Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on December 27, 2007, 02:47:42 PM
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Nearly a year ago, New York made plans to ban the use of electric shocks as a punishment for bad behavior, a therapy used at a Massachusetts school where New York State had long sent some of its most challenging special education students.
But state officials trying to limit New York’s association with the school, the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, southwest of Boston, and its “aversive therapyâ€
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Nearly a year ago, New York made plans to ban the use of electric shocks as a punishment for bad behavior, a therapy used at a Massachusetts school where New York State had long sent some of its most challenging special education students.
But state officials trying to limit New York’s association with the school, the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, southwest of Boston, and its “aversive therapyâ€
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This is just plain out cruel and inhumane. It is worse that putting a shock collar on a dog do make him quit barking. With prolonged exposure to this behavioral modification the dog becomes scared of his own shadow and rather than protecting his home he cowers.
Same with the electric fence for cattle. After prolonged conditioning to being shocked once it reaches the fence, should an animal of prey such as a wolf come up, the cow is subject to allow the wolf to kill him for the fear of being shocked is there if he attempts to escape danger.
For the most part people understand that shocking is cruel and inhumane. As far as the judge goes, they should pick a unit at random from a kid and strap it on him and allow the lawyer to push the button. I would almost guarentee that the judge would over turn his decision only after making the staff wear the units for a week and him pushing the button at his leisure.
When it comes to behavioral modification, TheWho is a big advocate of this. He claims football teams use it, and even parents when they disapline a child. I wouldn't be supprised if this is a method he would condone for modifying behavior.
And as far as the parents that support these tactics, they are only seeing the programs promises being delivered at any cost to the child.
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http://www.npr.org/templates/player/med ... m=14156277 (http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=14156303&m=14156277)
http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=197320#videoid=197320 (http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=197320#videoid=197320)
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The electronic decelerator used at Judge Rotenburg Education Center delivers an electric current of 3 to 45 milliamps. (A milliamp is 1/1000th of an amp.)
This is how that compares with other electrical shock devices.
- Electric dog collar 0.2 milliamp
- Brain electroshock therapy 900 milliamps
- Nerve stimulation therapy 1 milliamp
- Taser pistol 1 amp
- Heart defibrillator 1 amp
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Taser pistol 1 amp
Bullshit. Tasers give much less. Go Google.
One amp through the center of the body WILL either kill you, or possibly restart your heart (which is why it's used in defibrillators).
Here's another puzzle:
Two electrified baseball bats, bearing charges of +600v and -600v, reach your head at 150 mph at approximately the same time. Do you die of head trauma or electrical shock? (Assume an unlimited source of charge.)
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Here's another puzzle:
Two electrified baseball bats, bearing charges of +600v and -600v, reach your head at 150 mph at approximately the same time. Do you die of head trauma or electrical shock? (Assume an unlimited source of charge.)
Test your theory on Who!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Here's another puzzle:
Two electrified baseball bats, bearing charges of +600v and -600v, reach your head at 150 mph at approximately the same time. Do you die of head trauma or electrical shock? (Assume an unlimited source of charge.)
Test your theory on Who!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
If I remember my training (math) correctly:
Voltage generally isn’t going to hurt anyone, it’s the amperage. A Taser delivers about 50,000 volts of DC current, but is low amperage and quickly dissipates. Unless you have a heart condition you will do fine. Your house has 120 Volts AC current. There are many factors involved when delivering voltage to the human body. One is the “2 points of contactâ€
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(I would strongly suggest testing the settings out on someone you didnt like prior to using it, my numbers could be a little off).
Don't particularly like you, WHO. You wanna be the test-dummy?
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Here's another puzzle:
Two electrified baseball bats, bearing charges of +600v and -600v, reach your head at 150 mph at approximately the same time. Do you die of head trauma or electrical shock? (Assume an unlimited source of charge.)
Test your theory on Who!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
If I remember my training (math) correctly:
Voltage generally isn’t going to hurt anyone, it’s the amperage. A Taser delivers about 50,000 volts of DC current, but is low amperage and quickly dissipates. Unless you have a heart condition you will do fine. Your house has 120 Volts AC current. There are many factors involved when delivering voltage to the human body. One is the “2 points of contactâ€
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I fail to see what the amount of volts or amps has to do with any of this. Should they be using shock collars in any form or fashion in the first place?
Ummm.. No...
