Strapped to a Toilet in a Darkened Room
A former special education teacher, Marsha Kowalski, and her former employer, the Erie-Huron-Ottawa Educational Service Center (now called North Point Educational Service Center), are being sued for more than $2 million in damages by the parents of a then-9-year-old autistic boy who was strapped to a toilet and left in a darkened bathroom. From the Sandusky Register:
After several months of working with the boy, he would occasionally have a bowel movement in his underwear, Kowalski said. When that happened in October 2003, an aide took the boy into the bathroom and became upset when he smeared excrement on the walls. The aide left the room, and Kowalski took over.
Kowalski, in a sworn affidavit, said she cleaned the boy up and put him on the toilet to finish his bowel movement.
He was still “worked up” and knocking around the specialized toilet seat for people with disabilities, court records show.
Using a Velcro strap, Kowalski strapped the boy to the toilet seat and calmed him down with soothing words. The straps were supposed to be used to secure the toilet seat to the stall wall, court records show.
…………
Kowalski said she turned out the bathroom lights to help calm him further. A little light still poured into the bathroom by way of the door.
Kowalski left the boy in the bathroom, but estimates only 2-3 minutes passed before she checked on him again. She checked on him several more times, and the entire incident did not last more than 20 minutes, her affidavit said.
By the end of the school year, the boy learned to listen to a communication device that reminded him every hour to use the restroom, and he became completely independent in the restroom at school, Kowalski said in her affidavit.
Kowalski’s lawyer, Daniel Mason, says that the strap—-a restraint—was for the child’s “‘own safety,’” and that the lights were turned off to calm him.
Not sure if “safety” is the right word here?
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, disabilities blog, disability, doctor, Education, Family, family blog, Health, Parenting, pdd-nos, Safety, toilet, toilet training
14 opinions for Strapped to a Toilet in a Darkened Room
mayfly
Jul 31, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Is Kowalski intimating that strapping the child to the toilet seat was a factor in his learning to use the bathroom independently?
Also if the child was agitated, why would he be left alone. Even assuming that the dark by taking away visual stimuli may have been calming, the risk of self-injury would have been present. Leaving the child alone makes no sense to me. Checking every two or three minutes is not good enough.
Bonnie Sayers
Jul 31, 2008 at 3:40 pm
This is sick. I have to click on link to see which state this is in.
Bonnie Sayers
Jul 31, 2008 at 3:41 pm
The link says it has been moved, so nothing is listed there.
Regan
Jul 31, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Bonnie,
I believe the incident relates to Sandusky, OH.
Another article on the same topic.
Autistic boy’s parents sue agency
Norwalk Reflector
Palmer
Jul 31, 2008 at 4:42 pm
The teacher was clearly wrong to leave a child strapped to a toilet. I wonder what the right way is to toilet train a child who doesn’t “catch on” right away. It must be very difficult, especially if the child doesn’t speak or understand written or spoken language.
I want to be clear that I’m not defending the teacher. Having taught autistic teens I know how difficult it can be.
Palmer
Jul 31, 2008 at 4:42 pm
The teacher was clearly wrong to leave a child strapped to a toilet. I wonder what the right way is to toilet train a child who doesn’t “catch on” right away. It must be very difficult, especially if the child doesn’t speak or understand written or spoken language.
I want to be clear that I’m not defending the teacher. Having taught autistic teens I know how difficult it can be.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 31, 2008 at 5:11 pm
This story got to me on several levels—my son was trained when he was 3. At 7, when he had an overall regression, the toilet training went—-that was pretty disheartening. It’s gotten much better. I think this is an issue that is of concern to many; am trying to figure out a way to talk about it while still maintaining privacy and dignity.
Restraining Charlie in any way has generally been shown to be counter-productive.
Eileen Kane
Jul 31, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Strapping a child to anything is wrong. My son age 7 still is not trained and honstley I hate it we are trying but he just isn’t ready we try the every 2 hours thing and that works some time but for the most part we are still using pull ups and for a seven year old that weights 105 lbs. it’s hard but never would I strap him to a toilet. what was she thinking.
mayfly
Jul 31, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I want to add that I would not grant the family $2 million in damages. I find the figure ridiculous and it will impact the services which district can deliver to other children.
The teacher needs to be investigated and that investigation must follow due process. Perhaps some monetary restitution is due the partents, but $2,000,00.00?
Hala
Jul 31, 2008 at 5:46 pm
This was an interesting read. Going through what happens, I definitely detect a serious misuse of institutional authority. I also had the visceral reaction that one would expect, given that it’s about toilet issues, which is a really fraught topic in and of itself.
OK, that said:
Darkness and restraint can be really valuable tools. I hate to even post this, and I don’t think that teachers have a right to use them, EVER, but limited light and restricted movement can be invaluable in coping with meltdowns. As an adult, finding ways to integrate these techniques into the business of daily living has helped me avoid taking an antipsychotic, something that for various reasons I choose not to do right now. Perusing online communities where autistic adults hang out, one can find lots of questions and anecdotes discussing dark rooms, being physically held immobile, and similar things–overstimulation is a very real problem.
I am as outraged by what happened in this case as anyone, but I do think we should guard against a tendency to confuse the means of the abuse (restraint and darkness), which can be tools a person with full agency may choose to employ, with the abuse itself. The issue here is an egregious display of corrupt power on the part of trusted professionals, who overstepped the bounds of their role in employing techniques which were inappropriate for the situation in which they occurred. Neither darkness or stillness are inherently bad.
mayfly
Jul 31, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Hala, she left the child unsupervised. There are times when restraint must be used to prevent self-injury , but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Marla
Aug 1, 2008 at 11:55 am
That is totally disgusting. There is no excuse for doing that to any child or adult.
lisa
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:18 pm
It’s unsafe. Any restrained individual needs to be watched, if only through a camera, just for safety’s sake.
If you need some sort of ‘restraint’ to calm down, I would suggest one of the many options which you yourself can control, such as wrapping yourself in a blanket. Non-touch-sensitive children may like their parents to hug them tightly… The goal in those cases seems to be the feeling of pressure or “boundary”, not the inability to move.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Aug 4, 2008 at 2:26 am
@lisa,
The goal in those cases seems to be the feeling of pressure or “boundary”, not the inability to move.
I think that’s a distinction that gets very much overlooked; thank you for articulating it.
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