Suspended, restrained, and secluded: Exploring the relationship between school punishment, disability, and black and white parents’ health outcomes

Abstract

Several studies confirm that school suspension is associated with declines in students’ academic performance, school dropout, and incarceration. Despite the extensive literature documenting the adverse impact of school suspension on students, few studies have investigated how out-of-school suspension, seclusion, and restraint impact parents of children with disabilities. Using DisCrit as a theoretical framework, we interviewed fifty parents of Black and white children who were diagnosed with cognitive, physical, and behavioral disabilities. Parents stated that school officials suspended, restrained, and secluded their children between 1 and over 30 times. This article features data that suggests the burden of navigating the disciplinary processes associated with out-of-school suspension, seclusion, and restraint are so stressful that they contribute to a deterioration in parents’ physical and mental health. Irrespective of their racial backgrounds, parents expressed that the trauma associated with their child’s school punishment led them to develop physiological and psychosomatic health challenges, such as depression, hypertension, stroke, peri-traumatic emesis, and other health impairments. In this article, we shed light on parents' accounts of how school punishment harmed their children, contributed to job loss, and disrupted their household.