Seclusion and Restraint Protests needed!
We need to sent up protests about seclusion and restraint to make sure it stays in the eyes of the media- we NEED to get this bill passed!
ASAN has some calls for protest up, I will post some of that shortly.
Right now we are looking at a GA protest in Atlanta- I will keep you updated!
Let me know if you think you can get a protest going in your area or campus!
My son was tramatized in his old school when he was in first grade. One one of the several times he was suspended,he would crawl up into his top bunk and kept saying" don't hurt me" over and over. I finally coaxed him down and I had him draw what was making him scared. The drawing made me so sad. It was a drawing of him, being tied down. At the time he drew himself as a pokemon character, so this drawing had its ears tied down, etc. The year before this, I foound out that the PE teacher was locking him in the unitlity closet/room(where PE equipment was stored. the PE teachers office was in there too. The teacher admitted it only once, but when i asked Jaden, he told me it was alot more than that. Also, at his old school, he was dragged down the hall, being taken from his homeroom to the resource room. He wouldn't walk, so they dragged him across the whole school. The last straw was when I recieved a call from the principal telling me to come and get him becasue he locked himself in the girls bathroom. I got there and the principal had left him alone in there, and he took the trash container for the used femine products and threw it all over, and was picking up the contents and throwing it all over. I had to get him tested for differnt kids of blood born illnesses, as this bathroom was a public use/visitors bathroom and no one would know what anyone could have. I was told to not accuse them of anything as that would put a wall up between us and the school and we would get nothing done. Well... Not long after the final incident, I had CPS knocking on my door. The school said his behaviors could onlly be becasue of abusive treatment and the school had the nerve to accuse us of this. GRRRRR!!!! THEY WERE THE ONES ABUSING MY SON, yet I can not turn them in to CPS. I had my son transfered to a level 3 school, to which we are now trying to get him enrolled in his new home school( we moved so now our home school is a differnt one, even though we are supposed to be an educational community( supposed to be able to choose any school within several districts, that is true only if you don't have an IEP.) I don't see justice anywhere. My son has not learned ANYTHING NEW since he was put back on an IEP in first grade. We are just now back to where he was , academically , when he was put on the IEP 2 years ago. He has been, refused the extended year education that would have been appropriate to ensure that he doesnt regress so far that he can't regain in within thir alloted time. ( I believe it is something like 6 weeks or 10 weeks) Well.... Its been two years. Where is the justice. I have no money,therefore, I have no voice. I also have Aspergers, therefore its a double smack in the face.
Hi Genisa,
Our story can be read here:
But it's similar. This went on for one and a half years before we found out. He's getting therapy now for PTSD. It's taken us 3 years to finally get him the correct diagnosis for the trauma which then opened doors to therapy for him.
It's a slow process, but he is getting a whole lot better. Prior to the therapy, he had 4 inpatient stays all of which did nothing. He was suicidal at age 5 and homicidal pretty much from age 5-9.
They put him on various antipsychotic drugs (Risperdal, Abilify) and Stimulants all of which made him worse. He is only taking an anti anxiety drug now which does seem to help (zoloft). The therapy has been key.
His serious aggressive outbursts and suicidal ideations have all but ceased to exist. We still have a LONG way to go on helping him cope with self esteem issues and liking school again (he's homeschooled via a cyber charter school). But we're getting there little by little.
There is hope!
Here's a link to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network:
http://nctsn.org/nccts/nav.do?pid=ctr_gethelp
Amy
I also have a diagnosis of PTSD from my life experiences. My worst experiences were when I was held agains my will and my life threatened. this was usually by older kids that I know will rot in hell when they die. Also for the continous tormenting I endured from my brother , including times like when I was 8 and he had me climb into a dumpster to get something for him.(If I didn't, the consequesnce would be two be physically beaten.) He then proceded to set it on fire, and shut the lid. I couldn't get out becasue I couldn't lift the lid. the lid shut actually aided in me surviving this as it didn't allow oxygen to fuel the flame. My brothers friend opend the top lid for me and ran off with my brother. I was able to climb out before it became engulfed in flames. THAT was just one of many incidents. then there was the time he convinced me( again, with consequesnces if i didn't) to climb on top of a garage roof and "swing" from a tree branch on to the next garage( about 5 feet apart). Well, I fell between them into a pile of cinderblocks and logs. ouch. Then there was the time he conspired with a friend and his friends 16 year old sister( I was 10 at the time) to have me go to his friends" birthday party". when I got there, I realized that thee was no party and it all was a mean joke on me. They tried to push me into to basement to lock me in. This was one of the good times that my fight or flight and automatic responce of biting came handy. Obviously, theier parents were out of town. They threatened me with a butcher knife with kethup on it, saying it was blood, and they would kill me if I didn't go to the basement. the unplugged the phone so I couldn't call out when I grabbed it. I threatend to throw it through the front window and to start smashing everything if they didn't unlock the door and let me out. I got out, got on my bike and went home. I told my mom about what happend and she did nothing. Police should have been called and this 16 year old girl and her 11 year old brother should have been arrested and charged. As I said before, there is no justice. These are the type of kids that grow up to become serial murderers. They have no conciensious. There are many more horror incidents that I survived at the hands of my brother, and then there are the experiences I had at the hands of my mom, who was emotionally and physically abusive( I still have scars from her finger nails on me). God definately has a purpose for me here. I will not let ANYONE tease or torment my sons in any way.
I am so sorry you had to endure this kind of madness! Sad that things like this go on. I suppose the parents back then just were clueless. Doesn't sound like you had much support.
I'm sure you were given your son for a reason!! To ensure kiddo's don't have to endure this abuse.
Hugs,
Amy




Please keep me posted. Sebastian has PTSD from this and I will be ready to prostest as soon as we hit Western PA!
Amy Caraballo Pittsburgh Special Education Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-31431-Pittsburgh-Special-Education-Examiner