Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on January 17, 2008, 05:12:45 PM
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In a replay of a contentious scene that has unfolded many times over the past 20 years, supporters and opponents of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center's use of shock therapy stood shoulder to shoulder in a State House hearing room yesterday as the Legislature considered sharply curtailing the school's controversial treatment approach.
more stories like thisPast efforts to prohibit all shock treatments have failed, but in an effort to break the logjam this year, some of the school's fiercest critics have offered a less aggressive alternative: Rather than an outright ban, the new bill would allow shocks to stop students from hurting themselves or others, but would prohibit shocks for more "minor" acts such as swearing, shouting, or failing to complete a task.
Critics, who have long condemned the center's shock therapy as cruel and barbaric, now say they have been partially swayed by years of testimony from allies of the special education school, largely parents, who have praised the facility as life-saving for mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed students.
Sponsors of the bill said they hope it would force the Rotenberg school, the only facility in the nation with such pervasive use of skin-shock treatments, to adopt a stricter standard for use of the unorthodox treatment. About 60 percent of the approximately 240 students at the Canton school can receive shock therapy under their treatment plans.
"Today we have an opportunity to act," said Representative John Scibak, a Hadley Democrat who is a cosponsor of the bill. "We cannot allow the status quo to exist."
But in daylong testimony before the joint House and Senate Committee on Chil dren, Families and Persons with Disabilities, more than a dozen parents, relatives, and school officials said the school was an irreplaceable haven for mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed children, many who have previously been heavily sedated or expelled from other programs.
In one of the most powerful defenses of the school, Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, a Democrat from Boston, said the school has done more for his 31-year-old mentally retarded nephew than any other.
"He is alive today because of the [shock] treatment," Sanchez testified, while his nephew Brandon clung to him.
At the hearing attended by nearly 200 people, Sanchez said the Rotenberg school has a proud tradition of avoiding psychotropic drugs to control students, instead using shock treatments sparingly, as well as a reward system. Eddie Sanchez, Brandon's father, testified that the public has no idea about the nightmare that parents like him go through trying to find a safe educational environment for their severely retarded children.
"If you close the school, you take him home," Eddie Sanchez told the panel. "I can't do it."
Matthew Israel, founder and executive director of the 37-year-old Rotenberg Center, said the bill was hardly the compromise its sponsors contended. He said the legislation would gut the essence of his behavioral-control therapy. He said the bill would stop his staff from being able to administer shocks for outbursts and rebelliousness that can interrupt teaching in the classroom, as well as for behaviors that often precede violence or self-harm.
For instance, he said, students may be given two-second electrical shocks for getting out of their seat without permission because that act, in the past, has led to the student attacking a staff member. Similarly, a girl who has an obsession with pulling her hair out may receive a shock when her hand comes close to her scalp.
more stories like thisIsrael, who has weathered two previous attempts by lawmakers to close his school, said, "In order to treat, you have to treat the antecedent."
He also criticized another provision, which would require the center to get the approval of a panel of psychological experts every 30 days for each student who would receive shock treatments. The bill would also require evidence that the treatments were reducing a student's violent behavior and that no alternative was effective.
Israel, however, said it was wrong to think that short-term shock therapy would always reduce violence for the long term. He likened shock treatment to a "prosthetic," such as an artificial limb or a pair of eyeglasses, that may be needed over the long haul. He said students are not shocked frequently - on average, once a week, he said.
Lawmakers, however, asked about the night last August when teenagers were wrongfully shocked dozens of times over a three-hour period at one of the school's group homes in Stoughton. A former student of the group home posed as a supervisor in the central office in Canton, calling the group home and commanding one of the staff members to shock one student 77 times, another 29 times. The caller said he was giving the orders based on instructions from Israel and his assistant director, Glenda Crookes.
Israel, sitting next to Crookes, told lawmakers he was horrified by the incident, describing it as being like 9/11 to him. He said the school has since initiated numerous changes, which include improved supervision at group homes and barring central office supervisors from ordering shock treatments from a remote location.
The case is under criminal investigation. State licensing investigators looking into the incident relied heavily on a videotape, made as part of the center's round-the-clock monitoring of students and staff in the school and 38 groups homes in surrounding communities.
Lawmakers asked Israel whether a copy of the tape was available, but he said it had been destroyed after he allowed some state investigators to view it. In an interview earlier this week, Israel said he routinely keeps videotapes for about 30 days and saw no need to keep the video from the August incident.
The joint House and Senate committee has not scheduled a vote on the bill. Supporters say they hope the bill, sponsored in the Senate by Brian Joyce, a Milton Democrat, will be passed by the committee in time for a full vote by the House and Senate by spring.
Senate President Therese Murray appeared at the hearing and described the measure as "excellent."
