Abusive Therapy Against Autistic Children in New Jersey

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The Asperger's Express opposes the use of restraints (either physical or mechanical) and aversive stimuli as punishments or for the purpose of obtaining compliance from individuals with special needs. It is currently acceptable in New Jersey to subject developmentally disabled individuals to procedures that cannot legally be used on prisoners, nursing home residents, psychiatric patients, and even on animals. Restraints and aversives are not treatment and should never be made a part of any individual's "behavior intervention plan." We ask parents, professionals, and organizations to join us in voicing your support for legislative efforts to ban their use in NJ schools and other facilities receiving public funds....


Matthew Goodman was born on March 4, 1987. As a toddler he was diagnosed with autism. At age nine Matthew went to live at the Haddonfield, New Jersey campus of Bancroft NeuroHealth, where his family believed he would receive a good education and appropriate therapy. In September of 2000 Bancroft placed Matthew in arm restraints, later adding a helmet similar to a hockey mask. Against the protests of his parents, Matthew was made to wear these restraints during the day and often during the night. He no longer was taken to school, saw no friends, enjoyed no recreation, and was offered no activities or programming. In addition to the mechanical restraints Matthew was drugged with medication. He spent his days lying on the floor of Bancroft's "neurohealth unit," barely conscious. On February 6 of this year, Matthew died of pneumonia and blood poisoning after 16 months of restraint.....

http://www.aspergersexpress.com/restrai ... rsives.htm

Why would any organization advocate such treatments to anyone?
Why should autistic individuals have to go through such harmful treatments even when
the parents forbid it? Especially if it could result in what happened to this Matthew person.

I live in south-east Pennsylvania, very close to New Jersey. I feel that I've always had
good treatment programs, which is why I can't believe something like this would be going
on so close to home. They won't even let the parents have any say in it, and they're the
ones who should have the most say in how their child should be treated. I hope the case with
Matthew Goodman is brought up the next time New Jersey tries to pass a bill against the use
of restraints in the treatment of autistic individuals.

It's common enough to see stuff like this, and not just for autistic kids. Just research the "troubled teen" industry.

this is old news, almost 6 years ago, from what ive seen this hasnt happened in a longgg time.

_________________
Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

The big test in my mind is is is legal to use this in a prison, if it is not legal in a prison then why in a school ?

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Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

How did they do that against the protests of his parents? Don't they get the final say in it? Couldn't they just take him out of there? As a parent, I hate to think that anyone could have authority over my children that overrides my own unless one of them had committed a serious crime.

You think that is bad? Read about Massachusetts own Judge Rotenberg Center!

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt51454.html

The problem seems to be one of untrained rent-a-workers who are thrown into a situation where they have to care for kids with extreme problems, and the boss just says "do what you have to to control them". It's perfect conditions for a Stanford Prison Experiment scenario, where the people in charge sort of slouch towards using some really awful stuff on these kids, and it evolves over time, and nobody sees the big picture.

Put him in arm restraints to stop him from picking open wounds. Well, now he's picking at his fingers, so put socks over his hands. Now he's using his shoulders to rub his face, so make him wear a hockey mask. He doesn't like any of this, so sedate him. The end result is a dead kid who looks like he just came from Gitmo when they finally take him to the hospital. Nobody realizes just what they were doing because of the bureaucratic nature of these institutions.

Most of these workers seem to have very little training in working with autistic kids or in child psychology in general, they have associate's degrees in registered nursing or something similar and are just desperate for a job. I would bet that some of them are burned out ER nurses who work because they have bills to pay, and they don't want ER work, so they take out frustrations on the kids. It seems that these institutions have a very high rate of abuse, suggesting that the workers see the kids more as punching bags for home frustrations who conveniently won't tattle than as patients to be cared for.

Matt Israel's house of horrors in Massachusetts, OTOH, seems to be a case of a guy with weird ideas who attracts sociopaths who love to see kids suffer and love the power of the GED. The workers in group homes and in this hospital in NJ seem to just be frustrated rent-a-workers who have no training or guidance.