Additional Considerations for Crisis De-Escalation Practices, Policies, & Procedures

District and school leaders have significant influence over systems change that can lead to increased staff and student wellbeing and prevention of restraint and isolation. This section provides considerations to increase safety for all members of the school community while decreasing or eliminating the use of restraint and isolation through a trauma-informed lens.

Ensure Student Safety During Restraint and/or Isolation

Restraint and isolation carry serious risks, including the risk of student injury and death. Should school and district staff elect to use restraint and/or isolation with a student when there is an imminent likelihood of serious harm, they are advised in the strongest possible terms to ensure student safety is explicitly prioritized in district restraint and isolation policies, procedures, and practices. In a recent study of restraint-related child fatalities, researchers found:164F164F

Over half of student fatalities related to physical restraint occurred while the child was placed in a prone position, often with evidence that staff ignored the child’s attempts to communicate distress
Most fatalities during physical or mechanical restraint are due to asphyxia or cardiac arrhythmia (the latter often due to stress and/or breathing difficulties)

District and school staff must remember that WAC 392-172A-02076 prohibits specific types of restraints (prone, supine, and wall restraints) and a variety of other harmful practices. Several key practices are also recommended to minimize the likelihood of an adverse outcome.

Protecting the Student’s Ability to Breathe

Restraint must never interfere with the student’s ability to breathe easily and naturally. Safe and appropriate restraint techniques, such as those provided by evidence-based de-escalation training programs, are designed to ensure that no pressure is applied to a student’s face, throat, chest, or stomach during restraint. Restraints that interfere with the student’s breathing are prohibited,165F165F and school staff are required to “closely monitor [restraint and isolation use] to prevent harm to the student.”166F166F To comply with these requirements, staff should, at minimum:

Refrain from prohibited restraints (prone, supine, and wall restraints)167F167F
Ensure any restraint technique is implemented correctly and does not compress the student’s neck, chest, or abdomen
Monitor the student’s breathing throughout the restraint
Ensure the student’s face is uncovered during a restraint
Respond quickly to any indication of respiratory distress by adjusting or ending the restraint

Addressing Other Dangerous Practices in Physical Restraint

The following practices are explicitly prohibited by many reputable and evidence-based crisis de-escalation professional development programs due to heightened risk of injury or death to the individual being restrained:

Applying pressure to the student’s chest, neck, or throat, including any practices that could be described as choke holds
Applying pressure to the student’s back or upper abdomen, including by forcibly holding the student against the back of a chair or other surface
Compressing the student’s chest or obstructing circulation as part of a restraint, such as sitting on or straddling any part of the student’s body
Putting the student off balance and/or engaging the student in such a way that forces them to the floor (e.g., pressing on the backs of the student’s knees, supporting the student’s weight and then dropping them, tripping or pushing the student)
Covering or manipulating any part of the student’s face (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth), or threatening to do so to gain compliance
Any other practices which use pain or the threat of pain to gain compliance

For student safety and clarity in professional expectations, district leaders are encouraged to review their local policies and procedures and consider specifying prohibited restraint practices consistent with state requirements and the content of their de-escalation training program.

Protecting the Student’s Ability to Communicate

To prevent harm to the student, school staff should respond immediately when a student who is restrained or isolated communicates they are in pain or other distress. Therefore, staff must ensure the student can communicate freely using their primary mode of communication. For example:

A student with a disability affecting speech should have access to their primary method of communication, including sign language, a picture board, or any other forms of augmentative or alternative communication (AAC)
A student whose primary language is not English may need the presence of a staff member who speaks their language during the restraint or isolation

Guiding Questions for Student AAC Use in Restraint or Isolation

If a school team believes they will need to restrain or isolate a student who uses AAC to communicate, they should proactively consider questions such as the following:

Is the student currently able to communicate distress with their AAC system? If not, the team should prioritize teaching the student this skill in a way that is responsive to their individual needs (e.g., teaching “help,” “it hurts,” “I need the nurse,” and/or “I can’t breathe”). All team members should be aware of the student’s method of communicating distress so they are prepared to take immediate action to assist the student when needed.
For a student who uses their hands to communicate (e.g., sign language, picture exchange), has the team identified a restraint technique that does not immobilize the student’s hands?
If the student uses an AAC speech output device to communicate, can that device be safely used by the student in isolation? If not, the team should prepare and teach alternative methods of communication for student use when the device is unavailable.

