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NBC New York
A former teacher’s aide who says he used electric shocks on teens with special needs to control behavior is demanding that state officials ban the practice at a Massachusetts school.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 228,000 people had joined an online campaign condemning the Judge Rotenberg Education Center in Canton, Mass., for administering electric shock treatments to its students with developmental disabilities.
Greg Miller said he launched the petition drive on Change.org last week after a 2002 video surfaced showing a Rotenberg student being shocked 31 times.
“Support has been immense,” said Jonathan Perri, a senior campaigner at Change.org. “A lot of people from around the world have been signing the petition, watching the video. They can’t believe this is happening in Massachusetts.”
The Rotenberg center's unorthodox methods have been subject of lawsuits and media scrutiny, including an investigation by NBCNewYork.com, which first reported on the shock treatments in 2006.
Rotenberg school officials have said that the electric shock treatments are approved by physicians and that parents are involved in the care of their children.
A receptionist answering calls at the Rotenberg center said she would refer messages from msnbc.com to a publicist handling media inquires. Separate telephone calls to the media representative went unanswered.
Video of shock therapy shows life inside school for disabled kids
In the video showing him being shocked repeatedly, then-18-year-old Andre McCollins begs for relief. Miller said he worked at the center from 2003 and 2006, and during that time, he administered electric shocks to students with disabilities “so many times, I lost count.”
Charles Krupa / AP
Cheryl McCollins holds an umbrella as Greg Miller wheels petitions against shock treatments up the Statehouse steps, to be delivered to lawmakers on Wednesday.
The student's mother, Cheryl McCollins of New York, sued the school, alleging malpractice. During court proceedings, the judge allowed the video to be played as evidence, according to NBC News. A settlement was announced April 24, but its terms were not disclosed.
Since then, the video has been prominently displayed on Miller's page on Change.org, a popular website for social activism.
Miller said he has not met Andre McCollins, but Cheryl McCollins, who now lives in New York, was the first to sign Miller's petition. She wrote:
My son Andre McCollins was subjected to this torture at JRC. As a parent, I was not prepared for the inhumane manner in which they treated people. I expected logic and some form of reason to be applied to the students in addressing behaviors that were considered inappropriate. Parents are not told "corrective measures" particularly a painful shock is applied without any warning or concern for what triggered the targeted behavior. What was dangerous about keeping his coat on. THIS INSANITY HAS TO STOP.
'Bee sting'
In a video on the school's website, Matthew Israel, the school's former executive director, describes the use of the electric shock method, likening the procedure as the equivalent of a bee sting.
“It's not a bee sting. It is inhumane and it is torture,” Miller told msnbc.com.
According to Miller, students at the center wear electrodes on their bodies that are attached to a small device carried around in a staff member’s fanny pack. When the student acts out or violates a behavior, a staff member administers a shock, he said. A student could receive up to 30 shocks for a number of offenses, including standing up from a chair without permission, he said.
“I want to put an end to this practice all together in Massachusetts and help these students,” Miller said. “Not only should the school stop shocking students, Massachusetts legislators should ban the use of shocks altogether.”
'Extraordinarily disturbing'
On Wednesday, Cheryl McCollins and Miller hand-delivered boxes of petitions to Massachusetts lawmakers, including Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo. Attempts by msnbc.com to reach McCollins for comment was unsuccessful.
State Sen. Brian Joyce, a Democrat from Milton, Mass., criticized the state for allowing the practice to continue. “It is extraordinarily disturbing and only strengthens my resolve to stop this barbaric practice that takes place in my district,’’ Joyce said in a statement on his website.
Charles Krupa / AP
Cheryl McCollins holds an umbrella as she is embraced by Emily Titon, who is autistic, while petitions against shock treatments are loaded onto a hand cart, to be delivered to lawmakers, outside the Statehouse in Boston.
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I can't believe this is even allowed but to play devil's advocate here; How do you expect teachers, administrators and minimum wage associates to handle some of these aggressive and sometimes extremely violent mentally challenged students? Just let them destroy public property and risk the safety of other students and staff?
