The school restrained your child or put them in isolation
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Even when school staff believe there's an emergency and must keep your child or others safe by limiting your child's movement or moving them to a separate place, there are certain things they're not allowed to do to your child. Learn what your options are if the school has used restraint or isolation on your child, including if your child receives special education services.
1. Fast facts
What are restraint and isolation?
A school may physically limit a student’s movement (may restrain them) or move them to a separate place (put them in isolation) only when school staff believe it’s needed in an emergency, because serious harm is about to happen otherwise.
Are there limits on restraint and isolation?
Under state law, school staff can’t use these to restrain a student:
- Pepper spray, mace, or sedatives (“chemical restraints”)
- Handcuffs, zip-ties, or belts (“mechanical restraints”)
- Pinning a student down or putting them up against a wall in a way that limits their breathing or blood flow
It’s okay for school staff to lightly touch or hold a student’s hand or wrist to escort or guide them in their schoolwork.
Does going to a sensory room count as isolation?
No. Isolation is keeping a student alone in a room or other enclosure and not letting them leave.
State law allows a student to agree or choose to go to a quiet space like a calming or sensory room for self-calming. It’s also okay to temporarily take a student to an unlocked area to carry out a positive behavior intervention plan. State law doesn’t consider either of these to be isolation procedures.
Will the school tell me if they use restraint or isolation on my child?
In Washington state, the school district is supposed to notify a student’s parent or guardian with a phone call and then in writing after restraining or isolating the student. The notice must be in the language you speak at home.
But the school may not let you know, even though the law requires this. You may find out in another way.
Example: Your child’s behavior at home has gotten worse, so you call the school to find out if their behavior there has also changed. The teacher agrees that your child’s behavior has also changed at school. In sympathizing with you, the teacher mentions that your child’s behavior took a turn after the school restrained or isolated your child.
You realize that this is the first you’re hearing about this from the school. You also realize that your child is probably acting out their shame or embarrassment over what happened to them.
No matter how you find out about a school using restraint or isolation, you should respond.