Nagging? Zap. Swearing? Zap.

this is the outcome from the Bush "Torture" mind set. the Golog of Russia has moved to the USA

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and I'm completely shocked at this behavior. It is a chilling reminder that we have to increase the amount and quality of mental health care across the country and make other more suitable centers cost effective and available. This center's certification should be immediately suspended while a full investigation is conducted.

We are what we elect...
Sad.

One of the most disturbing things I've read was posted on the Judge Rotenberg website regarding possible reasons to send your child there. These include AAD and.... Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

This place needs to be shut down, "like right now"! It doesn't make any kind of sense, to me to treat people like animals. Where are these peoples families to have their family members going threw these conditions? Is the world going mad? Pointing the finger at the people who condone this kind of treatment, won't solve the problem. Bringing down the house, will make my heart happy. Shame on the Rotenberge Center, and all it's staff. Shame!!!!

I have a son who is bi-polar/manic-depressive. I would NEVER allow him to be treated in this manner. It requires patience, love and a supportive mental health team to achieve good results. Dr. Israel should be jailed for treating any child in this manner. How is it this center is allowed to keep practising?

It isn't bad enough the quacks are drugging babies under two years old for predisposition schizophrenia but they continue to abuse and torture thousands of children to try to train them like robots. They implant poisonous drugs and chips and monitor every move the individual makes and then hide the happenings like "sudden death" from the public. I am ashamed of our society and it's cruel and abusive punishment and most of all their "treatment"!

I worked at this school for a few years, and have seen the type of kids and adults that have sought treatment there. I have watched the faculty work tirelessly to pick up a child; day and nite for emergency treatment; when other facilities turned them away; Or when the parents have no where else to turn. I have also seen much progress in the students and at no time; does this school try to hide or uncomplicate the treatment. It is severe; yes, but these are the most severe cases of destructive behaviors, I have seen; Not only are the students a danger to themselves but they are a danger to others almost on a minute to minute basis; the use of adverses are part of a treament plan to change the behavior of these destructive patterns and to allow the "person" to accept the consenquences of their behaviors; the notion that some clients cannot be taught to behave better because of the way they are; is not giving these students any hope or will at all to get better. To say that we should just forget the behaviors and hope they go away is just not common sense, and for the most part dangerous.
I have seen students change over a time; in miraculous ways. To understand all of this is to really understand and grasp the type of students we are talking about; a lot of these clients are turned away at other facilities even hospitals; they are given massive amounts of drugs on a daily basis; just to keep them calm; In my opinion and from what I have seen that is much more abusive. One student actually tried to bite a workers nose off; simply because he wanted too. One student actually ran toward a plate glass window; just because and luckily because she was wearing a helmet; she wasn't beheaded, One student actually projectile vomits at will; and one student pulls her hair out with flesh and all, all of these students were administered adversives and now they are trained not to exhibit those behaviors that may danger themselves or others. With remarked improvement; Sometimes, drastic measures, mean drastic treatments. They follow a treatment plan geared toward their individual needs and likes and dislikes. If they behave according to their treatment plan they are rewarded minute by minute or daily, depending.
They know if they don't follow their treatment plan that there are consequences and so they follow it as best they can. Noone in my prescence as ever "tortured" a student like it has been said. These direct care workers should be commended for taking care of these students. Just try to imagine a child with autism, retardation; ADHD, and aggression for instance, (which is not uncommon at the school) How does one take care of them and why not have qualified people to oversee that care. There are lots of parents, that you could talk to that have their loved ones at this school; with remarkable results.
The group homes that they live are top-notch, beautifully decorated and well staffed; at least when I was there. The students got nothing but the best treatment. Dr. Israel is someone that has seen it all; and that accepts all students; no matter what. There is something to be said about that. He does not marvel at someone's shortcomings but rather uses his education and background to help these students. The staff is very dedicated and I have not seen any abuse in the time I was there. I am a parent of 2 healthy children. I couldn't imagine, how grateful I would be, if I found such a place.

It's nice to know you can breed then pass your lot off to such capable hands. No one ever mentioned the second part: you have to CARE for your litter as well.

