In this section, Lives in the Balance keeps you up-to-date on breaking news about how behaviorally challenging kids are being understood and treated, especially in schools and restrictive therapeutic facilities (stories with asterisks were brought to our attention by Lives in the Balance activists). While it's mostly the bad new that makes the headlines, lots of good work is being done by many people in many places on behalf of behaviorally challenging kids and their caregivers. The bad news just tells us there's more work to be done. Lives in the Balance does its part to accentuate the positive through its annual Trailblazer Awards, and does its part to effect change by Taking Action.

SCHOOLS:

May 7, 2012:
ND Parents Outraged Over Tiny 'Time Out Room'...CLICK HERE for the story from WDAY. 

April 29, 2012:
Special Education Casualties Are Mounting...CLICK HERE for the story from the Maine Education Association. 

April 9, 2012:
Keeping Students’ Mental Health Care Out of the E.R....CLICK HERE for the story from the New York Times.

March 12, 2012:
Why Florida Schools Want the Right to Paddle Misbehaving Students...CLICK HERE for the story from WUSF.

March 9, 2012:
Students with Disabilities Most Often Restrained...CLICK HERE for the story from Disability Scoop. 

March 6, 2012:
Girl, 11, Handcuffed for "Bad Attitude" at School*...CLICK HERE for the story from the Daily Mail. 

February 28, 2012:
Why Does America Lead the World in School Shootings? CLICK HERE for the story from CNN. 

February 23, 2012:
Chicago Schools Pumped Up on Policing...  CLICK HERE for the story from the Huffington Post. 

February 7, 2012:
Weighing the Cost of School Suspensions in Massachusetts...CLICK HERE for the story from Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. 

January 31, 2012:
Schools Suspending Thousands of State's Youngest...CLICK HERE for the story from WCVB. 

January 29, 2012:
Zero-Tolerance Policies Toss Thousands From Massachusetts Schools...CLICK HERE for the story in the Lowell Sun.

January 26, 2012:
Connecticut Education Department data shows 18,000 instances of restraint or seclusion of school-children in 2009-10...CLICK HERE for the story in the New Haven Register...and CLICK HERE for the cartoon depicting our take on the problem. 

January 17, 2012:
Proposed law would allow teachers to suspend students...CLICK HERE for the story from ABC15.com.

January 14, 2012:
Experts Call 'Scream Rooms' Untherapeutic, Harmful To Children And Others At School...CLICK HERE for the story in the Hartford Courant.

January 14, 2012:
Middletown: 'Scream Rooms' Will No Longer Be Used For Some Students...CLICK HERE for the story in the Hartford Courant.

December 19, 2011:
Senator Harkin Introduces Keeping All Students Safe Act...CLICK HERE for the story from the National Disability Rights Network.

November 29, 2011:
Schools are overreacting to misbehaving students...CLICK HERE for the story from The Washington Post.

August 30, 2011:
Buffalo Schools Asked to Change Suspension Policy*...CLICK HERE for the story from WBFO. 

July 19, 2011:
Texas school discipline under the microscope:  Study finds that 60% of kids are expelled or suspended...CLICK HERE for the story from the Houston Chronicle.

July 7, 2011:
Schools Struggle with Protocols for Restraining Unruly Students...CLICK HERE for the story from The Bay Citizen.

April 7, 2011:
School Restraint, Seclusion Bill Resurfaces in Congress...CLICK HERE for the story from DisabilityScoop. 

March 30, 2011:
A Trip to These Principals May Mean a Paddling...CLICK HERE for the story in the New York Times...and CLICK HEREfor a cartoon depicting our take on the issue.

RESTRICTIVE THERAPEUTIC FACILITIES:

May 6, 2012:
Mass Incarceration Is a Failure*...CLICK HERE for the story from The Buffalo News.

April 19, 2012:
Leake & Watts boy's death: 'I can't breathe,' boy shouts after staffers piled onto him, witness says...CLICK HERE for the story from lohud.com.

April 17, 2012:
Violence in Psychiatric Hospitals Usually Triggered by Staff, Not Patients...CLICK HERE for the story from GAIA Health. 

March 14, 2012:
Juveniles Don't Deserve Life Sentences...CLICK HERE for the editorial from the New York Times. 

January 6, 2011:
Death of Restrained Boy Ruled Homicide...CLICK HERE for the story in the Houston Chronicle. 

DIAGNOSES:

April 7, 2012:
The Autism Wars...CLICK HERE for the story from the New York Times. 

TREATMENT:

February 8, 2012:
Spanking Kids Can Cause Long-Term Harm: Canada Study...CLICK HERE for the story from Reuters. 

February 5, 2012:
Mentally Ill Get Punishment Instead of Treatment...CLICK HERE for the story from the Detroit Free Press.

January 30, 2012:
The Caging of America:  Why Do We Lock Up So Many People? CLICK HERE for the story in The New Yorker. 

April 23, 2008:
Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations...CLICK HERE for the story in the New York Times.