07-27-2007, 03:32 PM
The Truth About the Judge Rotenberg Center
hat you are about to read will shock you. Why? Because you wouldn't expect the type of things that you'll read about to be happening right now in the year 2007: The torturing of children.
The findings were found by a professional team investigating practices at the Judge Rotenberg Center after dozens of reports for misconduct and abuse. The report was produced on June 6'th 2006. Sources will be cited at the end of this report.
As an introduction to what this facility is, here's some quick back story. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC, formerly known as the Behavior Research Institute) is a private education center for mentally handicapped children, located in Canton, Massachusetts. JRC is currently approved by the New York State Education Department as a residential school serving students with autism, mental retardation, emotional disturbance and multiple disabilities. It caters for students who exhibit serious behavioral disorders that interfere with learning, and provides an intensive 24/7 behavioral treatment program.
This sounds fine right? A place that assists children who need it. Children who have a hard time taking care of themselves, and parents who have a hard time paying to take care of them. It would help out all involved. But what happens inside that building, which is true fact, is eye opening.
From the professional report: JRC’s marketing representatives visit the family in their homes and as indicated in representatives’ case notes, provide the family with information and gifts for the family and student (e.g., a gift bag for the family, basketball for the student).
JRC employs a general use of Level III aversive behavioral interventions to students for behaviors that are not aggressive, health dangerous or destructive, such as nagging, swearing and failing to maintain a neat appearance.
Level III aversives constitute a broad spectrum of punishment techniques that include movement limitation (i.e. mechanical and physical restraint), contingent food, helmet, and electric skin shock. The use of Behavior Rehearsal Lesson (BRL)3 and combined use of aversive techniques are also Level III interventions.
JRC’s GED was modified from other similar devices on the market by doubling the intensity (amperage and voltage) and increasing the duration by 10 times (from .2 to 2 seconds) of the shock administered and by expanding the positions on the body where the electrodes could be placed. JRC also uses a device called the GED-4, which applies an even greater intensity shock to the student when the student fails to respond to the lower level shock.
At the time of team’s April visit there were 148 NYS students enrolled at JRC. At that time, 77 were approved to receive Level III behavioral interventions from staff at JRC. Of these 77 students, 53 were receiving skin shock through the GED that is adjustable with an average intensity of 15.25 mill amperes RMS, a duration of .2 seconds to 2 seconds, an average peak of 30.5 milliamperes, and 24 students are receiving GED (referred to as a GED-4) skin shock which has a maximum current of 45.0 milliamperes RMS, an average peak of 91 milliamperes, and a maximum duration of 2 seconds. The higher-level shock is used when it is determined that the student is not responding to the lower level shock.
The automatic negative reinforcement shocks terminate as soon as the behavior stops occurring. This device is not operated by JRC staff. For example, some students are made to sit on a GED cushion seat that will automatically administer a skin shock for the targeted behavior of “standing up”, while others wear waist holsters that will administer a skin shock if the student pulls his/her hands out of the holster. NYSED could not find evidence, nor did JRC provide the evidence as requested, that this automated electric shock device has been cleared for marketing by FDA or approved by FDA. FDA regulations prohibit the use of an aversive conditioning device that has not been approved or cleared by FDA.
The electric shock bracelet that is used on the children at JRC.
Movement limitation is another commonly used Level III intervention that may be applied manually or mechanically. When applied manually, staff members physically hold the student. With mechanical movement limitation the student is strapped into/onto some form of physical apparatus. For example, a four-point platform board designed specifically for this purpose; or a helmet with thick padding and narrow facial grid that reduces sensory stimuli to the ears and eyes. Another form of mechanical restraint occurs when the student is in a five-point restraint in a chair. Students may be restrained for extensive periods of time (e.g., hours or intermittently for days) when restraint is used as a punishing consequence.
In one classroom it was observed that a new staff member was briefly informed that his role in the room was to monitor 1:1 student S and second party verification was not required before administering the GED. The new staff person was handed the SLED (GED transmitter) and verbally given direction and instruction in when to administer the GED. As the instructing staff person was departing, she also informed the new staff that student S is deaf.
A higher functioning teenage student was observed sneezing in class. She covered her face and called out for a tissue. The teacher then indicated that that “calling out” was a target behavior that would result in her action being pinpointed as inappropriate (i.e., subject to aversive consequence). This example raises concerns that there might be little to no discrimination of acceptable, appropriate behaviors within a targeted behavior category subject to Level III aversive consequences by untrained or poorly supervised staff.