I worked at JRC for almost 2 years. I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly...all under the same roof, and extending to almost every residence I supervised. I saw everything from corruption to torture. Yes, a school collecting Millions $$$ in different states' funds to deprive children of clothing, entertainment, and food. The head honcho, mentioned in the above article, uses that money to accumulate his wealth in properties, all of which are listed as being his, meaning under his name, and not under the Judge Rotenberg Center. Maybe his culture plays into it, since most are running this country, and do whatever they please. Let's get to an example of how to become a real-estate guru (20-30+ residences), using a non-profit organization to accumulate your wealth. The following are estimates, and can probably be found out because they're state funds provided by states sending these students to JRC. When I was there, I was given a figure of $200,000 per student coming from NY, and that can range up to $300,000+, depending on if the student needs staff 1-1, 2-1 with him/her at all times. A conservative estimate per additional staff needed to a student is $100,000 per year....but staff will never earn more than $40,000 per year working full-time with various students, so there's profit right here. When states are footing the bill, organizations love to charge $$$. This is ridiculous, since most of the time, these students never have a staff 1-1 with them 24 hrs./day because JRC is known for understaffing houses by all those who work there. Now, you take a house with 4 bedrooms, double-bunk beds, or 2 beds per room, and that adds up to 8 students. Take the 8 students and multiply that by $200,000 (minimum) = $1.6 million dollars. Next, you go out house hunting, and you find a run-down home, or foreclosed homes for about $100,000-$300,000. Next, you renovate/furnish the house up to desired operating condition...beautiful furniture, nice art, wired with cameras, mics, video equipment, etc. You just made out with a top-of-the-line, fully furnished house for yourself, after using it a few years in the program, and you throw the remaining $1.3 million into the program. So, since you're making out in Real-Estate, you decide to take a cut in pay, even though you still get an annual Salary to accompany your Jewish lifestyle. ;) In addition, with the remaining money ($1.3 million), you deprive students of clothing, force them to eat foods they don't like, or put them on portions, and then you purposefully put students into situations to break their contracts, at the last minute, so that you can prevent them from participating in any kind of social activities (ex: movies, trips, etc.). There's no oversight over how money's spent, how much is spent on each student, or where the money's ultimately going. That school is run by the seat of its pants...literally. Parents are manipulated into believing that all's well, when their lower-functioning son/daughter can't express himself/herself when being tortured, deprived, or ignored. This self-righteous master of deception lives the ultimate lifestyle...real-estate, $$$, the ability to manipulate employees, and free will to torture students. From my experience supervising many of the residences, as needed, they always put the least amount of staff necessary to a house to avoid having to employ all of its staff. Many times, this left staff at risk of becoming frustrated and abusing students, or causing students to notice this and attempting to attack staff. Many times, we used JRC’s intranet site to post our concerns/opinions, but they were either ignored and never posted for others to see, or you were looked at as a threat to the "status quo". Let's get into aversives... I have never in my life seen the torture that goes on in this school. Many times, I would personally stand in front of a camera when I suspected that a student was going to exhibit a behavior so that I wouldn't have to administer a GED (shock). Many times, I felt guilt, pity, or shame for being a part of this system, which derives its profit from the misery of others. Yes, it's said that parents have to give permission to go on GEDs (Graduated Electronic Devices), and that the judge also has to approve the treatment, but those kids are the ones ultimately being tortured. If I had to be on those devices, and was administered more than 1 per day for ridiculous JRC socially-unacceptable behaviors (ex: nagging, failure to raise my hand to speak out in class), I would have gone insane and killed someone. There have been students receiving up to 50+ more/day. I'm surprised that many of those kids actually tolerate such cruel form of torture. I feel for them because on many occasions, when I had to rotate their GEDs on an hourly basis, I noticed scars that were months old, and marks that would remain with them, possibly, for the rest of their lives. These marks were actual burns from this device, which is powered by a battery (12v, 24, and even 36v), and lasts for 2 seconds. I administered one to myself in training just to see what it would be like to be giving them to the students. The 12v alone will bring a tear to your eye, even if you don’t flinch, and leaves a red burn mark…imagine a 24v, or even a 36v device. These GEDs can either be placed on your arms, around your waist, on your lower legs, in the center of a special shoes, on a board from which you can't remove your hand, or even in a glove. There are artists at the school who build these devices, and are constantly trying to come up with new methods under Mr. Torture’s approval to get the most aversive effect from its administration. By the way, I won't get into the countless times staff grab the wrong device on their belt, and zap an innocent kid...many times off camera, or out of view of cameras, therefore couldn't be proved unless someone else saw it. I caught a supervisor once covering for another staff under him, and even denying it happened to protect the staff, but what about the innocent student? This happens all the time... The problem is that many times, as you see in pictures, one staff is given multiple devices for multiple students, and in the moment, when a behavior is taking place, staff's trying to administer the GED right away, therefore grabbing the wrong device, and not taking time to check whether it's the offending student's device. There are also people working in the video department that are there for editing. I'm sure they can make things disappear when they want them to. I needed the video once to prove my innocence on something I said during my shift, and when I asked about the video, they said that they didn't have it anywhere. All residences are rigged with cameras, and microphones....everything you say and do is monitored, and recorded. So, how does the video disappear, unless it suits the people making it disappear? I guess when the powers that be want to make you look guilty of something...they know how to get away with it. Why do you need video editors when the video at this place, and all residences, should never be manipulated in order to protect students, and staff when situations arise? You would only need video editors if you want to be manipulating video...common sense. In the end, These people who work there (staff or EE's) are encouraged to write nice letters to all participating agencies associated with them, the parents, etc...all in order to keep their jobs, and the school open. There are many things I could go on about, but if they found out who I was, I would be legally responsible, since they make us sign papers, as they do all employees, to never say what goes on there, to avoid a lawsuit , and prosecution against us. However, being one of God's own, human laws don't apply to me, especially when it concerns inhumane treatment. I'm here to motivate, and teach people on how to fight against laws, policies, and procedures of unethical human beings who deceive people to make $$$.