Nothing was destroyed. No one was in danger.
This is not a public school, but an educational facility, more like a daycare.
"What if" is no excuse for torture.
Most other facilities do not use such methods and are successful.
Sometimes "unacceptable" behaviors are symptoms of the disease and cannot be corrected.
Shall I go on?
these are not medical trained people, they have no idea what the hell is a dose enough to cause cardiac arrest, this is totally unacceptable vengeance ! they should all be arrested for agg. battery, child endangerment, and cruelty to a disabled person, put the bastards in jail.
The electrical shock may calm them for the moment, but trust me, that is not the thing to do long term.
Re-directing to positive behavior works much better. It takes more patience and blowing off some negative behavior. Once you get them on a positive system of direction, positive feedback, positive reinforcement, the bad behaviors just seem to melt away.
Negative actions should only be used when the safety of others is at stake.
I know what you mean, it can be hard, but I think we all know that this is asault. Just putting your hands on a police officer is assault. How is shocking someone not?
The headline is very misleading. "Shock Treatment" or ECT (electro convulsive therapy) is a totally different thing. It is used to treat severe depression and involves running a current through the brain. It causes the entire body to convulse and at least temporary memory loss. Applying a shock to pert of body to cause pain has been used in animal research and products to control behavior, such as the 'electric fence' for dogs. Use of either procedure on humans should be banned. Inflicting pain to control behavior is just plain wrong and might well lead to violent behavior is previously passive individuals.
Why the hell didn't this guy say something when he was the one with the cattle prod?
all sorts of people 'shut up', do what they're told to, to 'keep their jobs'. (think nazi guards and hitler underlings-they thought that was a good excuse-it wasn't and isn't) once the job is gone anyway...they feel 'free' to divulge.
Read the Milgram experiment.
KatetheBratt....REALLY?? Electric shock that feels like bee stings are ok? Bee stings HURT! There has to be a better way. We as a country cannot keep mistreating our disabled and developmentally challenged like criminals. As aparent I would NEVER condone torture of any person or animal! And thats what this is..TORTURE!
Is this like that thing that Bill Murry was using in Ghost Busters to study the effect of negative reinforcement on ESP ability?
OMG! I had no idea this went on anywhere! I'm so shocked my mouth is hanging open. Why wouldn't they use medication. This is abhorent!
I feel that this should be treated as, "An Amp, For, An Amp", kinda like an "An Eye, For, An Eye". Those whom administered this "PAIN", should be given the same treatment, as they so freely gave to someone else. IF a parent did that to their child, guess where they would be for doing what these people did to these children. A cattle prod is made for a much larger mammal, than these kids. What the hell is this nation coming to?
Doesn't the state of Massachsetts have statutes outlawing such practices? A doctor and a parent agree so its OK? Anyone remember Ashley the pllow angel who had breasts and reproductive organs removed as a child? this was done so that she would not get too heavy, not experience menses and not be impregnated by some male caregiver just in case. the parents and medical staff performed this barbaric surgery. This is OK? Apparently the Rotenburg center would support this. How about civil rights and professional ethics? These people are pathetic. The parents should lose custody of their children and the professionals should have their licenses revoked.
They don't even know who their parents are they've been so tortured, their parents have been made into just another staff member to them. Is this not reminiscent of experimentation and torture of chimpanzes for the benfit of science and human well being? That school should be completely shut down as well as any other like it. Those staff wacko's should be set for life in prison for allowing this kind of torture to go completely unchecked.
I guess we are lucky they didnt live in Salem! They would have been guilty of being witches and hung til dead.
What the hell is wrong with people? No one stops and thinks, "Why are we torturing disabled kids?"
Correct! Can you imagine the reaction if this was say Michael Vick doing this to dogs? He would be in prison already!
here is the solution for those that did not do gene testing before you mated. you, your mate, your family
should support them without outside funds, educate them in your home. but since you're too stupid,
not to mate when you have bad gene pool. you are unable to educate others. but this is your
problem. don't involve others to take the monetary and education costs for your offspring. get fixed.
