7/23/2019 School Puts Autistic Boy in Cell Like Room QLD
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Kelly-Ann Brooks was outraged after seei...
Through their eyes
AN A$TISTI# stu/ent 0as locke/ insi/e a small room 0ith the
0in/o0s
boar/e/ up at his !er1ey Bay primary school because his teacher
sai/ he
nee/e/ 2time out34Tate Smith, 9, was locked in the room
unsupervised up to ! times in the last year, left with
"ust a thin mattress on the floor and a pillow.#other Kelly-Ann
Brooks said her son, who is in $ear % at Kawungan State School, had
&een
left distraught &y the ordeal, descri&ing the 'm room as
(cell-like).
The *epartment of +ducation has now ordered the school to shut
down the (unaccepta&le)
room, putting out a warning to all state school principals
a&out proper disciplinary action for
students.
An investigation into the incident has also &een
launched.
(The situation is unaccepta&le and when it was &rought
to my attention yesterday
immediately ordered the school to stop using the room,) State
Schools *eputy *irector-
eneral atrea /alton told The Courier-Mail.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/school-puts-autistic-boy-in-cell-like-room/story-fnihsrf2-1227584707583http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/school-puts-autistic-boy-in-cell-like-room/story-fnihsrf2-1227584707583http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/school-puts-autistic-boy-in-cell-like-room/story-fnihsrf2-1227584707583http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/school-puts-autistic-boy-in-cell-like-room/story-fnihsrf2-1227584707583
7/23/2019 School Puts Autistic Boy in Cell Like Room QLD
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(0m "ust devastated for the poor little thing,) she said.
(1e doesn0t want to go &ack to school and his &ehaviour
has really spiralled this year.
(To me, when people say a chill-out area imagine some pillows
and &ooks and stickers on
the walls. That room is not a chill-out area.)
The 1ervey Bay mother said her son struggled with his
&ehaviour &ut locking him in a room
was not the answer.(The main thing is he0s missing out on
friends, and instead he0s only getting into trou&le,) she
said.
(2or me, it0s like my son &eing in a cell like some kind of
common criminal.
(/e have got it documented in &ehavioural reports that he
has &een put in there 3 after
going over all his reports myself have found references to it 45
times in one year.)
#s Brooks said she would now take her son out of the state
school and get him settled
somewhere else.
Tate Smith was locked in the tiny, &oarded-up room
unsupervised.
( want him to &e a normal little &oy. 1e can do school
work &ut he "ust needs that chance,)
she said.
#s /alton said the department (has moved 6uickly) to address the
family0s concerns.
(The room is now &eing dismantled and the situation is
&eing investigated,) she said.
(Additionally, have today provided advice to all state school
principals reminding them of
the *epartment0s policy that under no circumstances must a
student &e placed in time out
without strict supervision.)
#s Brooks said she was now worried her son0s e'periences in the
room had meant he had
regressed in his learning.
(1e has "ust &een lashing out at every&ody around him to
the point where he0s trying to get
himself sent home so he doesn0t have to go into the room,) she
said.
(7ow this has come out, no wonder he0s trying to get himself
suspended.)
She said her son had told her he hated &eing in the
room.
(7o child should ever &e locked &ehind a door like
that,) she said.
#s Brooks said she had raised her concerns with the school
&ut was yet to have a face-to-facemeeting.