LOL I've seen Phyllis Klein's response before somewhere. The only difference is the very beginning and the very end, the rest of it is word for word. Its the JRC party piece which has been used for nearly a year and resides on the JRC site. http://www.judgerotenbergcenter.org/Klein_VV.pdf

--the same COURT APPROVED life-supporting skin shock therapy-- Well you should know the old saying, the law is an ass and donkeys are no good at science. What you REALLY need in order to sound convincing is SCIENCE BASED EVIDENCE that skin shock therapy works which unfortunately for you doesn't exist.

Isn't it weird how your own troubles take a back seat when you here things like this.......

"i work at jrc. you are completely ignorant to what goes on at this life saving haven for these children. you honestly would not last one day working wiht these kids
Posted by: staff on September 4, 2007 11:09:55 AM " PLEASE GIVE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF SAFETY AND SHOCKING CHILDREN TO READERS, SOME OF WHOM DO WORK WITH KIDS WITH THESE PROBLEMS, TOGETHER WITH HARD SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF HOW JRC IS "LIFE SAVING". CRUELTY IS NEVER THERAPY.

I am the parent of a now 14yr. old son diagnosed with severe autism. I am very active in the local autism community and am a co-founder of the a school for children with disabling communication disorders, most of whom have autism. I have seen it all. So, don't tell me I don't know what it's like. I am outraged by what I have read. I am in no position to talk about other conditions(though I am just as sickened about this kind of care for the other children), but where children with autism are concerned, I am an authority. And I will tell you right now, that despite the good doctor Slaff's assertions, there is no way that this can be considered appropriate standard of care in autism, particularly in severe autism. At most, it is a band-aid which alleviates the immediate symptoms of the disorder and provides relief for the caretakers --all of which is admittedly important. But is this really the best we can do?

To start, when, when, when, are we going to stop calling autism a behavioral disorder? (Once and for all, autism is a highly complex neurological disorder often with significant co-morbidity that presents differently in each individual diagnosed with it.)

Anyone who knows anything about autism can tell you that kids with autism have distorted sensory perception. Some kids are overreactive to pain, others are underreactive. In fact, some autistic children hurt themselves in an effort to
compensate for sensory deprivation problems. Moreover, how does anyone know what any individual autistic child's perception is of the shock they receive. Your perception of pain isn't remotely akin to theirs.

I find it more than a little telling telling that the kids seem to stay in residential treatment. They don't go for treatment, get better and then go home to their families. And the measure of success seems to be the control of the unwanted behavior. Viewed as positive therapeutic outcome, that's just plain absurd.

To illustrate: As it happens I am also the wife of an all ivy-league trained dermatologist who teaches at one of these universities. I can tell you that my husband has often recounted really sad stories of patients who mutilate themselves, because they perceive severe, chronic itching -- so they scratch and they scratch and they scratch cutting themselves to ribbons. Many of these patients, my husband tells me, ultimately are shown to have no physical condition that would account for their itchiness. Now imagine if these people were shocked every time they scratched themselves. Maybe you could get them to stop scratching, but it wouldn't alter the extent of their suffering. Moreover, for these folks we know that there are no underlying medical problems, because my husband and his colleagues are diligently evaluating them -- desperately looking for something they can treat. Sadly, this rarely is the case in autism. Autism is viewed as a behavioral disorder requiring, of course, of behavioral fix.

But autism is not a behavioral disorder.

