Matthew Israel

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After performing behavioral experiments on six autistic children at the Bradly Hospital, Israel founded the Behavior Research Institute in 1971 (which later changed its name to the Judge Rotenberg Center). [4] Israel insisted that the first employees of the school had to be people interested in Walden Two, though he later had to drop that requirement to keep the institute well-staffed. However, Israel reports that the school still shared many similarities with the town in Walden Two.

Walden Two was a comprehensive environment. The notion was that you needed to have the whole environment under control. With a school like this, we have an awful lot. Not the whole environment, but an awful lot.

Matthew Israel

After a few years, he gave up on further attempts to build a utopian community because he was getting so much satisfaction from running the school. [1]

In 1977, the California Department of Health rejected Israel's application for a license to operate a group home, citing lack of meaningful peer review, and unnecessary use of painful aversives. The department also found that there was insufficient evidence to show that Israel was "reputable and responsible" and that he had the ability to comply with regulations. Furthermore, the department found that Israel was unlawfully practicing psychology without a license in the state of California. Without a license to operate, the school was scheduled to shut down. But the day after the scheduled shut down, a group of parents reopened it as a co-op, moving Israel's official position of executive director to consultant. The school then applied for a license from the state of California to operate a group home, and for a permit to use aversives. With the aid of the California Governor Pat Brown, whose law firm was hired to represent the school, the school was granted licensure to operate as a group home, as well as the only permit ever granted by the state of California to use physical aversives on its students. [4]

Following the death of a student and an investigation by the State of California, in 1981 the institute was barred from using physical aversives, employing restraints, and withholding meals as punishment. The Institute soon after moved its main center of operation to Massachusetts. While corporal punishment was against the law in Massachusetts, the institute was granted special permission to use aversives in 1983. The institute was welcomed by some state officials due to its near-zero rejection rate, as it was willing to take the state's most difficult students. [13] [4]

No matter how big, how old, how disgusting the student, we won't say no.

Matthew Israel

Judge Rotenberg Educational Center

In 1994, the center changed its name to the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center "to honor the memory of the judge [who] helped to preserve [the] program from extinction at the hands of state licensing officials in the 1980s". JRC moved from its original location near Providence, Rhode Island to its current facilities in Canton, Massachusetts in 1996. [14] The city of Canton shares a name with the fictional city in Walden Two. [1] Six students have died of preventable causes at the school since it opened in 1971. [15] [14] The school has since been condemned for torture by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture. [2] In 2011, Israel was indicted on criminal charges of child endangerment, obstructing justice, and acting as an accessory after the fact. He was forced to resign his position at the JRC as part of a plea deal to avoid prosecution. [5] [6]

Aversive conditioning

The use of aversive conditioning is not a medically accepted treatment for self-harm or aggression. The medically accepted treatment for these and other concerning behaviors is functional analysis. As better positive behavior support interventions have been developed, the use of aversives to modify behavior in children and adults with disabilities is more and more frequently viewed as unethical. There is medical consensus that positive behavior support alone is safer and more effective than behavior modification with the use of aversives. [16]

Paul Touchette, an autism expert and behaviorist who trained under B. F. Skinner, has expressed disapproval of Israel's methods. [17]

He's a very smart man, but he's an embarrassment to his profession. I've never been able to figure out if Matt is a little off-kilter and actually believes all this stuff, or whether he's just a clever businessman.

Paul Touchette

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gonnerman, Jennifer. "Matthew Israel Interviewed by Jennifer Gonnerman". Mother Jones. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Pilkington, Ed (March 5, 2020). "US bans shock 'treatment' on children with special needs at Boston-area school". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "The Shocking Truth". Boston Magazine. June 17, 2008. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kahn, Ric (November 26, 1985). "Doctor Hurt". The Boston Phoenix.
  5. 1 2 Pilkington, Ed (May 25, 2011). "Founder of electric shock autism treatment school forced to quit". The Guardian. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Founder Forced To Leave Controversial Special Needs School". www.wbur.org. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  7. "Matthew Israel Interviewed by Jennifer Gonnerman".
  8. "The Rotenberg Center's Controversial Behavior-Modification Program -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  9. "12 Jul 1981, 275 - The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  10. Kuhlman, Hilke (October 2010). Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner's Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities. University of Illinois Press. pp. 69–70. ISBN   978-0-252-09165-0.
  11. "New Walden II Will Open in Fall | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  12. Kuhlman, Hilke (October 2010). Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner's Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities. University of Illinois Press. p. 73. ISBN   978-0-252-09165-0.
  13. "Some Call It Torture, but a New England School Says That Its Therapy Is Taming Autistic Students". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  14. 1 2 Gonnerman, Jennifer. "The School of Shock". Mother Jones. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  15. ""The Crisis of Disability Is Violence: Ableism, Torture, and Murder" by Brown, Lydia - Tikkun, Vol. 29, Issue 4, Fall 2014". Archived from the original on July 26, 2020.
  16. Gonnerman, Jennifer. "Experts on Self-Injurious Kids Challenge Dr. Israel's Methods". Mother Jones. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  17. Gonnerman, Jennifer. "The School of Shock". Mother Jones. Retrieved August 7, 2020.

Further reading

Matthew Israel
Mliportrait-2790900488.jpg
Photo of Matthew Israel, American behavioral psychologist
Born
Matthew Lewis Israel

(1933-05-27) May 27, 1933 (age 92)
Academic background
Education Harvard University