Timeout rooms under scrutiny

Critics say such uses of timeout rooms can be counterproductive and even harmful to children. Students removed from the classroom often wind up falling further behind in their schoolwork, and sending a child to a timeout room can actually reinforce bad behavior, some experts say. If students are trying to escape from classwork, then being removed gives them what they want.

"This is not usually the kind of thing that brings about lasting positive change in children," says Larisa Cummings, a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, Calif., who has challenged the use of timeout rooms in a California school district.

In some instances, being in a timeout room is harrowing. Christopher's mother, Sharon Nygren, says her son was finally removed from the room when he tied a sleeve of his shirt around the doorknob and the other around his throat.

"The reaction was just to shove him away somewhere," says Ms. Nygren. "We wouldn't allow an animal to be treated like that."

So far, a federal trial court has upheld the school's use of timeout rooms, but the Nygrens are appealing the case.

Such extreme examples of alleged misuse are rare, says attorney Susan Gorn, who tracks education law for LRP Publications in Horsham, Pa. But she says the use of timeout rooms for special-education students may be increasing as more such students are mainstreamed. Federal and state laws make it difficult to take extreme disciplinary measures such as expulsion against special-education students.

Minnesota is one of eight states that have regulations on the use of timeout rooms for special-education students in public schools, according to the Education Commission of the States in Denver, Colo.

At most, timeout should last no longer than 15 minutes, experts say. One rule of thumb is one minute for each year of a student's age. Timeout shouldn't become a power struggle or escalate into a conflict, they say. And it should be combined with a behavioral-management plan that includes positive reinforcement. Although special-education teachers do receive some training along these lines, experts say the teachers could use more of this support.

"It's very important to understand the function of the student's behavior before you leap to a procedure that might indirectly reinforce the behavior you don't want," Professor Nelson says.

Currently in Minnesota, there is no suggested time limit, and the rooms can be locked if equipped with automatic releases for fire alarms. The proposed time limit and elimination of the locks will be the subject of a series of public hearings this month.

Tom Lombard, assistant commissioner for Minnesota's office of special education, says special-education teachers should view timeout rooms as an "exceptional intervention" rather than a common resort when a child misbehaves.

The Nygrens' attorney, Amy Goetz of the Center for Education Law in St. Paul, says those limits would be an improvement over the current standard, but she is concerned that educators may resort to physical restraints or calling police rather than more positive behavioral support.

Christopher has since transferred to a Minneapolis charter school designed for students who once needed hospitalization and have gradually returned to school. He attends two days a week and works from home the other three. An aide hired by his family accompanies him to help him stay calm. "He's gradually learned to trust educators, and he's started to work again," his mother says.

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