We now know so much more about autism. The body of knowledge is growing exponentially, but unfortunately, this does not seem to be affecting systems of care. We are locked into the same old paradigm amd the reults are tragic.

For inspiration I look to the lives and work of two very different women. The first is Soma Mukhopadhyay whose pioneering efforts beginning with her own son is proving that people with severe autism are so much more than they appear to be. Her classically autistic son, is now a published author who writes eloquently about the experience of being a fully cognizant mind trapped in an autistic and out of control body.

The other is Dr. Temple Grandin who has largely treated her own autism. Once herself a young behaviorist, it is apparent when you read her books, that that once she got over her youthful admiration for the great Dr. Skinner, she got over it good. She clearly has little use for him and I am sure that she must be devastated that his principles seem to have become the standard for autism treatment in the U.S. I know I am. It's time to change the paradigm.

We can do better. We need treatment programs that support sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional development. They don't do that at JRC. After all apparently they believe that since the kids are autistic, they are beyond hope of anything other than behavioral improvement. If taxpayers are spending in excess of $200,000 a year on these kids they have a right to expect that the children are getting humane, compassionate, and comprehensive care.

To the above mother: While autism is a complex disorder and there are multiple abnormalities found in persons with autism including in neurotransmitters and there is also evidence for immune dysfunction there are behavioral manifestations. In addition, my brothers have behaviors that are rare and extremely dangerous. My brothers do not just have autism. They have a life-threatening impulse control disorder. It is rare for me to recommend the Judge Rotenberg Center to any patient, but my brothers need that level of care to survive. My daughter does not by the way. Behavioral skin shock should only be used in persons who have life threatening behaviors that are unresponsive to other treatments. While the rapid prompt method may be helpful with communication impairments, it has not been investigated in controlled trials, and in particular it has not been researched as a treatment for behavioral disorders which may occur in autism. The best clinically investigated educational treatment with controlled trials in autism in applied behavior analysis. Lovaas was able to obtain an average 20 point IQ gain. Behavioral skin shock has also been clinically investigated in multiple controlled trials with baseline data. There are over 100 peer reviewed articles on the subject. Peer reviewed articles on positive behavioral techniques show more moderate results including that some subjects do not obtain even and 80% suppression of behavior. When there is a life-threatening behavior we need 100% suppression to save the person's life. However, for most persons with behavioral problems positive behavior techniques are adequate. However, I find really heartbreaking is that my family went through so much trauma and you are judging us and marginalizing us; my brother was waking up at all hours of the night and having to be rushed to the hospital after banging his head. We did not know if he could survive. My parents could never sleep comfortably. Now he is safe and happy, going on trips with us to Canada, enjoying zoos and astronomy and looking at his bird books, and until his identical twin was having severe life-threatening behaviors which started at his adult residence we all had peace.

Also, J.V. a former student at the Judge Rotenberg Center had chronic scratching behavior. While controlled at the program, when he came back to New York in three years at the age of 26 he died secondary to infections due to his behavior. The positive behavior program in NY did not save his life.

It is disgusting to me that in this country of money, priviledge and all those positive attributes, our children are always at the bottom of the "CARE LIST". Why is that? Most of us are parents, why does this country feel their children are not important enough to fight for?
Someone is making plenty of money and cannot be bothered by a few "bad kids" to even investigate!

My beautiful daughter once had a "severe reputation" but since her sensory and movement difficulties have been accommodated she holds a parttime job, takes part in the normal routines and activities of the community, and has a sense of satisfaction about her life. All kids and adults need people who care about them, the chance to have relationships with other people and a champion or ally in troubled times; these unfortunate kids have none of these. Israel has been in this "field" for a long time; he has access if he wishes to the best practices and state-of-the-art positive interventions, and the accommodations that can make the difference between keeping it together and melting down. But he chooses not to use these methods; instead, he sets kids up using shackles and shock devices and then kicks them when they're down -- probably because, when you come right down to it, he doesn't much like kids. I wonder what happens to the poor kid with Tourette's or other involuntary movement/speech disorder who's strapped to a shock device? We can't just say "How awful -- but they're not my kids!" These ARE our kids, they belong to all of us, and we are responsible for their welfare. It is our responsibility as a society to close JRC and put Israel in jail. We have to do it for the sake of all of us. So let's write letters, contact our State and Federal representatives, design and disseminate bumper stickers, and come up with other ideas to get the job done.

