Schools have to balance keeping their community safe with protecting individual students and their safety. Those in support of restraint argue that it helps handle serious behavioral issues and protect the school community.

Those opposed to restraint point to numerous studies that show its negative impact on students subjected to the practice. Students who are restrained suffer physical, mental, and emotional harm. They may no longer feel safe going to school.

Restraint also doesn’t address underlying issues or help students improve. It doesn’t provide any incentive for positive behavior.

For these reasons, as well as others, Pennsylvania limits the use of restraint in schools. Seclusion, which often goes hand in hand with restraint, isn’t mentioned in Pennsylvania law.

Every child deserves to feel safe at school. If your student has been restrained or secluded in school, contact the Education Law Team at the LLF National Law Firm. You and your family have options to address this issue, up to and including filing a lawsuit. Call us at 888-535-3686 or fill out an online form.

Restraint and Seclusion in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has laws about the use of restraint in schools, but not seclusion. The state also has guidelines for the use of restraint on students with disabilities.

What Is Restraint?

Pennsylvania defines restraint as using physical force, either with or without a device, to restrict the movement of a student’s body. It is not briefly holding a student without force or to calm or comfort them. Guiding a student to an activity or holding a student’s hand to safely escort them are also not actions that qualify as restraint.

Pennsylvania limits the use of restraints to a measure of last resort. Schools should only use restraint if less restrictive measures, such as de-escalation techniques, are unsuccessful.

Schools should use physical restraint only when:

  • It’s necessary to control a student’s serious, aggressive, or self-injurious behavior
  • A student presents a clear and present danger to staff, other students, or him or herself
  • School staff were unsuccessful in using less restrictive measures to de-escalate a situation

Restraint should never be used as a form of discipline or to punish a student. That a student is misbehaving isn’t a justification for using restraint if a student doesn’t present a clear and present threat of harm to their school community.

Prohibited Restraint

Pennsylvania bans the use of prone restraint. Prone restraint occurs when a student’s movement is limited while the student is lying facedown on the ground.

The state doesn’t have any specific laws on chemical restraint, which involves drugs or medication to limit a student’s movement. Noxious substances and electric shock are banned, however, and absent specific laws about chemical restraint, it’s unlikely schools can legally use such methods.

Schools cannot, however, use restraint as a disciplinary technique. Neither can a school use restraint for the staff’s convenience.

Restraint and IEPs

Pennsylvania allows schools to include the use of restraint in a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) in certain, limited circumstances. Schools cannot include restraint as a replacement for a positive behavior support plan.

Restraint can be included in a student’s IEP when all of the following conditions are met:

  • Restraint is used along with positive behavior support
  • Restraint is used in combination with teaching a student socially acceptable alternative skills as a way to replace problem behavior
  • Staff have received training on the use of restraint and are authorized to use it

The school has a plan to eliminate restraint by applying positive behavior support, and this plan includes:

  • A student’s present levels
  • A measurable goal
  • Baseline data
  • Methods for monitoring progress
  • If appropriate, what specially designed instruction or services will allow for goal achievement

Perhaps most important, parents must agree with the use of restraint. If parents don’t agree, schools cannot include restraint in a student’s IEP, even if they meet all of the above conditions.

If your student was restrained without your permission or if you believe a school restrained them without satisfying conditions, contact the Education Law Team at the LLF National Law Firm.

What Is Seclusion?

Seclusion involves involuntarily placing a student in a locked room or space from which the student cannot leave. The student may or may not be monitored or supervised.

Pennsylvania doesn’t have any explicit laws or regulations on the use of seclusion in schools. What the law does say is that schools are barred from placing students in locked rooms or boxes or in any other structure or space from which a student cannot readily exit.

Positive Behavior Support

Positive, rather than negative, measures must form the basis of behavior support programs to ensure that all students and eligible young children are free from demeaning treatment, the use of aversive techniques, and the unreasonable use of restraints.

When a student with disabilities is behaving in a way that disrupts other students’ ability to learn, schools must develop a positive behavior support plan for that student. Positive behavior support plans should focus on positive behavior reinforcement and techniques.

To create a positive behavior support plan, schools must conduct a functional behavior assessment (FBA) on a student. Neither the FBA nor the positive behavior support plan is designed to replace a student’s IEP. It is instead in addition to a student’s IEP.

Protect Your Student

All students deserve to feel safe at school. Restraint and seclusion can undermine that sense of safety. Students may no longer want to attend school or struggle in school. These practices can cause mental, physical, and emotional injury that can last for months and even years.

Even if a school says that they followed the laws and guidelines for the use of restraint, parents shouldn’t simply accept their word. Similarly, just because Pennsylvania doesn’t allow seclusion doesn’t mean a student hasn’t been secluded.

If you know or believe that your student has been secluded or restrained while at school, the Education Law Team at the LLF National Law Firm is here to assist you and support your family. Call us at 888-535-3686 or fill out an online form.

Restraint and Seclusion

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