The academic and social challenges facing public schools are enormous. For example, the pressure to meet the demands of the current high-stakes testing environment and reach adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals has arguably never been greater (Luna & Turner, 2001; Sanders, 2003). The energy devoted to academics has supplanted the little time spent…

D. Smith replies to L. Polsgrove's criticisms of Smith's earlier article (EC 133 830) on seclusionary timeout for children with emotional/behavioral problems. Smith suggests that in several studies timeout was seen by the children as a way of relieving the classroom's stimulus overload. (CL)

A firm physical restraint procedure (physically holding the child from behind until all verbal and physical aggressions had ceased for 30 seconds) was effective in significantly reducing the aggressive responses of a 6-year-old severely emotionally disturbed male in a self-contained special education class. (Author/CL)

The author discusses the legal and administrative concerns, best professional practices concerns, and political concerns related to the use of physical restraint and time out procedures with seriously behaviorally disordered children. Among the points made are that the courts may consider such approaches to be cruel and unusual; that direct…

The use of punishment and time-out with 54 severely emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered children (7-13 years old) in a residential school and treatment program was examined. Both exclusion (E:TO) and isolation (I:TO) varieties of time-out were applied. In E:TO, the student was placed in a portion of the room not being used or in the…

Documented are the difficulties found in the use of ignoring and/or time-out procedures by parents of children with behavior problems in the home setting. (Author/IM)

Literature is reviewed on the use of timeout as exclusion and isolation with behavior problem children. Considerations in designing timeout procedures are noted, and the effectiveness of timeout when viewed as a punishment is discussed. Legal challenges to behavior modification uses are briefly addressed. A longitudinal study involving 29…

This 1-year study investigated use of isolation timeout as a behavioral control intervention with 156 students with emotional disturbance in a special educational facility. Results indicated that 13,000 separate timeouts occurred over the year. Average time in isolation was 23 hours per student. Older students in more restrictive settings spent…

Outlined are behavior management strategies for emotionally disturbed students who are partially mainstreamed. Appropriate behavior outside the classroom earns the child stamps. Inappropriate behavior inside the classroom results in warnings, penalty points, and time-out. On-task behavior is also rewarded with stamps, which may be accumulated for…