judge rotenberg center is a very bad evil place for children with disorders I used to go there and they abused alot of people there by not feeding them or shocking them with the GEDs those where punishments and many more I would walk down the hall and see someone get a shock that person screamed for mercy I had been on the GEDs so I know I how it feels to get shocked I screamed and cryed lots of times when I had received one it's just so cruel how matthew israel could perfrom such maddness why would anyone still let him do this? someone needs to put a stop to this I feel so sorry and worried for the people that still remain there sence I been there I started to hated Dr israel and his evil doings and how nasty the food was it look like Turd and dog food mixed together I been depressed there and all the sorrowness pale faces I see every day from the children I been there for 3 years those where the worst time of my life and those years I see people getting shocked and they straped me down to the four point broad is what they called it and gave me 23 shocks there and I scream and cryed all day until the next morning I was in a deep paranoid panick state and had extreme horror nightmares about that day I did nothing bad at all but called a staff stupid then that's when they punish me they wasn't surposed to do that it was on of Dr Israel sick evil deeds I told my mother shed had a talk with him about it he deny it just like everything else my mother took me out of judge roptenberg center but I was so happy but thre are still evil doings going there alot of people don't understand this place when they put there kids there I just wish I can convinsed there parents not to bring them there I just don't want them to suffer there like I did the people that's still there are crying for HELP and they still need NOW JRC Is a disgrace and discrimination of human kind Dr Israel is a very evil,cruel,lying, careless,hipocrite,selffish money making man all he does when I was there he just stays in his office drank his coffe and read the newspaper like any old man would do I hardy ever seen the old man maybe like once every several months but I have other important news that he used to do drugs in he past in his late 20s and 30s I know alot more about matthew israel that some people don't that's all for now but I will write more about the Truth about Judge roteneberg center and the evil doings of that GAY SON OF A BITCH MATTHEW L. ISRAEL From: I Speak The Truth About The Horrors Of The Untold Story Of Judge Rotenberg Center

A former employee as I am. Disgruntled,yes; however, this place is ridiculous. I am sure that Matthew Israel doesn't give two flying craps about those students. Why doesn't someone come and ask him what specific behaviors any named student exhibits? Why doesn't someone come one day and then come a month later and see the staff turnover rate(80%)? And he is boldfaced lying when he states that students are never denied food. There have been several instances when students state that they are hungry only to be pinpointed for talking out...or if it is in their specific program and they ask for food more than once they could receive a GED for this. The food program is disgusting. They (at one point) were forcing the students to go on a full vegan diet, with no choices at all as to what they could eat. It appeared to me at times that Dr. Israel (because he is whacked)was trying to create the perfect robotic students. If students exhibit behaviors those that are on contingent food programs, if they break contracts, are forced to eat COLD mashed potatoes, Cold spinach, and Cold diced unseasoned chicken, with a garnish of liver powder....EEEEEEEEEW..........I would love to see anyone choose to eat this. SHUT IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must point out that this article by Jennifer Gonnerman is a one sided hatchet job that gives great emphasis to just about anything negative you can think of about JRC and Matthew Israel and gives zero emphasis on all of the positives that far outweigh all the negatives. Ms. Gonnerman deliberately designed this article so that it would anger the readers. She set the tone of the article right from the first sentence, opening with “Rob Santana awoke terrified.” In response to this unfair article, many people lashed out at the school. The very few parents and former student whom had the courage to come on here and tell their story were quickly greeted with snide remarks and viewed in the least favorable light possible. Early on, a former student had the courage to come on here and tell his story. In return, several people made snide remarks towards him, made fun of him because his spelling wasn’t perfect, and one person even assertively suggested that this former student was really a staff person hired by Matthew Israel to pose as a former student whom benefitted from the treatment. If I were to read this article with no previous knowledge of JRC or Matthew Israel, I would lash out at the school and I would certainly waist no time in lashing out at those who dare say anything positive about JRC or Matthew Israel. In June of 2006, Geraldo Rivera, host of the FOX newscast, Geraldo at Large, did a story on JRC, and although in his closing summation, Mr. Rivera expressed his displeasure for the treatment, he equally presented both sides of the issue, which is what Ms. Gonnerman should have done, but did not. I believe that both Rob Santana and Antwone both deserve a fair amount of attention, however, those who support and benefitted from the treatment deserved equal amount of attention, and that did not happen. Those who so intently oppose this treatment either do not have the ability to have an open mind or have established their unwillingness to have an open mind. It is possible to have an open mind and in the end, still disapprove of the treatment. Those who read this article and wish to post negative comments about the school should first take the time to look at the school’s website “www.judgerc.org.”