National Trends and School-Level Predictors of Restraint and Seclusion for Students with Disabilities

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of restraint and seclusion in schools puts students at risk of injury or, in extreme cases, even death. As a result, advocacy organizations and the U.S. Department of Education have developed and proliferated policy and legislative recommendations to reduce such use. Nevertheless, incidents of restraint and seclusion continue to occur, and more frequently with students with disabilities. In this study, we leveraged the most recent U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights Data to examined the prevalence of restraint and seclusion use for students with and without disabilities and school-level predictors of increased restraint and seclusion incidents. We found that students with disabilities are seven times more likely to be restrained and four times more likely to be secluded. We also found that students in special education schools are almost guaranteed to receive a restraint or seclusion. The results are then contextualized using prior research and policy recommendations.