The Conversation

“Jessica,” the adoptive mother of a third-grade student, was shocked when she discovered that her daughter had spent over 100 hours locked in a room alone at her North Carolina public school. School staff locked the child in a room by herself after she flipped markers in the air, lay on the floor, and tilted her chair back, Jessica told me in 2024. Jessica’s daughter has a nonverbal learning disability, mild attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder.

Jessica’s situation is one of dozens that I document in my 2026 book, “No Restraint: Disabled Children and Institutionalized Violence in America’s Schools.” This book is part of my research on how families of children with disabilities navigate public schools that use restraint and seclusion to discipline students.