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Video of a disabled teen tied down and given painful electric shocks for seven hours should be made public, the youth's mother said, so everyone can see what she describes as the "torture" her son went through at the controversial school, the only one in Massachusetts that uses pain to treat its clients.
"This is worse than a nightmare," Cheryl McCollins said about her disabled son, Andre. "It is horrific. And poor Andre, who had to suffer through this, and not know why."
The ordeal began after Andre hit a staff member. Inside a classroom, as a camera was recording, he was tied to a restraint board, face down, a helmet over his head.
He stayed like that for seven hours without a break, no food, no water, or trips to the bathroom. Each time he screamed or tensed up, he was shocked, 31 times in all. His mother called the next day to check on him.
Disabled Teen Tied and Shocked for Hours; School Uses "Pain" Therapy
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For now, the public can't see for themselves what Andre's treatment looks like because the Rotenberg Center asked a Norfolk Superior Court judge to seal the video tape, saying it would be unsettling for viewers who didn't understand the context
After spending three days in a comatose state, not eating or drinking, Andre was taken to Children's Hospital, where he was diagnosed with "acute stress response" caused by the shocks.
- 1 vote
#1 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:02 PM ESTThis is gruesome. I underwent shock treatments as a painful portion of aversion therapy that I agreed to do so that I could stop smoking. I quit in March of 1983. The therapy was not fun, but it worked - through a type of response conditioning. But these poor children are not doing this with consent. There has to be a far better way to condition them to stop self abuse.
#2 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:46 PM ESTYou said you underwent shock treatments, but I understand those to be more like the type you zap you get when you walk across a rug when it's very dry and touch a piece of metal. If you watched the video he had lacerations, and scabbed sores where he was shocked.
- 1 vote
#3 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:51 PM ESTA group of us hardcore smokers each individually chose the intensity of shock in our wristbands. The program took two weeks, it hurt, it worked.
This story is about torture, pure and simple. I am wondering if the parents or guardians signed some kind of waiver about the type of "protective treatment" these unfortunate children were to receive without really understanding what it all entailed. Horrible.
- 1 vote
Not a whole lot of facts to go on before drawing any kind of conjecture. We’re led to believe this is a normal public school setting… but I get the feeling this might be a hard-core tough-love kind of institution for severe discipline problems.
It would be nice to know about possible extreme contextual circumstances…, before hyping up with all the drama. A simple call to the cops might be in order… hmmm?
#4 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:08 PM ESTDid you watch the video, Dale.? They had been prosecuted last year until the head of the school was forced to step down,and now possibly under investigation for destroying videos. I doubt this is a public school because there are handicapped children. It may be part of the handicapped school program.
#5 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:15 PM ESTI couldn't get it the first time for some reason, but I just now finished it. It does sound/look like a rehab/intervention-center of sorts… that has used this method for a long time, with positive results. Some parents believe this method saved their kid's lives... others... not.
I use to work for a veterinarian and had to handle some tough dogs. I know I looked like the bad guy (to those folks in the waiting room) when the dogs became very dramatic... The theatrics were unbelievable … but it had to be done.
Who’s to say…, we live in a tough world and it will come out in court. In the mean time… we don’t know anything about contextual circumstances.
#6 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:43 PM ESTthat has used this method for a long time, with positive results.
That was the advertising promo put out by the facility. A boy that ends up with scabbed lacerations and sores doesn't seem it comes from theatrics.
I rescue dogs, and we have different views on things, but I don't think of a dog being "dramatic" or "theatric"
- 1 vote
#7 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:35 PM ESTEverything on that video was advertising promo (pro and con). There were no facts at all and those photos…, well, they didn't look very authentic to me. We're talking 21st century professional-hype and photo-shopping here. Let the courts decide. It's out there…, and that's all we can do about it, that has any value.
I handled dogs for a vet, and sometimes... when they don't want to be handled, they put on quite a display of dramatic theatrics…. But… sometimes... there is no other way.
#8 - Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:55 PM ESTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
