And how precisely would you recommend that a school handle a child who screams for hours? It is not rare to have children who are either severely autistic or emotionally disabled or other serious impairments to lose complete control of themselves and to rage.. sometimes for hours. Schools do their best to make adjustments in the environment to help kids like this stay in control as much as possible but they still lose it.

In my son’s school, there was a young lady who would scream and rage in another classroom. She was very young (Kindergarten) and when she lost it, she would be removed from the classroom to rage in the hallways. She wasn’t allowed to move very far and she just screamed, beating at the walls. But she was still pretty small… if her behavior isn’t modified as she gets older, this will be far harder to maintain with a larger child.

I have taught in a school where a six year old repeatedly brought the ENTIRE school to a stop through her rages (these are so far beyond temper tantrums).

Would you like a child who loses it and screams for hours to be allowed to do so in your child’s classroom? Would you like them to be allowed to fling chairs and other items around the room when they rage? Would you like them to be allowed to throw themselves at walls, windows or furniture? To get a hold of sharp objects?

Schools can’t medicate a child acting like this. We can’t sedate them or give them a valium. We can’t use restraints. So what precisely would you have them do with a child who has lost control of themselves, who won’t regain it any time soon, who is disrupting the learning of everyone else and is potentially a danger to themselves?

Shandeigh,

I cannot imagine that a scream room would be in place in any school that did not have children with severe disabilities requiring placement in a self-contained classroom. Frankly, any child who rages like this would be unable to function in a mainstream classroom.

Some kids need a more specialized environment than the local elementary.

As a special Education teacher, and one who also dealt with children on behavior improvement plans, these rooms are actually the BEST thing that could happen in an out of control situation. What are we to do when we are about to be attacked by a child who is stronger than we are. What are we to do after we clear the classroom of the other students for their safety while the one who is out of control is throwing chairs, desks, scissors, and anything else they can grab? Just stand there, and let them possibly hurt themselves and us too? Oh wait… we have been hurt… over and over. BUT, we chose this profession. Because we DO love these kids and want to help them. Helping them does not mean letting them abuse us. These rooms provide the child a safe, quiet space, in which to calm down… they are not being stared at, they aren’t being exposed to noises that may make things worse, they aren’t in a dangerous situation, and if they wish to hit and kick the walls… well, they have pads on them, they won’t get hurt… kick and hit those walls, and get all of that anger out. As long as the child is being observed through the window, and is NOT left in there for a long period of time, and as long as the person putting the child in, allows the child to walk out on his or her own after they have calmed down, these rooms are not a horrible thing.