As a result of the controversy over shock therapy, some states have stopped sending new referrals to the Rotenberg school.
At yesterday's hearing, Greg Miller, a former Rotenberg staff member, said he quit after three years because he could not bear to see all the shock treatments administered to students, especially for minor infractions, such as stopping their work assignment for 20 seconds or closing their eyes at their desk.
He said some students had so many scabs from the electrical shocks that there was "no other place on the student's body to place electrodes without placing them on top" of more scabs.
"Please stop shocking students for smaller behaviors," he pleaded to the committee.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... k_therapy/ (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/17/showdown_over_shock_therapy/)
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I want to choke a few of those so called advocates. HOW about we stop shocking those kids all together?
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In one of the most powerful defenses of the school, Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, a Democrat from Boston, said the school has done more for his 31-year-old mentally retarded nephew than any other.
"He is alive today because of the [shock] treatment," Sanchez testified, while his nephew Brandon clung to him.
Brandon has been strapped to a shock device for 19 yrs.
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Lawmakers asked Israel whether a copy of the tape was available, but he said it had been destroyed after he allowed some state investigators to view it. In an interview earlier this week, Israel said he routinely keeps videotapes for about 30 days and saw no need to keep the video from the August incident.
Given how copiously Israel documents each and every little thing, his familiarity with the court system, and his experience in having to defend his actions again and again, I find his destruction of this particular videotape very telling.
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Official: Video Destroyed in Shock Case
BOSTON (AP) — A special education school destroyed videotape showing two of its students being wrongly given electric shock treatments despite being ordered to preserve the tape, according to an investigator's report.
One student was shocked 77 times and the other 29 times after a prank caller posing as a supervisor ordered the treatments at a Judge Rotenberg Educational Center group home in August. The boys are 16 and 19 years old and one was treated for first-degree burns.
The Disabled Persons Protection Commission planned to release the report Tuesday concluding that one of the teenagers was severely physically and emotionally abused by the treatments. The commission has referred the case to the Norfolk district attorney's office.
The videotapes compiled footage from cameras inside the home in Stoughton. An investigator with the commission, which examines abuse allegations and can refer cases for criminal prosecution, viewed the tapes and asked for a copy, according to the commission's report obtained by The Boston Globe.
But school officials declined, saying they "did not want any possibility of the images getting into the media." The investigator told the school to preserve a copy so state police could use it in their criminal investigation. A trooper later told the investigator the tapes had been destroyed.
School spokesman Ernest Corrigan said school officials worried the images would be leaked to the public, further disrupting the lives of the two students who were wrongly shocked.
Earlier this week, the school's founder and director Matthew Israel said the tapes were reviewed by several investigators and were not preserved because the investigation "seemed to be finished."
The Judge Rotenberg Center is the only one in the nation that uses shock treatments for its special education students, most of whom are mentally retarded, autistic or emotionally disturbed.
Parents praise the shock therapy as the only treatment that has helped their children, but critics say it's abusive and often administered for only minor infractions. State Sen. Brian Joyce, who has long sought to ban shock therapy from the school, said Israel and his staff should be investigated for obstruction of justice.
"I believe the tape was intentionally destroyed because it was incriminating," said Joyce, a Democrat. "I intend to ask the attorney general to investigate."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqyb ... QD8U8CD707 (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqyb1VTkV4O4FXoTfCCDh_yWvLYQD8U8CD707)
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Parent details toll taken by shocks at group home
Blames poor weekend staff
A Taunton man said his 19-year-old emotionally disturbed son seemed to be thriving at a group home, run by the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, before staff members were duped into giving him 77 punishing electric shocks one night last summer.
In his first interview since the incident, Charles Dumas said his son had difficulty controlling his aggression since he was a child and had been in and out of a dozen special schools. His son had been put on so many psychotropic drugs that "he was drooling," Dumas said.
Then in spring 2006, the Department of Social Services, which had oversight of his son's care, placed him at the Canton-based Rotenberg school, a residential special needs facility where over half of the more than 200 students receive skin shocks as part of a behavior-modification program.
Dumas, in a telephone interview Wednesday night, said he didn't like the idea of shock treatments, but soon noticed that his son's behavior was improving. His son wore a battery-operated device, with electrodes attached to various parts of his body, that administers 2-second skin shocks. In fact, in the first year and a half of his stay at the Rotenberg school, the teenager received a total of 10 shocks and none after October 2006.
But, according to graphic details from a state investigative report made available to the Globe this week, his son encountered a night of horror on a weekend last August, after experiencing 10 months without any shocks.
The incident, triggered by a caller who pretended to be a central office supervisor giving punishment orders, is now the subject of a criminal investigation. The case was also the focus of a State House hearing this week as lawmakers considered a bill that would severely restrict the school's shock-treatment programs.
