I'm sorry to say this, but this overly harsh treating of youngsters is typical American. First their parents ruin them, and then they try to torture them back to normalcy.

Sure there are kids who end up being disturbed no matter what kind of parenting they get at home, but I'm willing to bet most of them are simply the result of the dumbing down process that's been taking place in America the past 30 years.

For an accurate summary of what the Judge Rotenberg Center is really about, please go to http://www.judgerc.org/responsetoblogs.pdf

why on earth would you think that i, as an american, am more concerned about the rights of terrorists than i am of our own children?

do you think we all know that this is going on? no, we don't. and i am sure now that it has come out, there will be just as many responses about it as there are about basic human rights for prisoners.

not accusing individuals of being disinterested per se, anon mom, but this center has recieved coverage in mother jones, the ny times, the globe and on this site and psych central and daily kos, and i am just not hearing the level of community outrage in our culture that i would expect. go take a look at how many posts and comments there are re: torture of terrorism suspects on dkos and compare with the number of comments on the rotenberg center. sorta tells you something.

Remember Stanford?

Matt

The barbaric practice and treatment of these children is unacceptable, as we can all read here; but in my opinion, the lack of interest via blog comments, or in newspapers, etc. is exactly the same as children being medicated with antipsychotics and dying, like Rebecca Riley. All of those threads just end up with ppl. arguing over meds vs. non med treatments, and i've yet to see threads of discussion that zero in on babies and toddlers being drugged up with highly potent psych meds. There is more coverage for the OTC cold medications, which is outrageous.

Many school districts have schools for teens that have criminal records, and are doing "time"; yet still gain an education in the process. Not sure how many schools use shock treatment, but there is one I know of that the students wear jail jumpsuits, color-coded so the teachers know who is suicidal, violent etc.

It's one civil liberty for another is what it all appears to be. As far as our Government and comparison to prisoners and kids in a school?

Since when does the Government do anything besides cover their ass? That is first on the agenda, and kids and safety and their rights are sadly not ever on the top of the heap of PR, especially in voting "season".

Also, people should understand that the kids in these type of schools are often part of a defunct foster care system, and parents are often not part of the game any longer.

If this story horrifies any reader; I invite them to take some time in a locked down state institution and see the restraints, and forced injections, etc. not too much difference, and then of course add in ECT, and it's about the same. Those patients have no advocates just like the shock-school kids. Someone needs to get in there who means it and get that place shut down.

It's easy to write about this stuff, but it's the actions of people that are only going to correct it. That, sadly happens on a limited basis.

Nerves are like small wires. You dump voltage down them they aren’t designed to carry and you do damage period. Any electrical component that receives shocks has a shorter life. Interrupting or overloading normal voltage/signal/never response is damaging sensitive equipment. Is the body not bio-electrical-mechanical system? While the shock may not damage/break/kill them, you are damaging a neuro-electrical system. We do not have the medical knowledge to accurately diagnose nerve damage to that level. Taser and ect work(and I use this word loosely) by causing the electrical signals and stored electrical images/signals to get knocked off line. Very simply any memory is a result of electrical pulses from nerves(sensors like eyes and ears)that were recorded to the human brain(storage device).
Basically shorting out the human body. To put it simply, would you zap your computer because it had a program not reacting properly?

In addition I'm left wondering what happens to the atoms of cells in this type of voltage overload situation. Does this destabilize them causing them to slighty misform and/or malfunction causing reproduction of "damaged" or mutant cells?

No one should receive electrical shocks unless they can give informed consent. Unable to explain how electricity works both in the application and electrical signals of the body and what happens to the body, then you aren’t informed sufficiently. No one truly moral and ethical would decide to inflict pain on another for their own good. Any person who believes torture is acceptable, needs to be inflicted with their cure until they learn.

yes,i remember stanford.

I don't, however, see the parallel;
the stanford exparament involved humans(who have unalienable rights). the Massachusetts school involved troubled youth (who don't).

"yes,i remember stanford..."

That's the point, though, isn't it? Whilst prisoners and guards were not prisoners and guards, other than for the purposes of the experiment, people started to behave "as if" the distinction between their status were real.

Imagine, then, how quickly certain people will resort to abuse of their position, when the distinction is there for real? Very quickly, I suspect, especially if the likelihood of sanction for their conduct is unlikely.

Matt

I remember seeing this on Dateline or a similar news magazine type show a couple of years ago. It was really upsetting to watch. There seems to be this attitude of who cares what harm we cause if the end result is that the messed up patient is quieter and less of a problem.

Why hasn't there been more public outrage over this? I've wondered that myself.

This story is as bad or worse than the old stories of patients who were give ECT in the 70s without anasthesia. It is angering me beyond anger at this point. It is killing me.

My guess, as a lawyer, is that the school is a quasi-juvenile detention center and therefore can hold kids until they reach 21. That does not address any of the many problems with providing "medical care" without informed consent or calling what they did to this kid medical care.

I cannot believe parents are sending their kids away to a place like this. Can't they see where they are sending their children to? to a place where there is completely no freedom and where they pin kids down to a point where they can barely breathe for hours or even days (not even for just aggressive behavior or self abusive behavior) but for such a simple behavior or
infraction such as, not complying with staff,
swearing or getting our of seat without permission. They also use the skin shock advise on these poor innocent children ( people I want to make a reminder these children are disabled
and it is no fault of their own when they act up.)
So, applying painful skin shocks to these poor
individuals which most of them has spent about at
least a qaurter of their lives in instituions for the mentally ill such as JRC as well as others.
This is just inhumane. I think the school needs
to be shut down. It is highly unfair for these
poor individuals to be treated this way. As far as I know I would never send any of my children to a place like JRC.