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Whats next, regulations on how hard you can punch a child in joules or foot pounds?
Obfuscation by missing the point!
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JRC is actively engaged in classic brainwashing: Skinner demonstrated that the terror of random punishment is much more effective at modifying behavior than the punishment itself. Food is withheld and then students are punished for the natural physiological response of bad behavior. Brainwashing is not limited to the student. Staff is subjected to slaughter house videos. They are given impossibly complex rules of conduct and then are rewarded for turning in other staff members and punished if they do not. Desperate parents are shown outrageously opulent rooms (no GED packs on Mickey) and told this is their child’s last hope. New York pays huge amounts of money to dump troubled kids in this “prettyâ€
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To Ms. Handon, this is a sign that her daughter is learning to control herself. When Crystal is too old for special education, her mother plans to keep her at home for good. In the meantime, however, she says her daughter is having too much fun.
“She loves that place,â€
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I was feeling sick
Losing my mind..
I heard about these treatments
From a good friend of mine
He was always happy
Smile on his face
He said he had a great time at that place...
Peace and love is here to stay
Now I can wake up and face the day
Happy happy happy all the time
Shock treatment, I'm doing fine..
Gimme gimme shock treatment.
Gimme gimme shock treatment.
Gimme gimme shock treatment.
I wanna, wanna shock treatment...
(captcha: 48th Church.)
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ABC published an article and the comments are checked by many higher ups in MA. Read the article and comment.
Here's the link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4022502&page=1 (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4022502&page=1)
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ABC published an article and the comments are checked by many higher ups in MA. Read the article and comment.
Here's the link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4022502&page=1 (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4022502&page=1)
Link expanded out for posterity's sake...
Apparently there was yet a third individual also subjected to the skin shock treatments, an adult, not mentioned in the previous articles.
They say there are "no long term negative effects," but just the anticipation of the shock-sure-to-come due to "bad behavior" is something JRC does not seem to acknowledge exists. PAVLOV'S DOGS MIGHT DISAGREE. And putting in a more secure phone system will not even begin to address that issue.
I'm glad that voices in academia like Dr. Barry Pizant are finally being quoted by the media.
See also this thread: 'The Effects of Anticipated Shocks on Thinking and Behavior'
http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22955 (http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=22955)
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abc NEWS
Electric Shocks Can Continue at Mass. School After Hoax (http://http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4022502&page=1)
A Prank Caller Duped School Officials Into Shocking Students as Many as 77 Times
(http://http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_rotenberg_071219_ms.jpg)
A teacher and a student interact at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass. The center had admitted to mistakenly administering electric shock treatment to at least two students after a prank caller allegedly under the guise of a school faculty member ordered them to do so. Rotenberg is the only school in the U.S. that uses electric shock therapy for to treat special needs kids.
(Steven Senne/AP Photo)
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
Dec. 24, 2007
A special education school where two emotionally disturbed students were wrongly given dozens of shocks after a prank call, will be allowed to use electric shock treatments on students for another year, the Associated Press reports.
But the state's Office of Health and Human Services said the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center must prove it uses shock treatments only for the most dangerous and self-destructive behaviors, and also show that the treatments reduce those behaviors, according to the AP.
On Aug. 26, someone posing as a supervisor called in shock treatments on two students, aged 16 and 19. The teens were awakened in the middle of the night and given the shock treatments.
Seven school officials at the special-needs school were fired after the incident which occured last August.
"This [incident] happened, we reported it and we've taken steps necessary so that this doesn't happen again," said Ernest Corrigan, spokesman for the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, where the shock therapy was mistakenly administered. "This was not a normal day at Judge Rotenberg."
A prankster, believed to be a former student of the Canton, Mass., school, reportedly posed as a member of the administration and phoned in instructions for shock therapy, according to a report by the Department of Early Education and Care, the organization that licenses the residential program at the school and is conducting the investigation.
Unaware that the phone call was a prank, school officials reportedly woke the two students up and delivered 77 shocks to one student and 29 to another -- informing both that it was punishment for misbehavior earlier in the day.
Both victims were seen by medical professionals after the incident and later cleared, according to the school. Only one of the students has remained at the insitution since. The names of the victims have not been released.
"I think it's fair to say that [giving someone] 77 shocks is unusual," said Corrigan. "It is excessive to what is normal protocol. Giving 22 shocks is also excessive."