The report, issued by the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, outlined a motive for the hoax: The alleged caller, Stephen Ferrer-Torres, a runaway from the group home who has not since been located by police, asserted to other students that he had been bullied by Dumas's son and another resident, who received 29 wrongful shocks based on the caller's instructions, according to the report. The Globe is not identifying the two residents who were shocked because they were victims of abuse.
In the report, the commission gave a harsh assessment of the group home's staff. It found that three of six staff members assigned to the Stoughton group home had been employed for less than three months. Two had repeatedly failed basic training tests, and two had been on probation for various infractions.
After the hoax call came in at about 2 a.m. Aug. 26, according to the report, Dumas's son told staff numerous times that they were violating his shock treatment protocol and suggested that the caller may be a prankster. At one point, he said, "Get on the phone and find out what is going on. . . ." The 77 shocks he received were, in part, based on his unwillingness to passively receive the shocks.
The account in the report was based on videotapes of the incident from Rotenberg's surveillance cameras, which were shown to investigators before school officials destroyed the tapes in early October.
Investigators found that a half-hour standoff occurred in the hallway, with Dumas's son at one end and the rest of the staff at the other end, including Bartholomew George, a rookie employee who was in phone contact with the caller and initiated the shocks. Soon after that, Dumas's son took out the batteries of his shock device, holding them out like weapons, the report said.
But after that, the staff tied Dumas's son to a board, restraining all four limbs. The teenager, resigned to his fate, said, "Let them know I'm being compliant."
During the next hour, he received dozens of rapid-fire shocks to his abdomen and limbs, which in fact violated his treatment plan. At one point, he complained, "Mister, I can't breathe."
On tape, the staff recounted the reasons for different shocks, including swearing, verbal threats, and noncompliance. Of the two power levels of shock treatments used by the school, Dumas's son received the most powerful each time, school officials have said.
Shift supervisor Michael Thompson, on the job for two months, left the room at one point, saying he wanted to "either cry or throw up," the report said.
When it was over around 5 a.m., Dumas's son was not returned to his own bed, but placed, ironically, in the bed emptied by the runaway who allegedly placed the hoax call.
Dumas said in the interview that hours later he received a call from his son's therapist, telling him, "something terrible happened." Dumas, a single father, said he phoned his son that day, and his son told him he was medically fine, but was extremely scared and upset.
"He did get angry," said Dumas, who said he visited his son the following weekend.
A nurse's report indicated that the teenager, described by the father as about 6-foot-4 and more than 200 pounds, had "reddened areas on his torso, but that the skin was not broken."
Dumas said Rotenberg officials have been very responsive, transferring his son to a different group home and taking him off all shock devices. The state is also in the process of transferring his son to a different school.
After the incident, Dumas's son was also given many rewards and privileges at the school to alleviate his distress. The teenager was also given a cellphone for emergency use by the school, which has initiated a number of changes to address the problems raised by the incident.
Dumas said his son sees the incident as a mistake. The second victim of the incident has since left for another school.
The father said he has tried to keep perspective on the incident, blaming poor weekend staffing for what transpired that night. He said the home had many immigrants who had difficulty giving even simple directions in English.
"On the weekends, they have a lot of people who don't speak good English and are fearful of losing their jobs," Dumas said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... roup_home/ (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/19/parent_details_toll_taken_by_shocks_at_group_home/)
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Regarding the first article (two posts back), namely, Official: Video Destroyed in Shock Case (http://http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqyb1VTkV4O4FXoTfCCDh_yWvLYQD8U8CD707)...
Earlier this week, the school's founder and director Matthew Israel said the tapes were reviewed by several investigators and were not preserved because the investigation "seemed to be finished."
Does this response fool ANYone? Seems to be very typical of Israel... He knows better than anyone else does, re. what's best for his clients. He knows even better than the Disabled Persons Protection Commission investigating this latest fracas, and which "can refer cases for criminal prosecution."
The Disabled Persons Protection Commission had clearly requested a copy. How much clout does the DPPC actually have? Does a "request" carry the same weight as a legal warrant? It would appear that Matthew Israel is exploiting this potential ambiguity.
"I believe the tape was intentionally destroyed because it was incriminating," said Joyce, a Democrat. "I intend to ask the attorney general to investigate."
NO SHIT.
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In one of the most powerful defenses of the school, Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, a Democrat from Boston, said the school has done more for his 31-year-old mentally retarded nephew than any other.
"He is alive today because of the [shock] treatment," Sanchez testified, while his nephew Brandon clung to him.
Brandon has been strapped to a shock device for 19 yrs.
He probably can't imagine life without it. Perhaps he's been well indoctrinated that he'll end up deadinsaneorinjail without that be-all-end-all grace of his life: the GED.
