# Banning abuse at School in MA failed Updated and need immediate action #30



## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

I just found out that there is a "boot camp" for children in
Massachusetts!! Children are hit, painfully shocked for 10 seconds at a
time, "hot-sauced", denied food:
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...ticleid=136837
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...ticleid=136836
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedi...y-linews-print
http://mass.gov/mhlac/aversives_poly.htm

Tell the New York Education Dept. to stop sending children to this
center (they get most of their students from NY because this
"treatment" is illegal there)!
Please write them at [email protected] Also, tell
the Massachusetts Department of Education to shut them down:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/contact/qanda.asp?orgcode=COM
Please speak out for these abused children!! Thank you everyone!!
If this has already been addressed I am sorry. I tried a search and found nothing on the subject.


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## aira (Jun 16, 2004)

OK, raving judgements follow...

So this is endorsed by parents whose children are in so much pain that they are this out-of-control of themselves? And we listen to their endorsements of these methods, _why?_ Because these parents have been so successful in guiding their kids?

OMFG!

Yeah, the critics must all be wrong.







Give me a f-ing break!

[/rant]

Off to write to these ninnies...


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

Thank you Aira. I appreciate that. The whole thing is ridiculous.


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## darsmama (Jul 23, 2004)

I know we are not allowed to debate anything on activism, and I'm not trying too...Just trying to say what my initial thought was after reading the article:
Maybe these kids have such extreme behavioral issues that this helps? I don't know. I agree with it being barbaric, and I know next to nothing about behaviors such as this. I definetly wouldn't send my kid there no matter how bad their behavior was..But the lady whose child detached both retina's by banging her head with her hand??? Eek..
I don't know what to think of this.
I'll read more of the links.


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## aira (Jun 16, 2004)

Quote:

But the lady whose child detached both retina's by banging her head with her hand??? Eek..
This is disturbing, to be sure. But how can further violence commited against this child possibly help? What will come of her from electric shock, withholding of food, and beatings? Sounds like she's so used to that that she does it to herself.

What kind of life must these children have experienced that anyone could believe they _need_ to be treated so sub-humanely?


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## Red (Feb 6, 2002)

They do this to treat *autism????* Dear God, what is wrong with people?

My first thought was that was some old story, but then I saw you posted it, *afish*, and decided to read a few links. (I too, live in Mass)

My parents took foster kids, mostly teens, for 30 years. 40 troubled, neglected, abused, molested, angry boys and girls and not one of them needed a good slap or shock therapy. Those of you who know will know I do not look back fondly upon the experience, but this sounds like hell.

Have you read "the State Boys Rebellion" I think that there are a lot of similarities.


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## angelpie545 (Feb 23, 2005)

I knew of a boy who went to a "camp" similar to that one. I'm not sure of the methods used there, but he came out very disturbed. He's now fourteen and a raving meth addict who regularly steals cars.







It's so sad.


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## darsmama (Jul 23, 2004)

Back. Sorry it took me so long to reply.

Yes, I am now disgusted completely. This is no way to treat _*people*_ I emailed!


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## mumm (May 23, 2004)

I just need to say that electric shock therapy worked very well for my sister. She had 8 treatment sessions and feels it was one of the best forms of therapy she has had in 15 odd years of struggling with mental illness. She however was 20 at the time, although really working with the intelligence and experience of an 8/9 year old.

I have very mixed feeling on the whole mental illness/pharmaceutical industry but thought I would add one opinion from someone who has been there. fwiw.


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## Danelle78 (Dec 29, 2005)

8th Amendment mean anything in Mass???


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## aira (Jun 16, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Danelle78*
8th Amendment mean anything in Mass???

But these children are not incarserated. The parents and schools choose this for them.

Unless I understand this wrong.

I don't think the _state_ corrections could ever go this far.


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

Quote:

I don't think the state corrections could ever go this far.
To me this is the point. If the state can't go this far how/why would you let these people go this far. I wish I could find a site or something that speaks of the success/failure rates of this type of treatment. I have been looking.


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## Gitti (Dec 20, 2003)

Only in America! I don't think you will find that in any other industrialized nation. Why?


