School of Shock Primary Sources

State Officials Respond

• Massachusetts State Senator Brian A. Joyce Op-Ed.
• 1994 State of Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation's investigation into the death of Linda Cornelison (introduction and additional appendices here), a 19-year-old, severely retarded Rotenberg Center student who died of a perforated stomach; the two preceding days she was punished for acting strangely, clutching her stomach, and being listless.
• 2006 New York State Education Department investigation of the Rotenberg Center by six investigators, three of them behavioral psychologists.
• Judge Rotenberg Center's Response to New York State Education Department Report.

Court Documents and Testimony

• 2006 lawsuit on behalf of Antwone Nicholson, a former Rotenberg Center student.
• 1982 State of California investigation of the Behavior Research Institute, which Matthew Israel helped open, upon the death of 14-year-old Danny Aswad, an autistic boy who died while strapped face down to his bed. Report includes allegations of students receiving cuts, bruises, welts, and other injuries from "aversives" such as pinching and spanking.
• 1979 New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities and Department of Education's investigation into JRC (then Behavior Research Institute).

Why Do Kids Self-Injure?

• Before and After Video From the Rotenberg Center. [Warning: Graphic Content]
• Matthew Israel Interviewed by Jennifer Gonnerman.