There you have it. There's not much else I can add other than that the evidence speaks for itself. All you need to do in order to be "punished" there is sneeze and ask for a tissue. But its not a detention, its an electrical skin shock. They don't even have the "courtesy" to put padding on the body, they apply the shock directly to the skin. Not only that, but there was a child, a young seven year old Autistic child, who had a wristband mark burned into her arm because of the voltage of the skin shocks she was receiving.
My question is: Why is this place still up and running? I don't understand why it has not been shut down yet. There have been dozens of angry complaints, protests, and articles written about it worldwide that didn't quite hit the mainstream, so why why is still up and running? That's the question that's going to be on everyone's mind after learning of this.
The simplest answer is that there were several unread clauses in the contractual agreement submitted to whomever reads them. We all know that most contracts, laws, bills or any type of paperwork in general that needs to be passed/arbitrated by American congress is just looked at and then signed. We all know what the current administration there is like.
With that I urge anyone who reads this to write letters to this place as they need to be shut down now.
How would you like it if it was your younger brother, your younger sister, niece, nephew, cousin friend or anyone you knew who as being tortured for the sake of "helping" them? These children are disabled, they do not understand what is going on, and of course they would not understand the consequences of their actions, taking into account their age and their disabilities.
In this day and age it is completely unacceptable and incomprehensible that this type of thing is going on. I am personally just shocked that this "facility" can keep on running.
I don't think it matters what your opinion on disabled children or autism is, because it doesn't pertain to the issue at hand here. This is violating every single human right put to paper, and if you can sit there and ignore the fact that children are being tortured this instant, that this very day there are Autistic seven year olds having burns from electric shocks seared into their arms, than you must have no soul.
You have read what has happened at that "facility". What was put down was only a fraction of what else is going on there. You can read that report by the authorities, you can find out that teens have killed themselves because they could no longer take the abuse anymore.
Its like Guantanamo Bay for disabled children; it has got to stop.
Written By: Kyle B.
The link for the facts was from here: http://boston.com/news/daily/15/school_report.pdf
Credit for the Picture goes to Wbur.org.-Thanks for exposing the truth.
hat you are about to read will shock you. Why? Because you wouldn't expect the type of things that you'll read about to be happening right now in the year 2007: The torturing of children.
The findings were found by a professional team investigating practices at the Judge Rotenberg Center after dozens of reports for misconduct and abuse. The report was produced on June 6'th 2006. Sources will be cited at the end of this report.
As an introduction to what this facility is, here's some quick back story. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC, formerly known as the Behavior Research Institute) is a private education center for mentally handicapped children, located in Canton, Massachusetts. JRC is currently approved by the New York State Education Department as a residential school serving students with autism, mental retardation, emotional disturbance and multiple disabilities. It caters for students who exhibit serious behavioral disorders that interfere with learning, and provides an intensive 24/7 behavioral treatment program.
This sounds fine right? A place that assists children who need it. Children who have a hard time taking care of themselves, and parents who have a hard time paying to take care of them. It would help out all involved. But what happens inside that building, which is true fact, is eye opening.
From the professional report: JRC’s marketing representatives visit the family in their homes and as indicated in representatives’ case notes, provide the family with information and gifts for the family and student (e.g., a gift bag for the family, basketball for the student).
JRC employs a general use of Level III aversive behavioral interventions to students for behaviors that are not aggressive, health dangerous or destructive, such as nagging, swearing and failing to maintain a neat appearance.
Level III aversives constitute a broad spectrum of punishment techniques that include movement limitation (i.e. mechanical and physical restraint), contingent food, helmet, and electric skin shock. The use of Behavior Rehearsal Lesson (BRL)3 and combined use of aversive techniques are also Level III interventions.
JRC’s GED was modified from other similar devices on the market by doubling the intensity (amperage and voltage) and increasing the duration by 10 times (from .2 to 2 seconds) of the shock administered and by expanding the positions on the body where the electrodes could be placed. JRC also uses a device called the GED-4, which applies an even greater intensity shock to the student when the student fails to respond to the lower level shock.
