06-20-2006, 08:26 PM
Some Olympia School District parents call it a "timeout box" that they describe as detrimental to their autistic children.
District administrators call it a "safe space" that's sometimes needed to calm down autistic students who could pose a danger to themselves or others.
Wording aside, the timeout area has become, for some parents with autistic children, a symbol of what they see as the need for change within the Olympia School District's autism program.
"If my daughter were ever put in this, I can't even imagine how she'd react," said Andryea Grazier, the parent of an autistic student at Olympia High School.
Parents testified about their concerns in the autism program at an Olympia School Board meeting earlier this month.
State law allows the use of such padded timeout areas in districts across Washington in cases when parents and special education teachers agree it's appropriate. For an autistic child to be placed in a timeout space, its use must be written into the child's Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) - the document used to craft the education program for students in special education. And district officials say it's not used as a disciplinary tool.
"That's clearly not appropriate," said Hans Landig, the district's executive director of student support.
There are about 36 students in the Olympia School District classified as autistic. But many high-functioning autistic children likely aren't included in that number because they are categorized differently, special-education officials have said.
Because children with autism - and related disorders - have a spectrum of abilities and needs, the use of the timeout space varies from student to student, Landig said.
Some might spend time in the space as often as once or twice a week with parent approval, he said. Others might never need to use it.
The original research used to develop the TEACCH methodology used in the Olympia School District with some autistic students calls for timeout areas to act as spaces where children can go voluntarily to calm down, Landig said. TEACCH stands for Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children.
In cases where a student is involuntarily placed in the timeout area, educators strictly follow state law, district officials said.
"Kids in the safe spaces are always in the line of sight and under the supervision of a staff member," said Peter Rex, a district spokesman. "These safe spaces are only used in situations where students could hurt themselves or other students and staff."
But some parents disagree that educators have strictly followed required protocols. The parents say that some children have been injured while being placed in the space or that parents hadn't approved the practice before it was used with their child. And they want the timeout space eliminated from the options for autistic children.
"We are not going to stand for this," said Lisa Ritter, the parent of an autistic child at McKenny Elementary School. "It's just unthinkable for me. It's just wrong. It's not appropriate treatment of autistic children."
Still, district officials say they'd rate the Olympia autism program among the top five statewide in terms of the services offered to autistic students. Olympia has preschool and summer programs for younger children - services not found everywhere - and is planning to offer a new middle school program for high-functioning students in the fall.
"That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement," Landig said.
To that end, the district plans to send a handful of teachers this summer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which developed the TEACCH method. The district also has created a new autism program specialist position to help coordinate services across Olympia's 18 schools.
And in the fall, the district plans to bring in an expert, possibly from the University of Washington's Autism Center, to evaluate the Olympia program and make recommendations for changes.
Changes - such as eliminating the timeout space, in particular - are long overdue, says parent Kelley McGearey. She says her autistic son, Corbin, who is now a high school student, was placed in the timeout space when he was a sixth-grader.
The experience left bruises, she said, and had a long-lasting impression on Corbin, making him fearful of attending school. Kelley McGearey opted to start homeschooling her son earlier this school year after what she describes as a lengthy battle with district officials.
"Leaving my child in the public school would be even worse," she said. "The box, that's setting up a lifetime of failure for these kids."
Heather Woodward covers education for The Olympian.