You're an idiot. Looks like your parents are the ones who shouldn't have been mating.
Developmental disabilities that arise in children do not always, if at all, show up in the genes of parents, genius. And there is no "autism" gene located as-yet, only one that indicates a "high risk."
Madam, you are a vile, evil creature! Your comments and attitude are EXACTLY those espoused by the Third Reich. The first group that they murdered in mass were the disabled.
Bearing and raising special needs children is indeed difficult and, at first, heart breaking but there is something very special about the love they give and the growth of spirit they promote in those around them.
I pity you and any children that are exposed to you. If you haven't reproduced, DON'T! Your special kind of hate and bigotry is one of the things that mankind needs to grow out of and leave as an embarrassing period in our development.
gloria, you have "monetary" concerns? In case you didn't notice, this story is about mistreatment of human beings, specifically children.
I doubt you'll find many takers for a half-assed, "don't use my money to help your kids", "survival of the fittest", political BS argument here.
Gloria, if you consider yourself intelligent enough to reproduce, why don't you learn how to capitalize?
In case you are too ignorant to actually know this, the genes for most learning disorders have not been mapped. To the best of my knowledge, there are still a lot of active theories out there that learning disorders may be caused by contaminants, viral infections, or other environmental factors. Research is ongoing.
Your lack of empathy is appalling.
Uncool Gloria..VERY uncool
Thank you for your input Josefina Mengele.
It's ridiculous to pass judgment from afar. We don't deal with the students on a day-to-day basis. This shouldn't be a trial by internet. I have no idea what reasonable answer is, but I am in no position to determine such things and this is true for most people reading this story.
You shock rats in science experiments, not people. You do realize they are HUMANS...... Don't you??
Some of us do Terry, and there is NO rational reason for this. Has electric shock been shown, through scientific studies, to help these children? If it were, others in the field would be aware of it, and it would be a subject of much discussion and interest, you can bet. And it would still be controversial. This "school" has apparently been acting alone, silently, since at least 2002, with no supportive evidence.
Other facilities manage children's severe diabilities successfully, every day, without harming them.
This is not a "trial" by internet, only people reacting to something that sickens most of them, and that is a reasonable response.
Torture is always wrong. I specialized in the care of disabled people and whether from afar or not , shocking people is even worse torture when they cannot even understand the reasons or rules properly.
It is ridiculous to confront people let alone children with inducing pain when they do not understand the reason why. It makes the children that are subject to this misery getting an even longer road to developing themselves than when you stimulate and energize them in a positive way. Now they will develop a wrong way, as it is induced by fear of pain instead of invitation to act differently out of free will. Apparently children are not allowed to develop free will in the USA even when disabled.
I grew up with asbergers, though back then it wasn't diagnosed. I was labeled learning disabled, and was deaf for three years before they found out I couldn't hear due to a hole in my eardrum. When I was two they wanted to put me in a home where kids had helmets on and banged their heads against walls all day. My mom refused and sent me to therapy and worked with me every day. I started speaking when I was six, and went to school and graduated about ten years ago. I went to college and got a degree in Business Economics. I grew up in the system, I didn't go to that home, but I was put in "special ed" study hall.
I have seen a lot of kids, learning disabled, autistic, cerebral palsy and several others I even volunteered for a while in therapeutic riding. I would never, ever support electric shock therapy. Even in the worst cases, the school I went to only a thin wall separated the students who now are considered "high functioning" and "low functioning" disabilities. I heard screams, shouts, banging, one point one of the kids came from the other side and threw himself to the floor in a massive tantrum that disrupted everyone for a half hour. The workers were overwhelmed and stressed, that's for sure, but they never resorted to shock therapy. It's appalling and horrible that it's still allowed in other states, and it makes me sick that it happens.
