http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/ ... TE=DEFAULTState won't stop funding shock therapy school
By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state won't stop funding a school for disabled youths despite reports of "skin shocks" that sometimes injured students for minor offenses including sloppy appearance.
The decision means the state won't interrupt the $50 million a year in funding it provides to the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass., until its review is complete. The school cares for about 150 autistic and disabled children from New York.
But the state did take a step toward ending at least some shock treatments of New Yorkers at the school.
A state Board of Regents committee recommended that the state prohibit the use of automatic shocks - triggered by getting out of a seat, for example - and for shocks administered while a student is restrained.
If the full board agrees Tuesday, Rotenberg wouldn't be allowed to use the automatic, multiple or restrained shocking methods on New Yorkers beginning June 23, said Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Cort.
"Skin shocks," as Rotenberg calls the brief once-a-week sessions, could continue at Rotenberg pending the state's review, she said.
State Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn said Monday that the state is reviewing the data provided by the school.
He said the school didn't respond to the state's first request for information. The state's order last week to stop using some methods and correct conditions still stand, Dunn said, but the state will postpone any action on funding until the review is complete.
The school is one of many the state employs to provide intensive services for disabled New Yorkers when there are no open spots for them in New York state facilities. But only Rotenberg uses shock therapy after approval by the student's parents and his or her home school district.
In the letter released by the school, state officials wrote that there will be a continuing review of reported injuries to students.
"The department will take no action regarding your agency's eligibility for approval from the commissioner to receive public funds for the education of students with disabilities until our review is completed," according to the state's letter.
The school's attorney, Michael Flammia, said the state's findings weren't confirmed and that the educational and psychological experts sent to investigate the school were biased against shock therapy.
"The `findings' and `reports' constitute nothing more than uninvestigated claims by team members who intentionally ignored, and refused to consider when offered, the mountain of evidence demonstrating that there is no clear and present danger and that the treatment plans for the New York students are extremely effective and safe," the school's attorney wrote to the state.
Most families that send the children to the school support the limited use of shock therapy, which isn't used in New York state. Parents and students say the shocks, similar to bee stings that last a couple seconds in sessions once a week, have been more effective than medication for students.
The state's review team made an unannounced visit to the school in the spring after complaints and a lawsuit by a parent.
The state told the school last week it must "cease certain interventions that threaten the health and safety of students at the school. Failure to do so would affect its approval to serve New York state students."
The state team criticized the school's "combined use of mechanical restraints and simultaneous application of skin shock" to some students. In addition, "many students were observed as they arrived to and from school wearing leg and wrist restraints."
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