The Safe Room

These words were written by a middle school special education assistant (SEA) who prefers to remain anonymous:

As adults, we head off to work everyday expecting each day to be similar to the others. Nothing out of the ordinary, just, pretty much, the same old, same old. But one day a difference occurs. A pounding against a wall starts somewhere down the hallway. It gets louder and more frequent. Then, the yelling begins. At first, one considers the possibilities for such commotion and none of them are pleasant. A fight amongst workers? A disgruntled customer or client? The yelling turns to screaming and it unnerves everyone around. The explanation is that there is a problem and to keep on working, to simply ignore the disruption. It eventually stops. The next day and after that, several days a week the same incident happens. The length of the disturbance can last from 10 to 45 minutes. It is obvious that whoever is in this situation is in severe emotional distress. Still, all those working on that same floor are told to ignore it, even if it is making one physically uncomfortable to listen to these episodes.

Now, imagine that this is not an adult environment, but the building where your child attends school. The problem is a special education student who loses control and is put into the safe room. The child is to remain in the room until they can quiet themselves, which sometimes means, until they exhaust themselves. Obviously the pattern is not the same for each individual. But, one individual may have a pattern. Their level of coping in a school environment may reach its threshold at about the same time each day, resulting in a safe room experience after four or five hours in school attendance. The pattern created for them will be to hit their wall of frustration, have a time out (a loss of control) in the safe room and return to their SEA for the rest of the day.

Is this the educational model that best serves the special student and those who are told to ignore this behavior? Despite all the rhetoric surrounding what special education envelopes, the reality is a much different picture. In a perfect world, the best intentions are always fulfilled. It is time to strip away the illusions and work with what truly happens to all these students every day.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 5, 2006 8:42 PM
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