I do agree, and I know a lot of people will hate me for saying this. But the students who are massively low functioning, if the high functioning ones who are going to be forced into study "special ed" halls, they shouldn't be near the low functioning area. It disrupts the students and causes us to lose focus. It got to the point where I literally begged my family to go to a regular study hall, but they still forced me to go to the other one for half a block each week. They also expect you to do tests in there and everything. Words can't describe how hard that is on someone with a disability.
The whole system is screwed up, and sadly, I don't see it changing soon.
Saranightfire: First, may I compliment you for your success with the written language. Your writing is more eloquent, and (to sound like a snob) gramaticaly well-presented than the majority of contributors on these newsvine posts. Second, while I had the distinct pleasure of working with an Aspergers individual (fellow Tech Writer), I didn't know a thing about it - until almost afterward - until just before we were separated permanently by bureaucratic incompetence (what else is new?).
Once again I manage to learn about something from someone who has "been there." Can you recommend something I might read that can give me some insight to Saperger's Syndrome? I'm not looking for politically correct stuff, or feel-good stuff. I seek gritty, hard-core been there, endured-that writing that can give me an insight, gives me an entre to empathy/sympathy. Am I making any sense? I want to. I want to understand.
Fred Craven....check your library for a book "Look me in the Eye". Written by John Robison. Very informative book written by a very successful man who lives it. Has some pretty humorous parts in it as well. I don't know of another book written on the subject which can enlighten someone any more! Woof!
Maybe Dick Cheney is running this school. I doubt he'd consider electrocution torture.
Barbaric !!
I thought we had moved beyond this cruel practice !!
Yes, it is called the Mega Million in Profits: Chemical Companies (Give them Legal DRUGS!), which all are represented nicely in congress, along with Comcast (porno in the homes), Montesano, Disney (Gay) Big Oil, and Bankers. Do you wonder that we as a people have fallen to the Mafia practices of such leaders? Wearing a mask is illegal, but prostitution and Gays marrying is legal. Everything WRONG has been made right, and what WAS Right has disappeared along with the Human Characteristics which RAISE us above the animals - But this is it: Lord of the Flies and something got to give. Good people need to grow a pair and make a stand against, evil - pure in simple human form - for that is 98% of our governmental body. And we now employ 5 government employees for every single human being - in all the data tracking and the 7 phases of SECRET Police, then all the other agencies - government is a big fat pig - and they are wallowing in @!$%#, and altering everyone's reality on the planet for their pathetic, ego-maniac ignorance that they are Somebody to God. I know differently.
When are they going to start EXTERMINATING them? That's my question! what are they going to do with the homeless? What are they going to do with the increased sickness from the increased chemicalized food and AIDs and all other Lab CREATED diseases. Or have they already begun? Euthanasia is what Hitler did to the mentally handicapped almost immediately.
Then you're saying they should start with you after your diagnosis, whatever that is.
I believe euthanasia and the extermination camps will be opened in mid November Makes me real proud of the government.
they aren't going to do anything-everything is working perfectly for them. the homeless, serve to keep the working poor from revolting-they just keep accepting less for more. and if they do decide to hook up with the homeless and bitch about it (occupy)-the upper middle-class (media)-can portray them to the middle class as @!$%#ters in the park who are just bums who want hand outs-effectively, causing the middle class to support the tools of the elite (cops). the middle class (mostly aging sell out boomers) are being effectively squeezed slowly of every dime they have in taxes, fees, medical costs and higher costs of living and oops!-too old/sick for a job! all very good for the elite. all the wars works really well for them and only them too. what would you have them change? it's all good for them.
Electro-shock therapy came out long ago and it isn't the way to go for anyone. If it could be used to re-wire brain issues within a few sessions *maybe* it would be beneficial. But in this use it is used as punishment and the one's who have control are the one's supposedly there to help. This is nothing short of mental and physical abuse. How would you like to sit at your work place everyday not knowing when the next electrical zap will come because you made a mistake or the boss saw you playing on facebook? As a parent of an autistic child i find it disgusting. God help anyone who were to abuse my kid! Anyone ever think these kids behavior issue might have been because of anxiety about when the next zapping session would be???
