The Special Education Muckraker:
To sum things up in a nutshell, as part of a NYS govt. move to end out of state placements for exceptionally severely disabled kids, the NYS Education Department is moving to allow the use of all aversives, including electric shock as aversives on disabled kids – in all NYS schools and all publicly-operated or publicly-funded programs; in all state-approved private schools; in all residential schools. Disabled kids subject to family/juvenile court placements will come under this proposal, too. At this time, there is no legal or regulatory authorization for the use of painful aversives in any NYS school, public or private, state-approved or not. The way the proposal is written, it will – literally – allow any little local district to set up its own committee of “experts” – “experts” being completely undefined – and approve the district using any aversive it wants. It will protect districts, schools, programs, IEA’s, from being sued for unconstitutional cruel and inhumane treatment of disabled kids, which appears to be what this proposal is designed to allow. It is simply cruel and inhumane, period. The proposal to allow this abuse is breathtaking in its scope and virtually unlimited in what it will permit.