Ethical and Professional Guidelines for Use of Crisis Procedures

Promoting Inclusion Through Evidence-Based Alternatives to Restraint and Seclusion

“…As a nation and as a field, we are using restraint and seclusion excessively (Ryan, Robbins, Peterson, & Rozalski, 2009;Westling et al, 2010) and often in nonemergency situations (Scheuermann, Peterson, Ryan, & Billingsley, 2016;Simonsen, Sugai, Freeman, Kern, & Hampton, 2014). This represents a failure to our students, a failure to our families, and a failure to the dedicated faculty and staff in our schools.…”

Counselors and Special Educators in Rural Schools Working Together to Create a Positive School Community

“…These students require specialized interventions which should be administered only by highly trained persons. (Simonsen, Sugai, Freeman, Kern, & Hampton, 2014). This is an area where consultation and collaboration with special educators and counselors can help others on staff develop a more holistic understanding of the needs and nature of these students.…”

“…The counselor, special educator, and administrators, may need to in some situations, develop emergency procedures to ensure safety and rapid deescalation of severe episodes, this is required when the target behavior is dangerous to the student or others (Simonsen, Sugai, Freeman, Kern, & Hampton, 2014) An area where the counselor skills come to the forefront is in assisting the special educator in developing a studentcentered plan that involves the family and other natural supports, focusing on the student's and family strengths and needs, and developing an action plan to support improved outcomes. This plan typically includes formal services, research-based interventions, including schoolbased and community services and more informal supports provided by friends, family, and other people drawn from the family's social networks.…”

CCBD’s Position Summary on the Use of Physical Restraint Procedures in Educational Settings

“…Most educational facilities purport to employ physical restraint as an emergency procedure to prevent injury to the student or others when a student is in crisis. There is evidence, however, that it is frequently used for various other purposes including to address disruptive (not dangerous) behavior and to increase student compliance to adult commands (Ryan & Peterson, 2004; Simonsen et al., 2014). Other than anecdotal reports, very little is known about the circumstances under which physical restraints are used to control student behavior in school settings.…”

“…Physical restraint is an intervention which can lead to death or injury and which has no educational value. Furthermore, there is no research whatsoever indicating that restraint functions as a therapeutic procedure (Day, 2002; Simonsen et al., 2014; Trader et al., 2017).…”