JRC does not seem to hold greater independence and a more fulfilling life as prioritized goals for its clients. Israel has spoken before of using the GED as a life-long treatment, similar to how a diabetic might need insulin.
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Regarding the first article (two posts back), namely, Official: Video Destroyed in Shock Case (http://http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqyb1VTkV4O4FXoTfCCDh_yWvLYQD8U8CD707)...
Here is a more flushed-out version of that same article, with a few more details...
Oh, man... OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE 101! And what kind of a brain-washed lackey is Ernest Corrigan anyhow? He's putting his neck right out there on the chopping block. When the axe falls, it's not going to be Matthew Israel who gets separated from his means of locomotion...
The Boston Globe
Report says shock tapes destroyed against order (http://http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/18/report_says_shock_tapes_destroyed_against_order/)
By Patricia Wen
Globe Staff / January 18, 2008
Top officials at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center destroyed videotapes at the focus of an investigation into alleged abuse at one of its group homes after being ordered by state investigators to preserve the tapes, according to a report obtained by the Globe.
The tapes, a compilation of footage from video cameras inside the group home in Stoughton, recorded an August 2007 incident in which staff wrongfully administered dozens of shocks to two emotionally disturbed teenagers, after a caller posing as a supervisor professed to be delivering orders from the school's director and a chief aide. One student received 77 shocks, the other 29.
An investigator with the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, which examines abuse allegations and can refer cases for criminal prosecution, viewed the tapes as part of her inquiry and asked Rotenberg officials if she could have a copy of them, according to the commission's report on the incident. School officials declined, saying that the school "did not want any possibility of the images getting into the media," according to the report, which was obtained by the Globe.
The investigator then directed the school to preserve a copy of the tapes for use by State Police conducting a criminal investigation. She was later told by a trooper, who apparently attempted to view them that "the images were not preserved by JRC."
Matthew Israel, founder and director of the school, did not return a phone call yesterday to discuss the tapes, but a school spokesman, Ernest Corrigan, said that school officials did not want to keep the tapes out of fear they would end up in the hands of the media or on the Internet, further upsetting the lives of the two victims in the Aug. 26 incident. He said investigators from the commission held an "exit interview" on Sept. 30 with school staff, leading them to believe there was no more need to keep the tapes.
In an interview with the Globe earlier this week, Israel said the tapes had been reviewed by several investigators soon after the August incident and were not preserved because the investigation "seemed to be finished."
He said the school normally keeps its recordings for about 30 days and then reuses the tapes.
Israel gave a similar explanation at the State House on Wednesday when asked about the tapes at a public hearing on a bill to restrict shock treatments at the school.
However, he did not mention being asked by state investigators to preserve the tapes.
The destruction of the tapes has led some critics of the school, the only one in the nation that uses shock treatments for special education students, to call for an investigation into whether Israel or his staff engaged in obstruction of justice.
"I believe the tape was intentionally destroyed because it was incriminating," said Senator Brian A. Joyce, a Democrat from Milton, who has long sought to ban shock therapy at the school. "I intend to ask the attorney general to investigate."
Lawyers with experience in state and federal prosecutions say that obstruction-of-justice investigations can be complex, but that they center largely on why a piece of evidence was destroyed.
"Any investigation would want to look into intent very closely," said Michael Ricciuti, a former prosecutor now in private practice in Boston.
The disclosure about the tapes occurs as the Disabled Persons Protection Commission is preparing for a public release of its findings Tuesday.
Its report concludes that one of the teenage students was severely physically and emotionally abused by the incident. The commission has referred the case to the Norfolk district attorney's office.
The Rotenberg school has more than 200 students, most of whom are mentally retarded, autistic, or emotionally disturbed. It has about 900 staff members.
Started by Israel in 1971, the residential school has attracted nationwide controversy for its unorthodox behavioral-modification techniques, which include the administration of two-second skin shocks as a way to deter violent or disruptive behavior.
Critics say that such shocks are often given for relatively minor infractions, such as swearing or leaving a seat without permission.
After failing twice in the past two decades to close the school, opponents have embraced a bill pending in the Legislature that would allow shocks only to stop students from hurting themselves or others.
Leo Sarkissian - executive director of The Arc of Massachusetts, a grass-roots organization representing people with intellectual disabilities - said he was outraged to learn that investigators no longer have the tapes, saying the destruction of the recordings shows "a lack of integrity" by Israel and his staff.
But Corrigan, spokesman for the school, said such assertions are unfair, adding that school officials voluntarily set up video cameras to monitor the staff and student performance.
"There is no obligation to hold on to these tapes for any length of time," he said.
Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
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In one of the most powerful defenses of the school, Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, a Democrat from Boston, said the school has done more for his 31-year-old mentally retarded nephew than any other.
