ICARS & PABBS have a new survey for parents of special needs children in England who may have experienced seclusion or restraint in school.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UKCaseStudy
If you at all suspect your child is being restrained and/or secluded in school, or it has happened in the past, please fill out this survey and help get it stopped. This is more common than you might imagine. Too many children are being left with physical and mental health problems, my son included.
Restraint can be as little as holding a child’s hand or arm and moving them around school without their permission, or simply holding a child’s hand down to prevent it from moving – this is still restraint. Invariably this often escalates into much more physical restraints with the risk of severe injury to the child.
Equally, if your child goes to a ‘blue room’ to ‘chill’, ask how long your child spends in there, is it daily? is there anyone in there with them? Ask to view it, how big is it, does it have a lock on the outside, ask yourself if you would be happy to stay in there for x amount of time? More importantly ask your child if they like being in there? Even if the door isn’t shut or locked if the staff make your child stay there for a fixed period of time without allowing them to leave – this is seclusion.
The survey will take minutes of your life, but you will have taken the first steps in helping to stop this horrific practice on our vulnerable, learning disabled children. Thankyou.
