Autistic boy shown horrifically restrained in CCTV footage at specialist school

The mother of a 12 year old autistic child has shared shocking footage with the BBC. In the clip, her son can be seen being restrained on the ground by five members of staff at Springwell Leeds Academy’s north site. The group are in a padded seclusion room where the staff members tackle the child to the ground, and pin him there. The child’s mother said:

This is a child and these are five grown adults in a school where he’s supposed to be safe.

A calming room should be a room for children to calm down with blankets, teddies and soft lighting. Not a padded cell. You wouldn’t put an animal in there.

The child himself said that being sent into seclusion was “horrible” and that:

It was just very scary because they can put me in there for as long as they want.

Denials from Springwell Leeds Academy

When asked to review the footage by the BBC the school in question, Springwell Leeds Academy, told reporters:

it had conducted three investigations into the footage and found no case to answer against staff.

The school’s chief executive also said that the footage was “selective” and:

lacking context and sound, and misrepresentative of staff care. He also said the school was rated “good” by Ofsted.­

The school also pointed to an investigation from Leeds City Council who also found no reason to take matters further.

However, this is no indication that the way this Autistic child was treated is acceptable. One educational consultant, Elizabeth Swan, who reviewed the footage found that the use of force was:

unreasonable, excessive and unnecessarily prolonged.

Eric Baskind, an expert on the use of force in education settings said the experience would have been “traumatic” for the child and that:

it would have escalated the hostility in the situation, which is the exact opposite of what they ought to have been trying to do.

Widespread problem

Autistic children being restrained in school settings like Springwell Leeds Academy is an unfortunately common practice. So much so that organisations like the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) campaign to change guidelines on how to reduce the use of force.

Ben Higgins, RRN’s CEO reviewed the footage of the child in the BBC investigation and said:

The conditions that enable the traumatic experiences of Zoe’s son, alongside those other autistic children and children with learning disabilities, must be addressed. It is essential that we have stronger protections for children in schools, and rights based statutory guidance to reduce reliance on harmful restrictive practices in our schools.

Higgins continued:

The barbaric practice of seclusion and enforced isolation in schools is both harmful and traumatising for children. It is deeply concerning that this practice is so common and remains unregulated. We, along with other charities, call for it be banned in schools.

RRN are also calling for an urgent review of the Department of Education’s guidance on the use of force and restraint in schools. RRN said:

Despite repeated calls for a rights-based approach, the draft guidance continues to focus on justification of restraint rather than prevention.

This risks a continuation of the current status quo, where the use of restrictive practices is not appropriately regulated in schools, resulting in too many occasions of vulnerable children and young people being harmed by poor practice.

It’s no surprise schools like Springwell Leeds Academy and councils like Leeds aren’t finding any problems with how children are restrained. But, there are fundamental problems when autistic children are being tackled to the ground and restrained by adults.

Featured image via screengrab