A third person was also reportedly shocked, according to Nancy Alterio, the executive director of Massachusetts's Disabled Persons Protection Committee, who said her agency's 24-hour abuse hot line was tipped off to the incident at Rotenberg.
"The allegations that were phoned in said that somebody had called into [the school] and instructed the staff to provide the aversive therapy [or shock therapy] to three separate individuals," said Alterio, who added that her organization is looking into the third, adult victim.
Rotenberg is a school for severely disabled or deeply disturbed children who would otherwise be overlooked by society, according to a statement released by the school. Shock therapy is only used "after obtaining prior parental, medical, psychiatric, human rights, peer review and individual approval from a Massachusetts Probate Court," according to the school's Web site.
Many of the school's approximately 250 students are low-functioning autistic children who have been unsuccessful or expelled from other schools due to bad behavior, according to Rotenberg.
It is the only school in the United States that utilizes electric shock therapy, which is administered through a device called a graduated electronic decelerator, or a GED.
"The skin shock that we're talking about is two seconds and people who have experienced it say it feels like a bee sting," said Rotenberg's Corrigan.
A statement on the school's Web site adds that, "skin-shock has no significant negative side effects."
In addition to electric shock therapy, students participate in reward-based learning, which allows students who behave well to earn points that can be exchanged for video games, jewelry and other toys.
Rotenberg Dispels Controversy, Again
While the school upholds that the shock therapy is harmless — and even has parents to vouch for the success of their children's treatment — Rotenberg has seen its fair share of controversy.
The state of Massachusetts has tried and failed to close the institution twice before because of its use of the electric shock treatment, according to The Associated Press, and in 2006 New York's Board of Regents said that it would not permit students from its state to receive shock therapy after 2009, except in very rare cases.
Parents of children with special needs are upset over the incident at Rotenberg, but many of them told ABC News that they had heard negative things about the school.
"I think it's barbaric and there are really no words," said Rita Shreffler, executive director of the National Autism Association, who has two special-needs children. "It's inexplicable. There's no reason to [shock] another human being."
Shreffler advised parents to "do their homework" about their children's caretakers.
"Be very watchful," said Shreffler, who added that her children have never been treated at Rotenberg." Special-needs kids a lot of times can't speak for themselves to tell the story."
"There is outrage that this type of treatment continues to exist and is so easily misused," said Richard Robison, executive director of the Federation for Children with Special Needs and father of two young adults with special needs. "I think we know enough now about autism that there other options [for treatment]."
Autism experts also argue against the school's claim that this type of treatment has no negative effect on the children it is used on, and say while no physical harm may result, psychological effects are almost certain.
"In terms of the stress that it creates for the individuals with autism there is simply no way there can't be some very negative long-term side effects," said Barry Pizant, who is an adjunct professor at Brown University's Center for the Study of Human Development. "It interferes with their ability [to] trust people who are with them and these are people who already have trouble understanding people."
Parents who send their children to Rotenberg may not be aware of other treatment options, said Pizant.
"In no way are we saying these are bad parents, but they've probably not received good programming for their kids in the past," Pizant told ABC News. "You can understand why they'd want to do anything for their kids."
"I see [shock therapy] as the last vestige of [an] old practice that was proven ineffective and we should have stopped doing it all together 20 or 30 years ago," said Pizant. "If you look in the mainstream of people working with kids with disabilities these aversives are totally out of the mainstream."
But when ABC News' "Primetime" went inside Rotenberg in February, the team met several families who were pleased with the treatment.
Linda Doherty's autistic son, Marc, is a student at Rotenberg and was being treated with shock therapy for his aggressive behavior.
"My son is not attacking people, so people can work with him without fear of being physically harmed," said Doherty. "He's able to go on field trips and go out into the community. I think that is a success."
School Reacts, Changes Policies After Incident
Since the incident at Rotenberg was reported more than three months ago, representatives from both the school and the Department of Early Education and Care told ABC News that the center has undergone several changes.
"[Rotenberg] implemented certain measures and protocols for the safety of their children as part of their short-term response," said Early Education and Care spokeswoman Cindy Campbell. "They structured their monitoring department to include additional supervision for those working directly with the student and instituted a new [and more secure] telephone system."
Electric shock therapy is still being administered by the school, but it was temporarily suspended from being used in the residential areas, according to Campbell.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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elsewhere on the Net, some ex-employees/ex-students of Rothenberg have referred obliquely to a special torture procedure called "probing": no details have surfaced, but apparently Dr. Israel does this "probing" thing alone with the student in his office (when he thinks the student has done something extra-specially bad). If anyone has contacts with a former employee, it seems worth asking about this.