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## PikkuMyy (Mar 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *darsmama*
I know we are not allowed to debate anything on activism, and I'm not trying too...Just trying to say what my initial thought was after reading the article:
Maybe these kids have such extreme behavioral issues that this helps? I don't know. I agree with it being barbaric, and I know next to nothing about behaviors such as this. I definetly wouldn't send my kid there no matter how bad their behavior was..But the lady whose child detached both retina's by banging her head with her hand??? Eek..
I don't know what to think of this.
I'll read more of the links.

Nope. Autism is not a "behavioral issue". It is a biological condition that has many effects, behavioral being only one of them and most of that stemming from physical effects of autism.

I am so sad to hear about this being used as a "treatment". For shame...

(I have been working with people with autism for 7 years and am about to receive my MA in special education.)


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## kalisis (Jan 10, 2005)

wow...how terrible. thanks for the linkies.


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

This update came into my e-mail today with this article. Hope you find it informative.

A question of 'tough love' vs. torture

By Scott Allen, Globe Staff | May 22, 2006

CANTON -- When New York regulators meet today to consider limiting a
Massachusetts school's use of electric shocks as punishment, it will
not
be the first time that states have tried to rein in the unorthodox
methods at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center.

Massachusetts officials tried to close the school in 1985 after a
student with autism died while being forced to listen to loud static
through a helmet. They tried again in the mid-1990s when the school
began giving mild shocks to students for misbehavior.

Each time, judges protected the Rotenberg Center, siding with parents
who said the school had improved the lives of children with autism,
mental retardation, and emotional problems after gentler methods had
failed. And doctors concluded the death was caused by the student's
neurological disorder.

Now, the center -- the only school in the country to rely so heavily on
painful punishments -- faces a challenge from the state that supplies
almost two-thirds of its 251 students. Today, the New York Board of
Regents is scheduled to debate emergency regulations that would
severely
limit electric shock and other corporal punishment on students from New
York after one New York teen complained that the shocks were a form of
torture.

"Mommy, you don't love me anymore 'cause you let them hurt me so bad,"
sobbed the former Rotenberg Center student, Antwone Nicholson, 17, to
his mother, Evelyn, according to her sworn statement. The family plans
to sue the state of New York for $10 million for sending the teen to
the
school where he received 79 two-second shocks over a year and a half.

If New York adopts the rules, Rotenberg officials would need permission
from a panel of three specialists for each child they want to shock, in
addition to the court and parental approval they already obtain. The
limits on the use of electric shock could require a fundamental change
in the school's methods -- currently half the students, including 77
from New York, wear electrodes so that teachers can shock them.

But Matthew Israel, the psychologist who founded the school in 1971, is
counting on parents to mount an eloquent defense against the limits.
They have written 82 letters in support of the school that are posted
on
its website, www.judgerc.org.

"When you first hear about a school that uses skin shock, it's shocking
if you don't understand the severity of the mutilation that the
students
would otherwise engage in," Israel said.

The debate over the private residential school -- which costs local
school districts and states more than $200,000 per student each year --
boils down to whether there are children who pose such a danger to
themselves that an electroshock version of "tough love" is justified.

Mark Fridovich, deputy commissioner of mental retardation, said in a
recent interview, "There are a small number of people who have very
severe and frequently multiple problems where other treatments have
proven to be ineffective. . . . For this small number, what the Judge
Rotenberg Center has done has proven to be effective." More than 60
Massachusetts children and adults attend the school.
Article Tools

But many others say electric shock violates human rights. This year, 20
advocacy groups are pushing a bill in Massachusetts to ban the
punishments used at Rotenberg.

"We don't do this to prisoners in the criminal justice system, so we
shouldn't be doing it to people with disabilities," said Leo
Sarkissian,
executive director of the ARC of Massachusetts, an advocacy group for
people with mental retardation.

At first blush, the Rotenberg Center seems more like a theme park.
Rooms
are filled with statues and posters of cartoon characters, chandeliers
that glisten like disco balls, and plush, brightly colored furniture.
But a close look at the neatly dressed students shows that about 50
percent have electrodes strapped to their arms or legs and that the
teachers carry activation switches on their belts inside clear plastic
boxes, each labeled with a child's photo.

