School has always been a challenge for my son who struggles with autism and severe anxiety, and restraint and seclusion were a part of his daily life for nearly an entire school year.

1 1/2 years ago, when he was 10, he became escalated at school - he was attending a therapeutic day school for children with significant behavior challenges. I received a phone call in the afternoon stating that earlier in the day he had been restrained by staff, they were going to place him in a floor hold and he slipped. My son broke the fall with his chin on a concrete floor. When he came home from school the swelling and bruising on his chin was unbearable, he could barely talk and he could not open his mouth to eat. We immediately took him to the ER where he had x-rays to determine if his chin was broken - thankfully it was not.

As a parent I could not sit back while this type of behavior happened...if it was happening to him, it was surely happening to others. Child Protective Services were notified and a full police investigation took place...my complaint was deemed unfounded.

I did not return him to school after that incident. Many meetings occurred after the fact, working together to determine where the best fit would be for him because it was obvious that the school was out of ideas. I researched schools on my own and located one that I felt would be ideal for him and we began the process of transferring. When we had a transition meeting between the two schools, they stated that he could not be successful in an environment that did not utilize restraint and that, in their professional opinion, he should be sent away to a locked, long-term facility.

It has been 1 1/2 years since the incident, since changing his academic program. In his previous setting he was being restrained multiple times a day, in his current placement he has been restrained one time. He has blossomed academically, improving 4 grade levels in reading in his first year. Most importantly, he is happy - he is no longer fearful of school. Restraint and seclusion are not the answer.