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JRC proponents (including Matty boy himself) have made repeated references to a "student" who died shortly after having been pulled from the program.
His name was James Velez. Information about him can be found here (http://http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03EFDD1E3EF930A15755C0A961958260) and here (http://http://www.judgerc.org/jvarticle.html).
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http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=149 (http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=149)
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Even if your son scratches at himself...institutionalizing him at age 7 is shameful. Get a private nurse and some pro advice, for godsakes. A seven year old is easily controlled.
Parents just don't want to take care of their kids. You know those pictures of the "alien babies" that float around you tube? Like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xW4TVRL ... re=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xW4TVRLSgg&feature=related)
These kids suffer from a serious disease. But, they can live rewarding lives. One has gone on to be competitive swimmer. It takes alot of work from the parents, though. They need to be cleaned, and swabbed, and the environment they live in needs to be super clean. If these kids can be taken care of....
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I saw this post on another forum:
Greg Miller
Mar 6, 2007 at 12:21 am
My name is Greg Miller. I used to work at Judge Rotenberg Center and spoke against the abuses in the ABC Nightline documentary. I appreciate reading your thoughts on the documentary.
ABC Nightline did leave out many facts. For example, I told ABC in my 2+ hour interview with them about JRC tying students into restraints on a four-point board and shocking them five times consecutively (over 10 minutes, or 40 minutes, whatever is on the student’s plan) for certain behaviors. The person with the remote control in one hand that you saw on the documentary, and a timer in the other hand, would remain out of sight from the student on the board to administer the shocks. That is to create as much panic and fear in the student as possible to make the punishment far worse than the shocks itself. This was all pre-approved by parents and the judges and the laws of Massachusetts.
There are worse things I’ve seen at Judge Rotenberg Center. Imagine watching a 40+ year-old adult male, in there with suicidal tendencies from a young age, get attacked three times per week by an adult male staff with a plastic knife. The student was left in restraints all day long for this procedure so that he was unable to defend himself. Then while the student is screaming for his life, TRYING HIS BEST TO DEFEND HIMSELF WHILE TIED IN RESTRAINTS, and the staff tries to jam the knife down the student’s throat while yelling the words,â€
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Quick link to contact Governor Patrick:
Click on the following link to send an automated message to Governor Deval Patrick:
http://capwiz.com/thearc/mail/?id=51610 ... S&state=MA (http://capwiz.com/thearc/mail/?id=51610&type=GV&lvl=S&state=MA)
Choose "speak out regarding electric shock aversive therapy" to send a pre-composed message, or "Compose Your Own Letter" if you'd rather create a message from scratch. DO NOT select "support community investment for people with disabilities" as this is a state-specific budget message (important, but not relevant to the aversives issue).
Click on "next step" and fill in your personal information before sending your message. It is important that you fill in this information, which will appear within the body of the outgoing message, so that the Governor will see you are a real person and that the message is not spam.
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If you have more time, here is the list of senators and state reps.
SENATORS
thomas.mcgee@state.ma.us (http://mailto:thomas.mcgee@state.ma.us) 617-722-1350 room 112
patricia.jehlen@state.ma.us (http://mailto:patricia.jehlen@state.ma.us) 617-722-1578 room 513
bruce.tarr@state.ma.us (http://mailto:bruce.tarr@state.ma.us) 617-722-1600 room 313-A
REPS
Rep.stephenleduc@hou.state.ma.us (http://mailto:Rep.stephenleduc@hou.state.ma.us) 617-722-2230 ext 5 room 167
Rep.RobertNyman@hou.state.ma.us (http://mailto:Rep.RobertNyman@hou.state.ma.us) 617-722-2020 room 527A
Rep.MaryGrant@hou.state.ma.us (http://mailto:Rep.MaryGrant@hou.state.ma.us) 617-722-2220 r254
Rep.JohnFernandes@Hou.State.MA.US (http://mailto:Rep.JohnFernandes@Hou.State.MA.US) 617-722-2030 r43
Rep.JohnLepper@hou.state.ma.us (http://mailto:Rep.JohnLepper@hou.state.ma.us) 617-722-2100 r128
Rep.MaryRogeness@hou.state.ma.us 617-722-2390