What follow up steps are required after the use of restraint or isolation?

Schools have to take follow up steps after each incident of restraint or isolation. That includes reviewing the incident with the:

• student and parent or guardian; and
• staff member who administered the restraint or isolation.

Sometimes the review with the student will seem informal and happen shortly after the restraint or isolation has ended. School staff might be able to tell you (the parent) about what happened when you pick up your child, and some might consider that enough to meet the review requirement. However, it can be difficult to gather all of the important information that quickly. That can also be a difficult time to make sense of the information.

You can ask the school for a meeting to review the incident together.

Here are some questions that might be useful to discuss with the staff involved in the incident:

• Can you describe how the day started, and when you first started to notice an escalation in my child’s emotions or behavior?
• Can you walk me through the steps you took to respond when you first noticed the escalation? 
• What did you see or hear happening that led to your decision that restraint or isolation was necessary?
• What did you notice about how my child responded once the restraint or isolation started?
• Can you describe what happened after the restraint or isolation ended?
• Do you have ideas for things we could try or resources and supports that might be available to avoid the chance that this might happen again?