At the time of team’s April visit there were 148 NYS students enrolled at JRC. At that time, 77 were approved to receive Level III behavioral interventions from staff at JRC. Of these 77 students, 53 were receiving skin shock through the GED that is adjustable with an average intensity of 15.25 mill amperes RMS, a duration of .2 seconds to 2 seconds, an average peak of 30.5 milliamperes, and 24 students are receiving GED (referred to as a GED-4) skin shock which has a maximum current of 45.0 milliamperes RMS, an average peak of 91 milliamperes, and a maximum duration of 2 seconds. The higher-level shock is used when it is determined that the student is not responding to the lower level shock.
The automatic negative reinforcement shocks terminate as soon as the behavior stops occurring. This device is not operated by JRC staff. For example, some students are made to sit on a GED cushion seat that will automatically administer a skin shock for the targeted behavior of “standing up”, while others wear waist holsters that will administer a skin shock if the student pulls his/her hands out of the holster. NYSED could not find evidence, nor did JRC provide the evidence as requested, that this automated electric shock device has been cleared for marketing by FDA or approved by FDA. FDA regulations prohibit the use of an aversive conditioning device that has not been approved or cleared by FDA.
The electric shock bracelet that is used on the children at JRC.
Movement limitation is another commonly used Level III intervention that may be applied manually or mechanically. When applied manually, staff members physically hold the student. With mechanical movement limitation the student is strapped into/onto some form of physical apparatus. For example, a four-point platform board designed specifically for this purpose; or a helmet with thick padding and narrow facial grid that reduces sensory stimuli to the ears and eyes. Another form of mechanical restraint occurs when the student is in a five-point restraint in a chair. Students may be restrained for extensive periods of time (e.g., hours or intermittently for days) when restraint is used as a punishing consequence.
In one classroom it was observed that a new staff member was briefly informed that his role in the room was to monitor 1:1 student S and second party verification was not required before administering the GED. The new staff person was handed the SLED (GED transmitter) and verbally given direction and instruction in when to administer the GED. As the instructing staff person was departing, she also informed the new staff that student S is deaf.
A higher functioning teenage student was observed sneezing in class. She covered her face and called out for a tissue. The teacher then indicated that that “calling out” was a target behavior that would result in her action being pinpointed as inappropriate (i.e., subject to aversive consequence). This example raises concerns that there might be little to no discrimination of acceptable, appropriate behaviors within a targeted behavior category subject to Level III aversive consequences by untrained or poorly supervised staff.
There you have it. There's not much else I can add other than that the evidence speaks for itself. All you need to do in order to be "punished" there is sneeze and ask for a tissue. But its not a detention, its an electrical skin shock. They don't even have the "courtesy" to put padding on the body, they apply the shock directly to the skin. Not only that, but there was a child, a young seven year old Autistic child, who had a wristband mark burned into her arm because of the voltage of the skin shocks she was receiving.
My question is: Why is this place still up and running? I don't understand why it has not been shut down yet. There have been dozens of angry complaints, protests, and articles written about it worldwide that didn't quite hit the mainstream, so why why is still up and running? That's the question that's going to be on everyone's mind after learning of this.
The simplest answer is that there were several unread clauses in the contractual agreement submitted to whomever reads them. We all know that most contracts, laws, bills or any type of paperwork in general that needs to be passed/arbitrated by American congress is just looked at and then signed. We all know what the current administration there is like.
With that I urge anyone who reads this to write letters to this place as they need to be shut down now.
How would you like it if it was your younger brother, your younger sister, niece, nephew, cousin friend or anyone you knew who as being tortured for the sake of "helping" them? These children are disabled, they do not understand what is going on, and of course they would not understand the consequences of their actions, taking into account their age and their disabilities.
In this day and age it is completely unacceptable and incomprehensible that this type of thing is going on. I am personally just shocked that this "facility" can keep on running.
I don't think it matters what your opinion on disabled children or autism is, because it doesn't pertain to the issue at hand here. This is violating every single human right put to paper, and if you can sit there and ignore the fact that children are being tortured this instant, that this very day there are Autistic seven year olds having burns from electric shocks seared into their arms, than you must have no soul.
You have read what has happened at that "facility". What was put down was only a fraction of what else is going on there. You can read that report by the authorities, you can find out that teens have killed themselves because they could no longer take the abuse anymore.
Its like Guantanamo Bay for disabled children; it has got to stop.
Written By: Kyle B.
The link for the facts was from here: http://boston.com/news/daily/15/school_report.pdf
Credit for the Picture goes to Wbur.org.-Thanks for exposing the truth.
