies are not a question of whether but of when.