Parents outraged at boy's 'time out'

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Deaf258

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Thu, April 1, 2004
Parents outraged at boy's 'time out'
Mom and dad say teen placed in box during class
By BILL KAUFMANN, CALGARY SUN

The parents of a special needs teen they say was confined in a cardboard box at his Calgary junior school have pulled their son from class. Betty Shawchuk, the mother of Adam, 16, who has Down's syndrome, said she arrived at St. Helena junior high school, 320 64 Ave. N.W., to see a teacher's aide adjusting a cardboard box around a desk.

She then saw the top of the enclosure pop open and the head of her deaf son emerge.

"I said to the principal this would be like putting duct tape over your eyes and earplugs in your ears and then being barred under your desk," said Adam's father, Terry.

The Shawchuks said they were told by the substitute teacher there that Adam had been placed in the box because he'd been unco-operative in his special education class.

To communicate, the teen relies on sign language.

The parents are demanding an apology, along with a promise from the board the box won't be used again.

They've been told by the board, they said, that an apology would be issued, but not to their faces -- an offer that's been rejected.

The Shawchuks say they'll keep their son from attending the school.

A spokeswoman for the Calgary Catholic School District said privacy laws prevent her from discussing the Shawchuks' case.

But she said the use of the enclosure -- which she described as typically three-sided and about 1 1/2 metres tall -- was demeaning or insensitive.

"It's a strategy we would use with our special needs students as a time-out, where the student would go to calm themselves," said Judy MacKay, superintendent of instruction.

She said no other parents have complained about the devices, adding "it's certainly a strategy used in many other venues.

"It's an opportunity (for students) to have a moment to get themselves under control."

It also prevents students from being distracted by other classroom activities, she added.

MacKay wouldn't discuss an apology or say what arrangements, if any, would be offered the Shawchuks.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/04/01/403919.html
 
In a cardboard box????? Wtf???? I don't think it's right plus it seems so cruel! A time out should be either go to the prinical's office or sit at somewhere else.. that would be better than a cardboard box. Geez, I hope they get justice for this! Plus, I hope the boy would be placed in a better school if possible.
 
Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds, but it is kind of a stupid way to apply it. I think I see what they were trying to do. It’s a refinement of the traditional time out technique of simply having the student sit in the corner. By placing a large three-sided enclosure around the student, they isolate him from the rest of the class both behaviorally and visually. I think it’s actually a sound idea, because it spares the student the embarrassment of having to sit in the corner where everybody can see him. But the box idea is stupid, because it looks like they’re putting him a box—as if he were an object. It also looks as if it simulates a hot box—a common form of prisoner punishment that is no longer used in the United States. The barrier itself is not really a bad idea, but what they should of done is set up a time out cubicle in one corner of the room, which is open on top and made out of standard cloth covered office cubicle panels, with posters and other visually stimulating decorations on the inside.
 
Levonian said:
Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds, but it is kind of a stupid way to apply it. I think I see what they were trying to do. It’s a refinement of the traditional time out technique of simply having the student sit in the corner. By placing a large three-sided enclosure around the student, they isolate him from the rest of the class both behaviorally and visually. I think it’s actually a sound idea, because it spares the student the embarrassment of having to sit in the corner where everybody can see him. But the box idea is stupid, because it looks like they’re putting him a box—as if he were an object. It also looks as if it simulates a hot box—a common form of prisoner punishment that is no longer used in the United States. The barrier itself is not really a bad idea, but what they should of done is set up a time out cubicle in one corner of the room, which is open on top and made out of standard cloth covered office cubicle panels, with posters and other visually stimulating decorations on the inside.
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Yeah, you're right. It's not exactly good or bad. I understand what they are trying to do. However, there is no perfect solution. In this case, I think it was pretty cruel... and embarassing.
 
Note that it happened in Canada.. I wondered what would really happen if it occurred on USA soil..
 
A similar thing happened to a young boy who had Downs Syndrome -- up in Queensland or New South Wales, Australia -- whenever the boy misbehaved, he'd be put outside in a large 8 x 8 cage which was covered with tarp, so no one'd see who was in it and see how the boy was being treated and punished, etc.

That's a horrid way to discipline someone with intellectual disabilities. That's instilling fear in the child and no way the child'd understand why he/she was being punished for and so forth. Unless they did the discipline in a better way that'd assist the child understand what wrongdoing they did and not do it again in the future.

I've worked with intellectually disabled people for 10+ years and have heard horror stories of how they have been punished and so forth. Personally, I've disciplined quite a number of clients, but in a good way and tried to simplify explanations for them in what they did was wrong and show them what was the right way and so on.

:madfawk: at those stupid people who didn't do it in the most humane and appropriate way of disciplining intellectually disabled people.
 
When I was in 4th grade in elementary school, my teacher used masking tape to keep me still. She would tape my feet to the floor and my hands to the desk.
 
That's a Cruel thing to do by discipline a child... :nono: No Excuess for whatever reason whatsoever!...
 
When I was in day care my first day I refused to eat my lunch so the teacher locked me in a dark closet untill my mom came she (mom) gave teacher dirty look and we never went back.
 
VamPyroX said:
When I was in 4th grade in elementary school, my teacher used masking tape to keep me still. She would tape my feet to the floor and my hands to the desk.
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Soonersfan79 said:
When I was in day care my first day I refused to eat my lunch so the teacher locked me in a dark closet untill my mom came she (mom) gave teacher dirty look and we never went back.
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Anybody who pulled anything like that with my child would be in severe legal trouble—both criminal and civil. When I got done with them, they’d wish they had never been born.
 
VamPyroX said:
When I was in 4th grade in elementary school, my teacher used masking tape to keep me still. She would tape my feet to the floor and my hands to the desk.
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That's cruelty, Vampy! I sure hope your family sorted that and that you never attended the class with that teacher!! Crikey, what's the matter with those idiots?!
 
WaterRats13 said:
That's cruelty, Vampy! I sure hope your family sorted that and that you never attended the class with that teacher!! Crikey, what's the matter with those idiots?!
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I still think that we still can't trust teachers for any methods of displince! Too much abuse and cruelty! :roll:
 
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