Student Catherine Spartichino received her first shock after an
obscenity-laced rant at a teacher who would give her only half a bagel.
With the push of a button, the teacher sent a startling burst of energy
into Spartichino's forearm that the 19-year-old remembers vividly four
years later.

"They zapped me!" recalled Spartichino, a suicidal teen who was made to
wear three electro-shock devices. ''It feels like you stick your finger
in an electric socket for two seconds, and the tingling didn't stop
right away."

Spartichino now believes the electrodes, called "gradual decelerator
devices," turned her away from "suicidal gestures" like banging her
head
until she was black and blue. This month, she graduates from the school
and expects to attend college in the fall.

However, one former Rotenberg Center employee said that other students
endure far more pain than Spartichino, especially the 15 to 20 who are
equipped with higher-powered devices that deliver 45 milliampere shocks
-- 4 1/2 times stronger than the standard shocks. Greg ******, a former
teacher's assistant for more than three years, said one boy with autism
was shocked by the higher-powered device so often that he had "burn
scabs all over his torso, legs, and arms," forcing nurses to remove the
electrodes for weeks so that his skin could heal.

State Police are investigating his allegations.

Rotenberg officials deny that the unnamed student was burned, saying
the
electrodes were removed because of other medical conditions. They also
say that the child's parents still support the shock therapy.

The case of Antwone Nicholson is in some ways more typical. He came to
the center with a history of aggression after treatment at five
psychiatric hospitals, and, with his mother's consent, the school began
shocking him for behaviors ranging from defying teachers to banging
objects. School officials said his behavior immediately improved.

The school also said that the number of shocks Nicholson received --
about one per week -- is average, and he received them for a shorter
period than the 26-month average before transferring recently to
another
school.

Evelyn Nicholson initially approved the shocks, but said she changed
her
mind as her son became more desperate, complaining that the shocks
knocked him to the floor. Previously, she said, "I was advised that the
shock...felt like a small pinch," and that the devices were rarely
used.

Investigating Nicholson's objections, New York officials found that
many
more New York students were subjected to shocks than they had believed:
77 out of the 151 at the school. Last week, Rebecca Cort, New York
State's deputy education commissioner, called for tight limits on the
use of shocks, saying she could find no independent proof that they
work.

Though enrollment at the center has tripled in recent years,
specialists
who treat disabled children question whether so many students need such
treatment.

"I have seen about a dozen cases out of hundreds and hundreds that
would
not respond to our positive-based approaches," said L. Vincent Strully,
director of the New England Center for Children, a Southborough program
for children with autism. "Behavior that is not life threatening...does
not require that you shock them."

Scott Allen can be reached at [email protected].


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## lioralourie (Aug 22, 2004)

called Rotenberg Torture Center

best,
Liora


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## mz_libbie22 (Nov 8, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mumm*
I just need to say that electric shock therapy worked very well for my sister. She had 8 treatment sessions and feels it was one of the best forms of therapy she has had in 15 odd years of struggling with mental illness. She however was 20 at the time, although really working with the intelligence and experience of an 8/9 year old.

I have very mixed feeling on the whole mental illness/pharmaceutical industry but thought I would add one opinion from someone who has been there. fwiw.


There's a BIG dif between the shock treatment used to treat things like depression and using electrical shocks as arbitrary punishment. They aren't trying to fix these kids brain chemistry, they're trying to alter their behavior with aversion "therapy".


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## aira (Jun 16, 2004)

I can't believe they are actually debating this...


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## karen ann (Feb 7, 2002)

The state legislature is working to stop this "therapy":
http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...ck_treatments/
A state senator from Milton snuck it into an amendment on the budget bill.


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## JenniferH (Feb 24, 2005)

WTH is wrong with Massachusets? I have nothing to add to this, but a big WTF!


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## JesiLynne (Aug 25, 2004)

Can we please keep this thread on the subject of what we can do about this


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

Has anybody heard an update since the 22nd of May there were supposed to be some senate talks. I haven't heard anything since.


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

bumping due to info in the news and current events forum.


