Autism Vox

September 11th, 2008

Saying No to Timeout Rooms

Two families are suing the Waukee (Iowa) school district for the way that timeout rooms were used to “discipline” their children. Today’s Des Moines Register notes that one child was locked in timeout 64 times during his first-grade year at Waukee Elementary School in 2006; his grandparents were informed about only 17 of those instances. […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 21 comments

July 14th, 2008

Use of Restraints Increasing in Public Schools?

“What Tim eventually said….was that he didn’t want to go to school because he thought the school was trying to kill him.”
John Miller, a podiatrist in Allegany, N.Y, says this about his 12-year-old son, who has Asperger Syndrome, and who was, according to a July 15th New York Times article, held down prone on the […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 28 comments

May 25th, 2008

Last Week’s Top Posts

Up until last week, posts about “mercury” and “Jenny McCarthy” had the most comments—-after last week, the topic of religion and the restraining order filed against the parents of Adam Race generated a torrent of discussion that’s still going on).

Priest Files Restraining Order Against Parents of Autistic 13-year-old
Some 250-plus comments about Adam Race and […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 0 comments

May 20th, 2008

Timeout Rooms and Physical Restraints

Put in a timeout room more than 90 times?
Coming home from school with cuts, bumps, and bruises?
Being held on the floor on his stomach by two adults?
All of these happened to 9-year-old Matthew Montgomery in Oldham County, Kentucky, WAVE 3 news reports. Some of them have happened to my son Charlie and maybe not everyone […]

By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 20 comments