Posts by Hilary Stace
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Thank you Linda.
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And while on the subject of RNZ podcasts there is also the series Black Sheep playing on Monday afternoons.
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Hard News: On seclusion rooms, in reply to ,
Some do. Depends on lots of things.
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Light rail was also a popular topic in the recent Wellington elections. NZTA and Greater Wellington Regional Council have been strongly against it and the latter is about to give us a much more complicated, congesting, disability-unfriendly rapid bus system. One which also, bizarrely, includes removing the trolley buses. Most of the mayoral candidates dismissed light rail as impossible, forgetting that trams were the main transport around Wellington and its suburbs, including the hilly ones, until the 1950s.
However, whenever a candidate was even mildly supportive of light rail (and the new mayor is one of them) they were applauded by the audiences in the meetings I went to. So where Auckland goes, we might even follow.
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The humans archive is here. Some more of our important NZ autism history. https://web.archive.org/web/20151030110030/http://humans.org.nz/
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Alan Peachey, the committee chair, actually seemed quite receptive to our concerns. But then he had worked in education all his life. He retired from Parliament at the 2011 election and died soon after.
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Hard News: Trump's Dummkopfs, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Fuelled by some very deep misogynism.
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Paul Gibson, Disability Rights Commissioner. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/316489/students'-safety-at-seclusion-room-schools-questioned
Worrying that a suspect school is being secretive about all this which reflects badly on the Principal and board. Facebook parents' groups have examples of it happening in schools across the country. The Principal is often the one putting the child in the seclusion room, so no wonder they want to keep it quiet. -
Hard News: On seclusion rooms, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
There was a lot wrong with the Miramar situation. Locked room, distressed child, no consultation with parents or community that this was one of their behaviour interventions (which became in effect a punishment), nothing on IEP about its use or why and for how long. Then neither the principal or board chair would front for the media. The board member who eventually fronted was unfamiliar with the physical environment of the school and its policies - which all indicated much to be alarmed about..
A seclusion room is not a safe, quiet time out space. Seclusion is about enforced removal from other humans and whether for children or adults amounts to punishment.
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Astute teachers and teacher aides can tell when a situation is escalating. Many (even young ) kids can be taught to self-identify, and to self-regulate to an extent perhaps with some visual aids. Some carry flash cards (eg on a lanyard) to indicate stress levels rising and the next steps they need to take. That is when you bring in pre-approved responses which have to be pretty immediate. It might be that they are allowed to leave the classroom and take themselves to a safe place like a part of the playground or the library.
I've probably mentioned this before but our school had a great teacher aide who could read the signs of rising distress. One student called it doing a Lake Taupo (ie the volcanic eruption about 1800 years ago) which became their code word. He was allowed to leave and she always knew where to find him.
Some schools have heavy blankets and sofas where kids can hide from the world and feel that same soothing pressure like the squeeze machine. Touching kids and doing physical restraint can be problematic so that squeeze machine response mentioned above would be a person specific one and hopefully the rest of the school knew about it and why