"He is alive today because of the [shock] treatment," Sanchez testified, while his nephew Brandon clung to him.
Brandon has been strapped to a shock device for 19 yrs.
He probably can't imagine life without it. Perhaps he's been well indoctrinated that he'll end up deadinsaneorinjail without that be-all-end-all grace of his life: the GED.
JRC does not seem to hold greater independence and a more fulfilling life as prioritized goals for its clients. Israel has spoken before of using the GED as a life-long treatment, similar to how a diabetic might need insulin.
In 1994, the Boston Globe reported that JRC shocked a 52 pound autistic male 5,300 times in just one day. That report was referring to Brandon Sanchez.
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Only a federal law can close JRC. If it closes in Massachusetts, it can reopen in any number of places. We have to outlaw torture of children in this country.
There are parents who want this center - who want this treatment. If not in Massachusetts they will find a way to get the center rebuilt somewhere else.
There were people who wanted the gas chambers of Nazi Germany too. Some of them were parents. Some of them were educated people. Just because people want something does not make it right. We as a country must make a stand that torture of children - no matter what the reasoning - is always wrong.
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JRC is violating Massachusetts restraint laws http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/123-21.htm (http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/123-21.htm)
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Didn't the move from Rhode Island to Massachusetts involve something similar? In Rhode Island, they went by a different name, Behavior Research Institute... I was under the impression that the move to Canton, MA was due to local opposition in Rhode Island. The name change to Judge Rotenberg Center came after the first major legal battle in Mass., when Matthew Israel found himself a real champion on the bench.
Urs - not logged in
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The Behavior Research Institute (BRI) was forced to shut down and move elsewhere following the 1990 torture and murder of Linda Cornelison (http://http://www.normemma.com/lcorneli.htm).
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Investigative reporter Lucy Gwin of the disability rights magazine MOUTH (785-272-2578: fax 785-272-7348) has seen important video footage smuggled out by an employee of the Judge Rotenberg Center. The footage shows a well-known high-level staff member carnally amusing himself while watching videotapes of himself previously inserting objects (including electrically charged objects) into body cavities of the children and teenagers brought to his office for the administration of this privately given extreme aversive technique which the staff member calls "probing."
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Okey dokey. Next YLF stop should be JRC. Anybody disagree here?
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The Behavior Research Institute (BRI) was forced to shut down and move elsewhere following the 1990 torture and murder of Linda Cornelison (http://http://www.normemma.com/lcorneli.htm).
"aversives"... Why not just call a spade a spade and say "hey.. we abuse, torture, and/or otherwise instill terror into your kid until he learns 'good' behavior". This shit is not far short of what somebody lke Josef Mengele would do in the name of science.
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I want to choke a few of those so called advocates. HOW about we stop shocking those kids all together?
How about we start shocking the politicians*. Hey. If it's not painful at all, why not let the general public have a little taste of what these "aversives" entail. I'll volunteer. But I'd really have to insist on choosing one randomly off an actual kid. I'm not entirely confident they don't up the juice for internal use.
*Just kidding (i have to say that)...
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They really do eat up your bullshit here with a smile, Psy. Maybe if they knew what you were saying on YIM they might think twice about giving you admin status. If they knew what you were really doing with their IP's, perhaps? That's right, if you don't cut it out, I will post all our conversations and let everyone know what is really going on behind the scenes. From this point on, it's all up to you. They probably still think the forum switch was all about an "upgrade"? Baa Baa Baa go the sheep, right, Psy?
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Fuck off, pussy. Get some balls and login if you want a shred of respect while cutting someone like psy down.
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They really do eat up your bullshit here with a smile, Psy. Maybe if they knew what you were saying on YIM they might think twice about giving you admin status. If they knew what you were really doing with their IP's, perhaps? That's right, if you don't cut it out, I will post all our conversations and let everyone know what is really going on behind the scenes. From this point on, it's all up to you. They probably still think the forum switch was all about an "upgrade"? Baa Baa Baa go the sheep, right, Psy?
Sure.. post the conversions. Please do. Your move.
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Can we prune out threats against Psy and put them in their own thread?
And yes.. lets zap some pols! George Miller goes first.
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Moving right along, back to the topic at hand... I do believe this is a more local version (with more details) about the same family noted in the recent Boston Globe article Parent details toll taken by shocks at group home (http://http://fornits.com/smf/http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=306387#p306387). That latter piece was written mostly from the perspective of the father. Apparently, the mother is not so gung-ho, hesitantly describing it here as "medieval to me."
Jan 22, 2008
Former Silver Lake student shocked 77 times in prank at Judge Rotenberg Center (http://http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2008/01/22/news/news/news15.txt)
By Tom Benner, Gatehouse news service
BOSTON• The divorced parents of a special education student victimized in an electric skin shock prank at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center say the punishing therapy shouldn't be banned outright.