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## lovemybaby (Jun 29, 2003)

Here's the latest, the Massachusetts Senate passed the amendment to ban these "aversive therapies" like shock treatments etc. Now it's up to the House. They will probably vote next week. Also, NY education officials are meeting Monday June 19 to decide whether or not they'll send children to this torture center any more. The center gets 2/3 of its victims from NY ('cause it's illegal to torture kids there)!

Here's a new page to take action http://nospank.net/jrc-1.htm

Read the investigative report of all the abuse really going on there http://nospank.net/jrc.pdf
Boston Globe article June 15 http://nospank.net/jrc-3.htm


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## lovemybaby (Jun 29, 2003)

News today from ARC Mass about the Rotenberg Center. ARC Mass represents the mentally disabled...I'm so upset by this
















We have received new reports on procedures that have been used at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton. These are examples of the "aversive therapy" we are hoping the state legislature will outlaw through language that is being debated today.

An attorney representing the family of a New York student has sent a letter to each Massachusetts state senator and representative in which he discloses findings that he has shared with the New York Board of Regents. The NY Board of Regents is meeting today to decide whether to pull NY students and funding from JRC.

The findings include:

Electric shocks administered to the testicles.
A deaf child regularly shocked for not listening to verbal instructions.
A person shocked repeatedly for squinting.
A student shocked for moving from her seat to go to the bathroom; thereafter a bowel movement was detected and the student was shocked again.
A nonverbal student with significant retardation was shocked for moaning which was her only means of communication.
Students tied down on boards and hours later shocked repeatedly for behavior unrealized by the students.
Indiscriminate, uncontrolled shock is administered mechanically to students with no supervision at all.
Students are burned in multiple areas of their body and the burns go unreported and sometimes untreated.

Geraldo Rivera and the Fox network interviewed Massachusetts advocates today and will be airing a story this week.

Language has been introduced successfully into the senate budget by Sen. Brian Joyce that would ban painful aversives. Today the Boston Globe published an op-ed by Sen. Joyce. Read it here: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/edi...rm_of_therapy/

WE HAVE HEARD THAT SOME KEY HOUSE MEMBERS ARE STILL NOT SUPPORTIVE OF SEN. JOYCE'S LANGUAGE.

We believe we have only 48 hours to convey our thoughts to lawmakers that Massachusetts ought not to allow these procedures to continue within the Commonwealth. If you agree, please take a moment to contact the following legislators. You may use the script at the bottom of this page for guidance:

"It is urgent that people with disabilities are protected from the cruel treatment called 'aversive therapy.' Please support the State Senate's amendment to the FY2007 Budget: amendment #765 that would ban painful aversives in Massachusetts. Both Rhode Island and California have withdrawn their students and passed forms of legislation banning aversive therapy. New Jersey has suspended any new referrals to the school, and it now appears that New York will remove their children from a Massachusetts program due to documented reports of electric shocks, used in a manner inconsistent with U.S. Food and Drug Administration, that have harmed children and caused harmful psychological effects such as depression, anxiety and fear. In the face of these documented facts, it is embarrassing that Massachusetts allows this activity to occur when the House of Representatives has the means to stop it."

Speaker Sal DiMasi:
617-722-2500

3 House members and the 3 Senate members of the conference committee

HOUSE MEMBERS
Rep. Robert DeLeo (Winthrop)
617-722-2990
[email protected]

Rep. Marie St. Fleur (Boston)
617-722-2380

[email protected]

Rep. Vinny deMacedo (Plymouth)
617-722-2100
[email protected]

SENATE MEMBERS

Sen. Therese Murray (Plymouth)
617-722-1330
[email protected]

Sen. Michael Knapik (Westfield)
617-722-1415
[email protected]

Sen. Steven Panagiotakos (Lowell)
617-722-1630
[email protected]

To see the NY board of education's report, go to: http://arcmass.org/aversives3.html


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## Suprakid1982 (Sep 17, 2005)

OMG!! ITS Like the whole urban legend of Good Serpent Orphanage and continuation school come alive i cant belive places like this exist!!

thank you for informing us about this!

off topic i know but does anyone know if that place The Good serpent orphanage really did exist?

