Adam Race, Alex Barton, Nate Tseglin
May 27, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
See this comment for news about Nate Tseglin going home.
Autism rights have been much under discussion of late:
A restraining order was filed against the parents of Adam Race by a priest in Bertha, Minnesota, regarding Adam attending church. The “voting out” of Alex Barton, from his kindergarten class; the teacher, Wendy Portillo, has been removed from the classroom. An article about the “autism rights movement” and neurodiversity in the latest New York magazine.
And there is also the case of 17-year-old Nate Tseglin, who was removed from his parents’ home and institutionalized; some more details here and at the website, Get Nate Home.
Recently, at the request of the Tseglin Family, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network sent the following letter yesterday for use in a court hearing to determine the future of Nate Tseglin. If you are as of yet unfamiliar with Nate’s case, please visit http://www.getnatehome.com/faq.html for details. Please feel free to distribute the letter, which is below.
To Whom It May Concern:
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is an international organization of adults and youth on the autism spectrum, including Asperger’s Syndrome, working to promote the interests of the autistic self-advocate community through public policy and social change advocacy. We are writing as friends of the court to express our concern about the treatment of Nate Tseglin, a young adult with a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome who has been taken away from his family and placed in an institution under heavy psychotropic medication.
The right of individuals with disabilities to live in the community has been well established by the United States Supreme Court under the landmark Olmstead v. L.C. decision. The ruling requires states to shift funding from institutional placements to community living supports. Given the clear evidence that institutional settings and the indiscriminate use of psychotropic medication negatively impact the quality of life of autistic adults and youth, we are concerned by Nate’s continued placement under restraint in a residential facility where he is isolated from his family, his community, and any meaningful educational or social opportunities. The overwhelming consensus of the scientific community indicates that such a placement is inappropriate, unnecessary, and counterproductive.
Scientific studies have not found that autistic persons are more likely to commit violent acts or violent crimes than non-autistic persons despite some media sensationalism of isolated cases of violence (Murrie, Warren, Kristiannsson, & Dietz, 2002; Barry-Walsh & Mullen, 2004). Autistic persons are, however, more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, for which cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) and one-on-one talk counseling are the recommended interventions (Stewart, Barnard, Pearson, Hasan, & O’Brien, 2006; Sofronoff, Attwood, & Hinton, 2005). Autistic persons also require positive support systems, frequent encouragement and praise, and living and learning environments that are compatible with their cognitive strengths, challenges, and preferences in order to achieve success in their life pursuits and gain a high quality of life (Renty & Roeyers, 2006; Plimley, 2007). Psychotropic medications should always be used with extreme caution with autistic persons as typically these medications are not specifically tested on this population in clinical studies, and psychotropic medications may cause substantial harm if used in an indiscriminate fashion.
Nate’s current placement does not meet his needs and is likely to result in long-term physical and emotional damage. We urge the Court to recommend that Nate be removed from the Fairview Developmental Center and returned to the community.
Regards,
Ari Ne’eman
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network,
President
1101 15th Street, NW Suite 1212
Washington, DC 20005
aneeman@autisticadvocacy.org
(732) 763-5530
Scott Michael Robertson
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network,
Vice President
srobertson@autisticadvocacy.org
(973) 464-6315
I read Nate’s story on his family’s website. There are no updates after August 2007 and the petition has been removed. Is there another place to sign a petition?
I am outraged at the abuse of this boy and his family by CPS. Even when/if Nate is released someday, he will be very damaged by this experience. My heart goes out to the Tseglin family.
There’s been a lack of information for awhile and the website was down for awhile, too—-I heard from ASAN today about the letter I quoted, so it looks like something is going on. Perhaps the family feels the need to keep information on the web minimal for legal reasons?
Apparently (unconfirmed source) Nate’s hearing was today and he will be going home.
Kristina, that is wonderful news, I hope it is true! I tried to find that petition but they must have taken it down. What a terribly sad situation! I just feel so badly for him and his family. The damage done may be irreparable. I hope they can find someone that can help them all work through this, psychologically speaking.
