new discipline at public schools?

[NotTheOnlyOne]

have you seen this!? The body sock, used as a "calming tool" in public schools!! They basically put the kids in a sock that they cant get out of, cant see out of....and dont let them out when they start to scream. Sorry if there is already another thread about this.

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/play....body.sox.bayn

[Dragonfly]

I'm not going to click the link because I can't stand to see children mistreated. Where are they using these, though? I can't imagine that happening at my son's school.

[NotTheOnlyOne]

Well, they dont actually show the child in the "sock" but it was a four year old....in a pre-k class at an elementary school in Pinellas County, Florida.

[irinam]

OMG. This can not be happening. This is what would be considered IN JAIL as "cruel and unusual punishment"

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

I'm not going to click the link because I can't stand to see children mistreated.

Me too. Unless there is something on that link that will allow me to sign a peition to a Senator or something to stop this outrage.

[blsilva]

OMG, yet another thing to terrify me about sending my baby to school next year.

[mistymama]

Oh my, I can't click. That sounds just horrible.

My son has sensory issues and freaks out at being hugged too long. That would be total torture for him.

[Twocoolboys]

Ok, MY claustrophobia was kicking in just seeing the pictures of the people in the body sox add. My only gripe is that some people may take this to mean that ALL public schools do this. I believe in public schools and my son goes to a wonderful one. This seems, to me, like a problem with those particular teachers and administrators at one particular school.

[wildmonkeys]

I am certain that isn't used in our local schools, but I am saddened that there are school districts/states that allow corporal punishment and restraint and seclusion in the schools.

BJ
Barney, Ben & soon to be #3!!!

[Flor]

Ok, it says that it is approve for special education as a therapy. I don't teach special ed. so I don't know anything about that. This child was not in special ed. The teacher should not have used it. The district is trying to cover their butts. I can't imagine. There are special people at our school traind to restrain students in special situations (fights, etc) but we don't use anything like that.

The video doesn't show the child, just a commericial for the product.

[Jazzmin]

When I worked with children that had behavioral issues, we used body socks. The majority of children LOVED them and did find them quite calming.

[irinam]

Originally Posted by Jazzmin

When I worked with children that had behavioral issues, we used body socks. The majority of children LOVED them and did find them quite calming.

Huh? LOVED them as in - would go inside them volunteerly? And ask somebody to tie it above their heads (or however it is done)

I am not clastrophobic, but I definately have hard time imagining that somebody (anybody) would find a restrain+blinfold "calming" :

If you are one of those people - please speak up, I am always up for opening my mind some more.

[blsilva]

My oldest loves to cover himself in blankets, and often asks us to zip him up in our robes to "hide" him. I could possibly see, if presented as a fun game, some kids might enjoy the body sox. But, when a child is forced into it and not allowed to come out even when he/she is crying and trying to unfasten it, that is child abuse.

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by irinam

Huh? LOVED them as in - would go inside them volunteerly? And ask somebody to tie it above their heads (or however it is done)

I am not clastrophobic, but I definately have hard time imagining that somebody (anybody) would find a restrain+blinfold "calming" :

If you are one of those people - please speak up, I am always up for opening my mind some more.

(Disclaimer: I can't get the video to play, so this could be something totally different than what I've seen, but from the PPs, it sounds the same.)

I've never actually been in a body sox (we didn't have any in my size), but I also used to work in special ed (kids with autism), and lots of our kids *loved* them. They found them very soothing. After all, a lot of people with autism find Temple Grandin's "squeeze machine" to be calming, too.

Here's a random site that sells them (I can't find the manufacturer's site at the moment): http://stars4kidz.com/BODY_SOX-p1030.html

There's some velcro at the opening of the sox (you can open them from the inside, as long as you have the motor and cognitive ability to find and open the velcro), and they can be worn either over the head or with your head out. Other than someone with certain sensory issues, I don't think it would be experienced as "a restraint and blindfold." Your body is in there, but it's extremely stretchy, and you can still move freely, and I would expect that some light would come through.

However, I'm just trying to explain why some people would like them. I *don't* think that it's appropriate to use them as a consequence for undesired behavior, if that's what's going on in the video. If a child doesn't like the body sox, I could see an OT working on tolerating that sort of stimulus as a sensory goal, but I wouldn't want to see the child being forced into the sox.

[Flor]

It seems that it was used inappropriately. It is supposed to be a therapy for kids with special needs, not a punishment as the teacher was using it. It doesn't say if it was a special needs student/class. Quite weird.

[kofduke]

Originally Posted by irinam

Huh? LOVED them as in - would go inside them volunteerly? And ask somebody to tie it above their heads (or however it is done)

I am not clastrophobic, but I definately have hard time imagining that somebody (anybody) would find a restrain+blinfold "calming" :

If you are one of those people - please speak up, I am always up for opening my mind some more.

Yes, these are very therapeutic for autistic children. Temple Grandlin, an autistic woman with a ph.d., wrote about designing one for herself.

http://channel.creative-capital.org/project_311.html

about replicating her machine.

[mamaduck]

I did not click on the link either.

I can totally imagine this being therapuetic for a child with sensory issues. When my oldest son was younger, we would zip him into a sleeping bag and roll him around, when he needed "centering." He loved it. It was very deeply satisfying for him, and calmed him incredibly.

There is a child in class with my younger son who requires extremely firm shoulder massage when he is acting up in class. Again, it centers him. If you saw the teacher doing it though, and didn't understand what was going on -- it would look very very strange. It would be a terrible thing to do to a child like my younger son, who has a strong sense of personal boundries.

It makes me happy that schools are using sensory techniques with children who can benefit from them. Its a lousy thing though, that it was used on a child as a punishment.