"A lot of people think it is some kind of crazy electrocution," said Charles Dumas of Halifax, whose son formerly attended Silver Lake regional schools.
The son, now 19, was given 77 painful skin shocks over a three-hour period in the early morning hours on Aug. 26.
Dumas' son was one of two students at the center who were wrongfully shocked in a harrowing night that is detailed in a new state report released today.
The report concludes the Halifax teen was severely physically and emotionally abused by the wrongful treatments.
The other student, age 16, received 29 shocks.
"My son has been in and out of a lot of places and so highly medicated that he would drool," Dumas said. "He was behaving better than he ever had at JRC. He's made huge leaps and bounds since he's been there."
The teenager's mother, Dawn Dumas of Taunton, also said in a separate interview that her emotionally troubled son seemed to improve at the JRC.
"It's medieval to me," Dawn Dumas said of skin-shock therapy, "but I guess it helps."
Today's report by the state Disabled Persons Protection Commission says the couple's son was placed at the school in March 2006, with the Silver Lake Regional School District and the state Department of Social Services paying for his tuition at the Rotenberg center, which costs about $210,000 per student annually.
The report says the teen, who name is not being released because he was a victim, had problem behaviors, including "aggressive, health dangerous, destructive, impulsive, noncompliant, and sexually inappropriate behaviors."
The report says the teen had been "totally happy" at the Rotenberg center until the Aug. 26 incident, saying he had seldom been subject to electric shocks and that he had "changed dramatically."
The report says the teen suspected the phone calls ordering that he be punished were a prank and told group home staffers as they administered skin shocks, "when have you ever known someone to call and give GEDs (graduated electronic decelerator, or skin shocks) over the phone?"
Charles Dumas declined further comment because his son still lives at the Rotenberg center. The second victim in the case, who was from Virginia, has since left the school.
DPPC investigators identify the prank caller as Stephen Ferrer-Torres, a former student who had "eloped," or run away, before making the prank calls as an apparent retaliation. His whereabouts are unknown by investigators conducting a criminal investigation.
A former Rotenberg center employee who worked with Ferrer-Torres doesn't believe skin-shock therapy helped him.
"He's done something bad, but he's not a bad kid," said Greg Miller of Newtonville, who now works at a school for autistic children.
Miller, who worked at the Rotenberg center for three years before leaving in 2006, said he sometimes couldn't administer skin shocks.
A spokesman for the school did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Skin shocks and other so-called "aversive" therapies are needed to treat many of the school's more than 200 autistic, retarded or emotionally disturbed students, school officials maintain.
Critics maintain the two-second skin shocks are physically abusive and are pushing state lawmakers to restrict or ban the treatments.
The Aug. 26 incident at one of the school's group homes in Stoughton was caught on tape by camera monitors.
The Rotenberg center officials destroyed copies of the tape despite an order by state investigators to preserve copies.
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I've found someone with personal accounts of being a former student at the JRC. Read his blog here:
http://www.xanga.com/jrc_blogger (http://www.xanga.com/jrc_blogger)
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the Justice
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF BRAINDEIS UNIVERSITY
Robinson '11 testifies in Rotenberg hearing (http://http://media.www.thejusticeonline.com/media/storage/paper573/news/2008/01/29/News/Robinson.11.Testifies.In.Rotenberg.Hearing-3173803.shtml)
by Sarah Bayer
News | 1/29/08
Posted online at 3:16 AM EST on 1/29/08
Seven members of Brandeis Students Against the Judge Rotenberg Center attended a Jan. 16 hearing of the Massachusetts legislature's Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities, which is considering six bills intended to scale back or eliminate the practices of the Judge Rotenberg Center, a school for children with special needs located in Canton, Mass.
The hearings were about aversive shock therapy's safety and effectiveness in treating behavioral disorders. House Bill H109 bans the use of aversive shock in the commonwealth of Massachusetts; another bill limits it to severe cases, and the students said the other four bills add technical details to the original two.
Nathan J. Robinson '11 testified before the committee on behalf of the campus group, which is seeking to stop the use of aversive shock therapy at the center largely through measures such as letter-writing campaigns, calling state legislators and posting on political blogs. The students also presented a petition signed by 644 Brandeis students calling for JRC's closure.
Robinson presented the petition and discussed how BSAJRC got started. He testified about the group's moral objections to aversive shock, including the fact that there are no scientific or legal assertions in support of shock therapy.
Robinson described his experience testifying as "very, very intimidating" because it was preceded by hours of listening to "depressing and moving" testimony by parents of JRC students favorable to the center.