I posted about Nate on my blog http://autisminsights.today.com. I hope you don’t mind, but I linked back to your post – I thought it was important. This case is not the first I’ve heard of – kids being stolen from parents because of not following school recommendations. It really makes me ill, and also terrifies me, as I have been resisting our own school system’s pressure to medicate my son. I finally gave in recently, but so far the first medication did not work. I wonder, -looking at what happened to Nate, if that will even make a difference if someone decides to get zealotous about what they think is best for my child. Really makes me want to home-school.
You’re doing a wonderful job here, Kristina.
How scary that this can happen in this country. I’m glad Nate prevailed, in the end.
@Andrea, thank you so much for the link and for the too-kind words—-
We’ve tried a number of medications for Charlie. A behavior consultant (hired by the school district) tried to blame Charlie’s having behavior trouble on the medication specifically, even though Charlie had a long history with the behaviors. We had to home-school Charlie for a brief period. Did your son’s doctor think the medication was as necessary?
One doctor (developmental specialist) supported our decision not to medicate for a while, but then started leaning towards it. Our pediatrician is the one doing the medication trials because she’s closer and can monitor him more closely. She’s neutral about his need for meds, but since I asked her to oversee it, she agreed. The biggest push has come from the school counselor, who also happened to recommend that he be placed in his current class. WHile he’s doing well academically, it’s been a very stressful year in terms of behavior. They want a kid they can mainsteam, so if that means doping him up, then I should be more than willing to do that in their view. “He could do so much more if he could just focus…” He’s already a full grade level ahead, how much more is he supposed to do? Oh, right! He’s supposed to do that in a mainstream class because everyone wants their kid in a mainstream class.
It’s a sore spot for me. Honestly, I wouldn’t be fussed if my son never saw a mainstream class knowing how he would probably be tormented – drugs or not.
I’ll stop ranting now.
I never even knew about that case.
That is so deeply, incredibly horrible!
this teacher should be fired i am outraged.A five year old boy with problems is hard enough , then to have an adult act like that is unacceptable.The boy should be brought back in and have the children tell what they like about him.The teacher should of course should be let go
I hope someone has contacted the ACLU about this case; there needs to be a major investigation into the abuse of authority in this case and the breaking of many federal laws concerning abuse of a vulnerable individual.
As the former manager of a care home I can not even begin to enumerate the standard medical protocols broken as far as the deliverance of psychotropic meds & truncation up and down for dosages, the gross incompetance of medical staff in ignoring of symptoms directly related to side effects of improperly monitored medications.
Let alone the gross mismanagement of the case in regards to CPS overstepping their rights to intervene in a family care situation.
I’m so deeply enraged at both the incompetance of the medical staff managing Nate’s care and the Gestapo practices carried out in this case I can not begin to adequately articulate my feelings.
Nate was past the age of compulsory school attendance. The school’s placement of him in basically remedial classes when in fact he was very advanced showed their utter ignorance.
My heart goes out to his family and to Nate.
I hope that some hot shot barracuda sues the institutions that mismanaged his care into the next millenium.
I pray that his family can find competant medical care to reverse the biological trauma that his body has been through and can find it within their hearts to reach out to a competant therapist to help their son deal with the emotional after affects of his unjust incarceration.
My daughter age 17 was seized from both of her loving parents,
she had PDD NOS. She is beeng detained as a hostage, for 13 months now, and the state had taken awat our decisoin making, as we do not agree with forced psych drugging of our child.
Eleonora had been irreparably injured in State’s custody, NH state mental intritutions, and Crotched Mountain Rehab Center, after forcibly drugged with massive overdose of psych drugs, aganst med advice.
Our story is remarbaly similar to Nate’s story.
We need natipnwide support to release our dayghte fron DCYF gulag.
I am also from Russia.
Nationwide help is urgently needed to Bring Ellie Grodman Ho,e. She is now Her life is in imminent danger in state’s custody.
Please disstibute this message nationwide.
Elena Katz, Mother of Eleonora Grodman
We have a very similar situations with our daughter Eleonora, now age 18. Please follow:
FreeElliegrodman@blogger.com
Nationwide support is needed.
Elena Katz