its supposedly here in CA, but i havent found any info on it yet

heres some info on it from a haunted places site
Vallejo - Along the Highway Near Hiddenbook - The Children of Good Serpent Orphanage: During - "The Bad" Children were sent from all around the World to Good Serpent Continuation School and Orphanage. The ghosts here are the scariest of them all. Some of the bad Appalachian Experiment Children were sent here as well.(some of these children were born deformed and others with learning problems)Some of the children that are seen here sneaking out at night were so hideous that they changes the name from Good Servant to Good Serpant(referring to the Devil).It was never listed in the Phone Directories and was the Worst Case of Child Abuse ever recorded in History. The violent souls of the Good Serpent Orphanage are still seen only in this area.

Weird..


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

*More regarding the "school" in Mass PLEASE TAKE ACTION*

Please take a moment to write to these 8 legislators, who are right now
in the process of deciding, by committee, whether to ban "aversive
therapy" in Massachusetts:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Senator/Representative,

Please ban "aversive therapy" in Massachusetts. No child should be
subjected to painful shocks and other cruel corporal punishments. Over
100 research studies have shown conclusively that corporal punishment
is
ineffective at best, and risks increasing aggressive tendencies, and
depression.

The children at the Rotenberg Center are especially vulnerable, many
have suffered from child abuse already. These children are autistic,
depressed, suicidal, mentally retarded, and have other mental and
physical disabilities. These children should definitely not be
subjected
to further abuse, which can only worsen depression and anxiety, and
cause more mental and physical problems.

Supporters of the Rotenberg Center claim this "aversive therapy" saves
lives, yet they have no proof of this. In fact, children have been
injured and even died from "aversive therapy" at the Rotenberg Center.
Rotenberg is ruining lives, it is no wonder children try to escape
their
imprisonment there, and staff are desperate to silence them.

Please ban aversives now.

(Your name, address)
---------------------

Thank you everyone - the more letters the better!! The committee will
be
deciding very soon!! Here are the latest findings by lawyer Kenneth
Mollins, who is representing a former "client" of Rotenberg, and suing
them for $10 million:

1) GED shock was administered to the testicles of a young man named
Jose
causing the type of pain that no one should ever realize.
2) A deaf child named Steven was regularly shocked for not listening to
verbal instructions.
3) Chris was shocked a multiplicity of times, consecutively, for
squinting.
4) A student shocked for moving out of her seat to go to the bathroom.
Thereafter a bowel movement was detected and the student was shocked
again.
5) A nonverbal, severely retarded student was shocked for moaning which
was her only means of communication.
6) Students are tied down on boards and hours later are shocked
repeatedly for behavior unrealized by the student.
7) Indiscriminate, uncontrolled shock is administered mechanically to
many students with no supervision at all.
8) Students are burned in multiple areas of their body and the burns go
unreported and sometimes untreated.
9) Students disappear without the State or referring state being
advised
and often time sexual relationships occur on site between minor
students
and young inexperienced staff members.
These findings were presented at a press conference at the State House
in Boston, yesterday June 21, while we had a rally outside the State
House against "aversives".

Here is more info on Rotenberg:
http://nospank.net/jrc-4.htm
http://arcmass.org/aversives3.html
http://normemma.com/lcorneli.htm
http://www.wbur.org/news/2006/58803_20060619.asp
http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas..._again/?page=1


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

bumping


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## afishwithabike (Jun 8, 2005)

Dear Friends,

Thank you everyone who wrote, called, and demonstrated against
"aversive" therapy in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, the amendment to
make this ghastly treatment of children illegal failed. The MA Senate
voted unanimously to end "aversives", but the House did not. The
Speaker
of the House claimed he "didn't know enough about the issue". You can
complain to the Speaker at [email protected]

Tell him "aversives" such as occur at the Rotenberg School, mean:

Tying children to boards for hours, with painful, repeated skin shocks
Hitting children with spatulas
Pinching and "hot-saucing"
Denying food, causing some children to become extremely underweight

These poor children are autistic and retarded, and often suicidal!!
There has never been any proof these "aversives" cure any child of any
mental problem!!

Thank you everyone for caring about these abused, helpless children!!
More information here: http://www.nospank.net/jrc-1.htm


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