In response to JRC founder Dr. Matthew Israel's testimony discussing measures taken to prevent mistaken shocks, club member Liza Behrendt '11 said she was surprised at "how unknowledgeable he was about his own institution." Lev Hirschhorn '11 said the hearings helped him realize "the sorry state of the medical system in America" that treats those with disabilities as criminals.
Robinson expressed emotional apprehension over the issue, and said that a parent approached him after the hearing and told him, "You're young, and you don't understand."
JRC representative Ernie Corrigan sees the club's existence as "a clear sign that people don't understand what happens at JRC." However, Robinson and the other members maintain their conviction that "the disabled do have basic rights," which the JRC has violated.
According to Hirschhorn, BSAJRC advocates a "complex way of dealing" with behaviorally challenged individuals including limited use of drugs, positive reinforcement techniques such as "modeling", as opposed to the JRC's system of punishments and rewards. "Every kid is the wrong kid to be shocked," Hirschhorn says. Corrigan said, however, that, "if they're not getting help there, then they're not getting help."
Although Dr. Israel invited club members to the JRC, plans to visit were put on hold last semester when a representative asked that the club instead host a group of JRC parents.
Corrigan said the invitation for JRC parents to come to Brandeis was revoked because the club's "sole mission is opposition to JRC" and JRC administrators did not feel they had made a genuine attempt at "fact-finding and trying to understand what aversive therapy is about."
In September, Robinson told the Justice that "we've read news articles, consulted Web sites and heard many different perspectives about the use of aversive therapy. We really feel that we have all the facts." Hirschhorn said club leaders are still hoping to arrange a visit to the JRC this semester.
BSAJRC has communicated with students at other colleges and is one of about 20 other disabled rights organizations that oppose aversive shock therapy. The club intends to expand its grassroots efforts this semester. According to Hirschhorn, members have been in communication with former JRC employees who oppose the Center and a former student. These contacts, however, will not come to speak at Brandeis because they wish to remain anonymous.
The club faces an uncertain future if legislation regulating the JRC passes, but according to Robinson, it may expand its mission to "campaign for better mental health services" in general.
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Another student article, different institution...
THE COMMENT
BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE'S STUDENT RUN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1927
Judging the Judge: An Examination of the Judge Rotenberg Center (http://http://media.www.bsccomment.com/media/storage/paper662/news/2008/02/07/Opinion/Judging.The.Judge.An.Examination.Of.The.Judge.Rotenberg.Center-3195291.shtml)
Michelle Lyons
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Opinion
The number of children admitted to residential treatment facilities continues to rise. How does a parent decide which institution is the best fit for their child? Which facility will nurture their child and elicit true progress? There's no formula here, you have to take a chance, and place your faith in complete strangers. I wish I could tell you every program is equally helpful and attentive. I wish I could tell you children are always respected while in their care. For the large part, I think most people believe this, I know I did.
One day, I was looking for a job at such a facility. I wanted to work with children, and as a psychology major and an aspiring therapist it seemed like a dream job. I scoured the papers and came across an ad for the Judge Rotenberg Center. They were offering a large sign on bonus and no experience was necessary. It sounded too good to be true. They listed a website, so I figured I'd go explore. What I found gave me goose bumps and made my stomach turn.
When you visit their website, http://www.judgerc.org/ (http://www.judgerc.org/), you are greeted with a colorful homepage, their logo a sun rising behind a rainbow. They seem inviting and caring. They think they are. They describe themselves as a "special needs school in Canton, Massachusetts serving both high-functioning students with conduct, behavior, emotional, and/or psychiatric problems and low-functioning students with autistic-like behaviors. Some of our key features include consistent behavioral treatment; minimal or no psychotropic medication; near-zero rejections/near-zero expulsions; powerful, varied rewards; one computer per student; behavior charts online; digital video monitoring; and beautiful school and residences." They still sound pretty normal. The disturbing aspect comes when you explore what exactly their consistent behavioral treatment entails.
The Center uses supplementary skin-shock as an aversive therapy. When a child displays an unwanted behavior, electrodes placed on various part of the body electrically shock the child. These electrodes remain on the child 24 hours a day. Think shocking is bad enough? It gets worse. One source notes, "It's the only school in the US that allows painful shocks of children, sometimes tying them down for long sessions of shocks. 'Hot-saucing,' extreme food deprivation, and other corporal punishments are routine and frequent." http://www.nospank.net/jrc-1.htm (http://www.nospank.net/jrc-1.htm)
Any staff can distribute such punishment. If I were hired, and underwent brief training, I would get my own buzzer. I would be shocking children. I could never live with myself. I have worked at two facilities that did not use any aversive therapies. I have seen children progress and grow through nurturing and non-physical consequences. I know first hand that it is not necessary to see improvement.