Provide Professional Development in Trauma-Informed Crisis Intervention

Staff who implement restraint and isolation must be trained and currently certified by a qualified professional development provider.168F168F A provider that is qualified provides, as stated in WAC 392-172A-02105(1)(d), training in trauma-informed crisis intervention (including de-escalation techniques) and the safe use of isolation, restraint, or a restraint device. This means that the provider should adhere to and abide by the prohibited practices in WAC 392-172A-02076:169F in professional development content delivered in accordance with this WAC.

Additional Considerations for Selecting a Crisis De-Escalation Program

OSPI does not provide an approved or vetted list of crisis de-escalation professional development providers. District staff must ensure any professional development providers are qualified, and their content complies with the requirements in RCW and WAC. In selecting a crisis de-escalation program, district staff may wish to consider the following guiding questions:

Is it evidence-based?
Is it compliant with Washington requirements?
Does it include non-contact techniques for de-escalation?
Is there a training and certification process with continued technical assistance?
Do training materials and procedures include cultural sensitivity and inclusivity?
Is the program trauma-informed?
Is the focus on prevention of crisis situations through positive and proactive support?
Is it adaptable to various needs, including student use of AAC as described on page 102?
Is the cost manageable, including the cost to maintain staff certification?
Have we engaged the community for their input, with particular focus on any communities for whom restraint and isolation are disproportionately used in the district?

Provide Professional Development in Positive Alternatives to Restraint and Isolation

Both state and national education leaders consistently recommend that districts seeking to reduce restraint and eliminate isolation invest in professional development into positive, student-centered alternatives. The following recommendations were synthesized from findings from the state Crisis Response Workgroup,170F170F Disability Rights Washington171F171F , American Institutes for Research (AIR)172F172F , and the federal Department of Education173F173F .

Building a strong professional culture that includes Universal Design for Learning (UDL), culturally responsive teaching, and relationship-building with students as Tier 1 practices, to universally affirm and promote the dignity and belonging of each and every student
Proactively defining, teaching, and reinforcing age-appropriate school and classroom expectations for social, emotional, and behavioral skills
Providing tiered support for students to address additional learning needs for social, emotional, and behavioral skills
Supporting staff to build their skillset for managing stress and responding effectively/safely to student interfering behavior and crisis situations
Developing a robust and data-driven framework of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), including evidence-based assessment, intervention, and progress monitoring for Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports

Considerations for these practices are provided across this manual, particularly Sections 2, 3, and 4.

Involvement of School Safety and Security Staff

School safety and security staff include school security officers (SSOs) and school resource officers (SROs). One of the primary roles of school safety and security staff is in “creating a positive school climate and positive relationships with students.”174F174F While school staff may request support from school safety and security staff for a student experiencing an emotional/behavioral crisis at school, their involvement in formal school discipline is prohibited.175F175F

Districts are responsible for the safe and nondiscriminatory use of restraint and isolation, including restraint and isolation implemented by an SSO or SRO. All school safety and security staff must complete training on 13 mandated topics within six months of their start date, which includes compliance with all state requirements in the use of restraint and isolation in schools. District and school administrators are advised to familiarize themselves with this training content. Federal guidance from the Office for Civil Rights states: “Schools cannot divest themselves of responsibility for the nondiscriminatory administration of school policies, including restraint, by relying on SRO’s school district police officers, contract or private security companies, security guards or other contractors, or other law enforcement personnel to administer school policies.“176F176F

Any use of force by school safety and security staff, including restraint, must be recorded and reported to OSPI as described on page 97. For more information from OSPI about requirements and recommendations for district school safety and security staff, visit School Safety and Security Staff.

Tips for School and District Administrators to Support the Work of SSOs and SROs

To foster effective partnerships between school safety and security staff and instructional staff, school and district administrators can consider the following practices:

Integrate restorative practices into school and district systems (for more, see Section 2)
Ensure all staff in a building understand their roles regarding classroom management, school safety, and crisis-de-escalation
Provide training to help staff identify appropriate situations for seeking support from SSOs or SROs, clarifying that these roles are not expected to engage in routine classroom management activities or respond to all student interfering behavior
Facilitate productive and collaborative relationships between school safety and security staff and instructional staff that allow SROs and SSOs to embrace their work of cultivating positive relationships with students
Support teachers to communicate their needs to school safety and security staff, including communicating if they do not need the SRO or SSO to intervene in a particular situation in their classroom
Include principals and other school leaders in the training for school safety and security staff described above so they are aware of requirements and best practices for these roles