Twelve lawmakers are calling on the Department of Education to ban student seclusion nationwide. The push comes after Illinois announced it would ban the practice statewide. People are concerned the 'isolated time-out' is being overused as a form of discipline.
"We were relieved ... However, that makes Illinois only the fifth state to ban seclusion. There are tens of millions of American children still at risk of experiencing this detrimental practice."
More recently, attention is being drawn to this approach, and a psychologist shares his perspective on how we can address the situation from a different angle.
Dr. Jeff Gardere said, "If you look at this in a more psychological and therapeutic manner as we should because we're talking about children, we're talking about minors. These are kids perhaps who are acting out because they cannot identify what the anxiety or the anger or the sadness or the angst that they are experiencing, and therefore, they act it out physically." He continued, "This is a cry for help, and I believe, as teachers, as counselors, we should look at helping that student to do better in the classroom instead of just shunning them."