So, it's like using electronic shock collars to train dogs?
And nobody saw a problem with training disabled children with pain-fear responses?
OneFlewOverCuckoosNest revisited...
Clearly this is wrong but it sounds like the teacher's aide who used it as he stated more times than he could count by his own choice must have an ulterior motive to complain. Sounds like he's trying to get back at this school for some perceived wrong. I doubt he was forced to do it when he was there.
Its called reinforced behavior modification..literally brainwashing. If not just in plain sight it is a medical experiment that is out of control. All for the benefit of science, like chimpanzee research. You idiots that stand by it should go sign up for it.
To be the devil's advocate here...
Based on this article, it sounds like the treatment was blatantly overused and poorly integrated into any larger behavioral therapy program. But the fact that it is approved by physicians suggests that it must have some merit. I know some people have a very difficult time connecting an action with a negative reinforcement if it is not instant. It's a very effective training strategy for dogs. That is not to belittle disabled persons by comparing them to dogs, but rather to note that when cognitive skills are severely impaired, a clear and rapid and consistent approach like shocks may help train the brain to avoid certain behaviors. Perhaps something other than shock could be substituted, but I'm at a loss for ideas. I would think that the intensity of these shocks would be very mild - just enough to create discomfort, not agony - or else you would overwhelm a person with pain and fear and interrupt their ability to form rational thoughts about cause-and-effect. Just saying... maybe rigorous studies and professional guidelines would be more useful than a ban. The ability to behave functionally in society is of great value, and banning a treatment that achieves that (if it does) would be regressive. "Logic and some form of reason" may not be effective for everyone. If it was, then they'd probably be mainstreamed.
Yes, definitely stop shocking the poor kids. Everyone knows that Waterboarding is much more effective and all our leaders, especial Dick "Darth Vader" Chaney say this is not torture like electric shocks. And probably best each disabled kid gets Waterboarded every morning just to keep them in place and eager to get on with the day. America after all is the bastion of freedom, human rights and empowered by god to never do any wrong. (Time for me to puke.)
This is absolutely appalling and inexcusable. Any kind of electro-shock "treatment" to modify behavior is inhumane and nothing short of torture.
This is actually a common practice that goes on with people who suffer acute depression. They will shock the crap out of them. Yes people it does exist.
Shock therapy for depression is much different than shocking people to modify behavior. Not remotely comparable in practice, method or reason.
here in northwest indiana corporal punishment has been removed from the public school system...giving children electrical shocks as a form of "punishment" sounds like something that would happen in an animal care setting...or would that be too cruel to the animals?
ECT is safe and among the most effective treatments available for depression. With ECT, electrodes are put on the patient's scalp and a finely controlled electric current is applied. The current causes a brief seizure in the brain. ECT is one of the fastest ways to relieve symptoms in severely depressed or suicidal patients. It's also very effective for patients who suffer from mania or other mental illnesses.
ECT is generally used when severe depression is unresponsive to other forms of therapy. Or it might be used when patients pose a severe threat to themselves or others and it is dangerous to wait until medications take effect.
Although ECT has been used since the 1940s and 1950s, it remains misunderstood by the general public. Many of the procedure's risks and side effects are related to the misuse of equipment, incorrect administration, or improperly trained staff. It is also a misconception that ECT is used as a "quick fix" in place of long-term therapy or hospitalization. Nor is it correct to believe that the patient is painfully "shocked" out of the depression. Unfavorable news reports and media coverage have contributed to the controversy surrounding this treatment.
You do realize that ECT is a hard science method, and psychology is soft science, don't you? Enjoy your psycho babble, but you may find yourself on an island getting smaller and smaller by the day.
I guess Editori wrote before reading, as there no mention at all of psychology in "Logic's" statement. Additionally, psychology is not "soft science"; although some self-described psychology researchers may utilize scientific protocols, psychology is not remotely a science.
Logic -
The article was not about ECT. Read the article again.
P.S. Ironic name for an illiterate.