I'll play the devil's advocate and admit such treatment has been proven effective in some circumstances. However, can such progress be due to simply scaring a child well? Even given its effectiveness, can such treatment be considered just? Where can we draw the line and start calling such treatment abuse?
I am shocked and disgusted that such treatment isn't illegal. The Center has been investigated several times, and somehow it manages to continue with such horrific punishment. The time for change is now. Look at the website for yourself, it's real. Is their version of "tough love" justified? I urge you to join me in my battle to raise awareness and put an end to such torture. There is an amendment (#765) currently in review that would ban such punishment in the state of Massachusetts. Please contact our representatives and urge them to vote yes. Letters can be sent to House Speaker Sal DiMasi (Rdeleo@hwm.state.ma.us (http://mailto:Rdeleo@hwm.state.ma.us)), Rep. Marie St. Fleur (Rep.MarieSt.Fleur@hou.state.ma.us), and Rep. Vinny deMacedo
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From the "COMMENTS" Section for this article in my previous post (http://http://fornits.com/smf/http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=308360#p308360):
THE COMMENT
BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE'S STUDENT RUN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1927
Judging the Judge: An Examination of the Judge Rotenberg Center (http://http://media.www.bsccomment.com/media/storage/paper662/news/2008/02/07/Opinion/Judging.The.Judge.An.Examination.Of.The.Judge.Rotenberg.Center-3195291.shtml)
Michelle Lyons
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Opinion
paul kelly
posted 2/07/08 @ 9:04 PM EST
Hi Michele... Great article about the JRC. As a person who lives in Canton near the JRC I keep an eye on what goes on there. They had a student overpower a 19 year old woman and jump out a bus on interstate rt. #95 and die. They can't keep help because of low wages and staff treament.
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The Patriot Ledger
Report: Third student targeted in shock-prank (http://http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2008/02/09/news/news08.txt)
By TOM BENNER
Patriot Ledger State House Bureau
Transmitted Saturday, February 09, 2008
BOSTON - A third emotionally disturbed student might have been an additional victim in an Aug. 26 skin-shock prank at a group home in Stoughton run by the Judge Rotenberg Education Center, a new state report says.
The report, by the Department of Social Services, reveals a 15-year-old boy from New York was present when employees administered dozens of shocks to two other students on the instructions of a prank caller posing as a supervisor.
The other two victims were a 19-year-old from Halifax, who was shocked 77 times, and a 16-year-old from Virginia, who was shocked 29 times.
The report, released shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, said the 15-year-old had been an intended victim but was inconclusive about whether he was given wrongful skin shocks at the direction of the prank caller. DSS Commissioner Angelo McClain declined through a spokesman to comment further. A criminal investigation by the Norfolk County District Attorney is ongoing.
School spokesman Ernie Corrigan said the report is vague about whether the third student had been subject to abuse or neglect.
The report supports one of two allegations of physical abuse by two JRC staff members, and 15 allegations of neglect by eight staff members.
Seven employees were fired in October for their involvement in the incident after an initial state investigation found a series of errors and missteps by the staff.
Critics of the Canton-based school - the only one in the country believed to use skin shocks to punish misbehavior - say the report is further proof that so-called aversive therapy at the school is cruel and inhumane.
"It's another agency supporting what I've been saying all along: this place is out of control," said Sen. Brian A. Joyce, a Milton Democrat seeking to pass legislation banning or restricting the use of electric skin shocks.
The school has more than 200 students, most of whom are mentally retarded, autistic or emotionally disturbed. School officials say the treatments are used in a minority of cases, and only with parental, medical, psychiatric and court approval.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 26, a former student phoned one of the school’s group homes in Stoughton and posing as a supervisor, ordered the students to be given shocks.
The Aug. 26 incident was recorded by video cameras. Rotenberg center officials destroyed copies of the tape despite an order by state investigators to preserve them.
Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com .
Copyright 2008 The Patriot Ledger
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Yanno, I think the bear needs to make these people his business.
And by that, I mean the binnis. After digestion proceeded by a mauling and thorough mastication!
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The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Children and Families has about two more weeks to make a decision regarding the Judge Rotenberg Center.
Please take a second to call the chairwomen of the committee and tell them to support H 109, a bill that would outlaw all aversive shock treatment.
Senator Spilka: 617-722-1640
Representative Coakley-Rivera: 617-722-2011
(wait for mailbox)
Optional Script:
Hello, my name is ________ and I'm from ________. I am calling to urge (Senator Spilka/Representative Coakley-Rivera) to take action against cruel aversive shock treatment in Massachsetts by supporting bill H 109. The treatment used at the Judge Rotenberg Center is inhumane and unsafe, and the prank call incident in August demonstrates this. The Commonwealth must work to provide alternative education opportunities to people with disabilities that do not involve the infliction of pain. Thank you.
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How is this progressing, now?