If we're at fault, it was trying too long - hoping for a break in the pattern. Currently, Barnstable schools are educating 12 children with autism. And it's not only special education students who sometimes require the use of restraints, he said. Increasingly, mainstream students are acting out, defiant of authority. Eight years ago a training session on restraints brought out about 10 teachers, all special education teachers in Barnstable, Shillinglaw said.
Barnstable educators say it's rare for students to be restrained in the autism program.
In Abbie's case, it was a last resort after other strategies failed. But state Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, a former Barnstable school official who is trained in the use of restraints, said what happened to Abbie appeared to be inappropriate. In that situation it wasn't called for. Atsalis previously worked as an intervention specialist at Hyannis West Elementary School, where he said he never had to put a child into a floor restraint. What you want to do when you restrain them is calm them down.