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Jane Adams's blog posts

Better understanding students with disabilities, mental illness
posted 06/13/2015

How could I understand, given how little I knew? All behavior, the experts I interviewed told me, is communication. I was seeking the backstory of why a little girl had bit a school staff member and whether she had a way to express herself.

Is locking kids in a closet an effective behavior management technique?
posted 02/16/2014

Teaching children with severe disabilities is challenging work, and teacher unions and school administrator associations say that seclusion and restraint, properly implemented, are necessary tools in their classroom management strategies.

Awards and Updates

EdSource Today: Data Reporting, First Place - awarded by Education Writers Association

"How Vaccinated are California Kindergarteners" won first place in 2014 data reporting from the Education Writers Association. My EdSource Today colleague John C. Osborn, a data journalist, and I put together the piece, which had a searchable database and a story, "Under new law, school nurses aim to stop rise in vaccination opt-outs."

Investigative Reporting, Honorable Mention - awarded by National Association of Area Business Publications
Books for a Better Life Award Finalist - awarded by Books for a Better Life Foundation

Jane Adams's Blog
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Better understanding students with disabilities, mental illness
How could I understand, given how little I knew? All behavior, the experts I interviewed told me,... more »
posted 06/13/15
Is locking kids in a closet an effective behavior management technique?
Teaching children with severe disabilities is challenging work, and teacher unions and school... more »
posted 02/16/14

Jane Adams's Work
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Project: Inconsistent training leaves special education staff struggling

Every day in special education classrooms, teachers and aides oversee students whose emotional and behavioral disabilities can trigger violent confrontations. In some cases, teachers and aides wrestle students to the floor, pin them against classroom walls, or drag them into seclusion rooms.

Project: Little oversight of restraint practices in special education

During a class excursion in 2013, a nonverbal 5th-grader with autism, epilepsy and an IQ of 47 was repeatedly told to stop touching the wheel of his special stroller, but he didn’t. His teacher responded by holding him facedown on the floor for 12 minutes, according to a lawsuit.