RACINE - State education officials determined that teachers in the Unified School District improperly restrained a young boy with autism, according to the results of an investigation.

In October, Department of Public Instruction officials started investigating the district's use of the Rifton chair, a specially designed chair used with children who need help sitting upright.

DPI's investigation began prior to receiving a formal complaint from a parent who had withdrawn her 3-year-old son after learning his teachers had restrained him in the chair with a belt for up to 50 minutes a day.

Hasmig Tempesta removed her son, Zachary, from Red Apple Elementary School's early childhood program in October when she learned his teachers restrained him without her knowledge or permission.

She learned of the state's findings on Saturday in a letter from the DPI.

"I already knew I was right, what I didn't realize was how widespread and severe the problems really were," Tempesta said Sunday.

DPI officials, during the course of the investigation into the district's use of the chair in special education classes, learned that several schools in the district used the Rifton chair inappropriately with certain students.

District staff told state officials that they used the chair with Tempesta's son to "remind him to sit," which is not its intended use, according to DPI officials.

Teachers also used the chair without documenting it in Zachary's Individualized Education Program, a plan that indicates services a school will provide to a student with special needs.

Unified teachers predominately used the Rifton chair and a belt for children with autism or with cognitive disabilities, according to a letter from Carolyn Stanford Taylor, an assistant state superintendent in the DPI's division for learning

support.

The chair is not intended to be used with children as a behavioral restraint, state officials said.

Classroom teachers and special education aides lacked adequate training regarding positive behavior interventions, sensory integration and the very limited circumstances under which the use of restraint is appropriate, state officials determined.

The department also learned that several district schools used the chair for purposes other than the intended use and did not document its use, consistently and clearly, in students' IEPs, according to another letter sent to Unified officials on Dec. 19 notifying them that the investigation was closed.

In November, the DPI directed Unified officials to stop using the Rifton chair with a belt, tray or other type of restricting device, unless a child needs adaptive seating according to their IEP.

In November, the DPI ordered corrective action throughout Unified and required district officials to guarantee in writing that any school that used Rifton chairs used them properly and according to a student's IEP.

As a result of the investigation, DPI officials started working with Unified to develop an appropriate training program for school district staff. State education officials are continuing to monitor Unified to see that the district completes the necessary corrective action.

The Rifton chair, named for the company that makes them, is designed to provide adaptive seating for children with orthopedic impairment who need postural or stabilizing support, state officials said.

In late October, Ann Laing, who took over as Unified's interim special education director, said teachers used Rifton chairs inappropriately in some cases in the district.

Unified officials planned to remove the chairs from any classroom that didn't have a child with stability issues, Laing said in October. Teachers will not use the chairs with any other child for any other purpose.

"The use was expanded well beyond its intended purpose," Laing said in October. "That is the essence of the issue. We have to pull those back and make sure that everybody understands that those were inappropriate uses."

Unified officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.

The findings shocked Tempesta, who said she doesn't plan to send her son back to a Unified school.

"I felt disgusted, honestly. To me, it says (the Rifton chair) was used with children who can't tell," Tempesta said. "It makes me think, 'what else went on there?' "