Should we eliminate time-out rooms?

YES
Arlene B. Mayerson:
Educate children, don't imprison them

The Minneapolis school district places students with emotional disabilities in a 5 ft.-by-6 ft. "time-out" room with cement block walls when their classroom behavior is deemed "disruptive." In the Pittsburg, Calif., school district, a darkened room used for the same purpose is 6 ft.-by-6 ft. and constructed of plywood. Both structures have prompted allegations that the students' civil rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are being violated by their use.

Exclusionary time-out such as that used in Minneapolis and Pittsburg is a negative form of punishment that denies a student all sources of reinforcement as well as participation in classroom activities. The student is not merely removed from the classroom, but also isolated. In stark contrast, well-documented research on behavioral interventions and classroom management uniformly argues that positive reinforcement is the best strategy for teaching and supporting appropriate student conduct. So why would a technique designed specifically to withdraw all opportunity for positive reinforcement be part of a school's repertoire for managing problem behaviors?

Research also has shown that no behavior modification strategy works unless the underlying cause of the behavior is understood. This concept also is recognized in law. IDEA mandates that a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) be developed for each student whose behavior presents difficulties for classroom management. These documents then guide the strategies used for an individual student.

To understand the current controversy about time-out rooms, we need to see the bigger picture. Educators who promote the use of time-out rooms argue that they provide the misbehaving student with a space in which to calm down. If a student voluntarily moved to a quiet space in which to get hold of a situation or emotion, such an explanation might make sense. But time-out rooms are aversive; the student does not enter them by choice and may be forced to stay for extended periods--they are not just "quiet rooms."

What educational benefit is derived while a student is in a time-out room? Rather than supporting students whose disabilities create behaviors that need to be constructively addressed, time-out rooms punish them for those disabilities.

Disabled children have been physically hurt and emotionally abused in the name of "education."  These practices turn the clock backward and besmirch the name of all the dedicated, talented education professionals who respect their disabled students and are working to prepare them for the future by using proven techniques that support behavior management.

Time-out rooms use a punitive, aversive, stigmatizing technique unsupported by evidence-based research. While best practices dictate positive behavioral supports, time-out rooms are staunchly negative. These rooms are harmful and should be illegal. We need to educate our children, not imprison them.

Arlene B. Mayerson has been directing attorney of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) since 1981. She has been an adviser on major disability rights legislation to both Congress and the disability community.

NO
Kathy Riley:
Used wisely, they can help students

When used appropriately in extreme situations, locked time-out rooms can be an effective measure for students who are physically and emotionally out of control. These rooms provide a controlled, confined environment where a student can expend a tremendous amount of energy with as minimal a risk to personal safety as an education setting can provide. They offer a setting free of cues that might escalate the behavior and place a student beyond the inquiring eyes of peers who may use the incident later to provoke or embarrass the child.

Opponents of locked time-out rooms may argue that it is more effective to isolate the acting-out student within the classroom, remove the rest of the students from the classroom or physically restrain the acting-out student. These suggestions are not always practical or realistic. When it comes to in-class isolation, for example, many times it becomes a game of trying to dart past staff who are attempting to isolate a student within the classroom. It is of no benefit to the student emotionally out of control nor does it help the other students in the classroom to witness such outbursts.

In these situations, a locked time-out room can be a constructive alternative--if a number of important safeguards are followed. Locked time-out must never be used as a punitive measure and should only be used in extreme cases where out-of-control students pose a risk to themselves or others. The time-out room must be well ventilated, lighted and have an observation port. Staff must be trained and rehearse techniques to physically move a student to these rooms and in strategies to make sure the behavior does not escalate. Upon exiting the time-out room, the student should be given the necessary assistance to re-engage in academic activities. Later, the student must be helped to understand what triggered the event and to develop a plan to fend off future incidents.

Educators also must maintain detailed documentation of the use of the time-out room and review the time-out log regularly. If a pattern develops, staff must come up with intervention strategies to break the cycle of using locked time-out. It is also critical to include the use of physical restraint and the parameters and procedures for the use of a locked time-out room on the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) of special education students whose behavior warrants their use. Time-out rooms must be one of several alternatives available. If students in a locked time-out become self-abusive, or their response changes from anger to terror, they must be removed from the room immediately, and another alternative must be employed.

In a split second, a special education classroom for emotionally disturbed children can turn from a structured, calm environment--where teaching and learning are taking place--to utter chaos. When all of the best preventive and intervention strategies fail, locked time-out can help students regain self-control and successfully re-enter the classroom.

Kathy Riley is one of three behavior specialists for the Toledo (Ohio) Public Schools. She has taught both regular education and children identified as emotionally disturbed.
 

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