Mommy, why?’ Parents speak out after special-needs son put in ‘time-out room’ at Long Island school

According to state law, time out rooms should “only be used in a situation that poses an immediate concern for the physical safety of the student or others.” Children must be monitored and the doors cannot be locked, according to the law.

“These seclusion rooms should be utilized as a last resort,” said Susan Deedy, a special education attorney. “Most importantly these rooms cannot be used as a punitive measure.”

Deedy represents families of special-needs students. She says too often, schools put kids into time-out rooms without trying other interventions first.

“For educators, it’s an easy way to address behaviors and it becomes sort of an answer,” said Deedy. “The law is very vague when it comes to really putting requirements on the schools districts but there’s a lot of room for error in my opinion.”

Deedy says there are better choices if a student is acting out. “Giving the student choices, visuals, redirection, sometimes there’s you know, ignoring, planned ignoring, or give the student a job.”

Read the rest of this article on NBC New York.

Original article written by Pei-Sze Cheng and Kristina Pavlovic