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Letter explains schools' use of Body Sox on prekindergarteners

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published December 15, 2006

Pinellas school officials are sending letters home with about 600 prekindergarten children after teachers placed a boy inside a therapeutic fabric device, prompting a complaint from his parents.

The letters describe how the district uses the Body Sox, a stretchy bag made of thin, colorful fabric. It is sometimes used to help calm children, boost their creativity and improve "awareness of their body in space," the district says.

It is not used to discipline or restrain children, said Carol Thomas, an assistant superintendent.

The Body Sox is used in 11 of the 34 prekindergarten classrooms that blend disabled and nondisabled children. In three of those classrooms, it is available for use by nondisabled children. The 4-year-old boy whose parents complained is not disabled.

The letters urge parents to call with questions or notify a teacher if they have a problem with the Body Sox.

The complaint came after the boy's mother, Jennifer Holt, arrived at Pinellas Central Elementary last Friday to pick him up and saw him in the Body Sox. She laughed at first, thinking he was playing a game of dressup.

But the moment took a serious turn when she realized her son was crying and a teacher's aide asked her not to laugh, Holt said. The aide said her son had been "extra bouncy" that day.

According to Holt, district officials expressed regret and the couple asked them to notify other parents about the Body Sox. But when they said they needed to investigate first, the Holts turned to BayNews 9, which this week aired a story about the boy.

On several Web sites, Body Sox are alternately marketed as a toy, a theatrical gift and a therapeutic tool effective with autistic children.

Its users "find themselves in a private domain that lures them into kinesthetic exploration," one Web site says. "They become enraptured as they begin to understand and explore the three-dimensional space they individually occupy."

The school district has used the Body Sox for years, and this is the first time anyone has complained, Thomas said.

The letter says children are asked if they want to use the Body Sox. She said district therapists recently attended a statewide training that included use of the Body Sox.

The Holts' son was asked if he wanted to use the Body Sox and said yes, Thomas said. She said the boy did not cry until his mother arrived. "It feels like a big hug," she said.

Holt said it felt punitive.

The Holts' complaint has prompted a district investigation of the teacher and the teacher's aide in the boy's class. Both are longtime employees with good records, said Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas teachers union, which is representing the two today during questioning by the district's Office of Professional Standards.

"I'm absolutely convinced that they did nothing wrong," Moore said. "It was (the teacher's) call that she wanted to use it to calm things down. ... It's certainly an improvement over timeout."

Holt said she has since transferred her son to a school that uses timeouts, not Body Sox. She also fears the episode has given people a skewed impression of her son: "He's really not an unruly child. I don't know of any 4-year-old that's perfect all day long."

[Last modified December 15, 2006, 00:34:05]