Comments on: Boy Dies Wrapped in Weighted Blanket

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:37:00 +0000

I am filled with so many emotions right now. My heart goes out to Gabriels family. I am terrified of the public school system that is why I chose to homeschool my son and take him to outside therapy. He is non-verbal and I can’t stand the thought of someone harming him and him not being able to tell me.

By: shar shar

shar shar — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:15:11 +0000

They committed murder on this child!!! Why are they not in jail????

By: Leese

Leese — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:34:57 +0000

First of all you should only use a weighted blanket that is 10% of your body weight… for a 53-pound boy that means that anything heavier than a 5-pound blanket would be dangerous to put on him, let alone roll him up in!

40 pounds?! That’s 75% of his body weight and extremely dangerous in and of it’s self!

A sad, senseless tragedy.

By: Last Week’s Top Posts

Last Week’s Top Posts — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:21:36 +0000

[...] Boy Dies Wrapped in Weighted Blanket 9-year-old Gabriel Poirier died on April 18th after being wrapped by teachers in a 40-pound weighted blanket. [...]

By: Regan

Regan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:45:18 +0000

Ditto CAICA
http://www.caica.org/

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:38:17 +0000

And I can see it happening to a child like my son.

I am sure ASAN is aware of this and will bring it to their attention.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:04:18 +0000

Google “restraint asphyxia.” Look at the number of times apparently “well-meaning” service providers have inadvertently killed people in their care. Isn’t it time that training on restraint asphyxia became a standard protocol for all special ed and support service workers and first responders?
Kristina, you’ve blogged on several other similar cases. This is happening all to frequently — and especially in our community.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:22:43 +0000

Wow, correction time (I’m getting sloppy recently!).

“I don’t know. I even hear my dad using the rhetoric of discipline in regards to my daily issues (particularly sensory issues), and I’m seventeen and in college!”

There, better!

Cliff

By: Cliff

Cliff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:20:03 +0000

“When will they realize that they cannot discipline autism out of children?”

I don’t know. I even hear my dad using this rhetoric, and I’m seventeen and college!

Another individual I know had his son just diagnosed with Asperger’s. He’s apparently been trying to “talk” his kid out of it, and even has kind of been harsh on his wife about it (go figure). I mean, I know the guy well-enough to be smart, but there seems to be a reaction to try and treat it as a phase and dismiss it as some easy bad parenting. A lot to work on, all be told.

Cliff

By: Club 166

Club 166 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:30:15 +0000

I'm with Kathi Magee. One of our local schools has also used both weighted blankets as well as padded rooms as punishment, instead of as pre-emptive self calming interventions that the students desired. I blogged about the blanket thing over a year ago here. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Joe