What is the Graduated Electronic Decelerator?
May 2024 By KG

Graduated Electronic Decelerator

Student Restrained & Shocked for Not Removing Jacket

Three people from the knees down inside the Judge Rotenberg Center. The student in the middle is wearing yellow capris with an electric shock device strapped around her right calf with a dirty, shredded, off-white strap.

Student at the Judge Rotenberg Center wearing an electric shock device on their calf. Photo credit: Charles Krupa AP Aug. 13, 2014.

FDA's Recent Banning Proposal

On March 24, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposal to ban Electrical Stimulation Devices (ESDs) for a second time because they present “an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury to the public”(1). The first attempt occurred on March 4, 2020, when the FDA announced it would be banning ESDs starting in April 2020 (2), but in July 2021, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision because, according to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (3), the FDA didn’t have the authority to interfere with the practice of medicine (4).

Since then, clarifications have been made to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which gives the FDA the authority to issue a ban on the shock devices used at the Judge Rotenberg Center (1). The FDA has also gathered more evidence supporting a ban on the GED. The agency considered clinical and scientific data, input from patients who have been subjected to ESDs, parents of patients, disability rights groups, and experts in the field and state agencies, as well as comments from the previous ban proposal and input from FDA advisory panels (1). The FDA’s proposal to ban ESDs will be open for comment until May 28, 2024.

What is The Judge Rotenberg Center?

The Judge Rotenberg Education Center, originally called the “Behavior Research Institute”, is a residential school and treatment center for developmentally disabled and mentally ill children and adults. It was founded in 1971 by psychologist Matthew Israel and currently operates over 40 residences in Massachusetts with the main campus in Canton. As of July 2022, there are 292 students at the JRC (5). The Judge Rotenberg Center is the only facility that is allowed to electric shock disabled people and call it “therapy”.

The Judge Rotenberg Center uses Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) with a heavy reliance on aversive reinforcement to eliminate “severe behavioral problems” exhibited by disabled people. “Severe behavioral problems” (or “severe problem behavior”) typically refer to behavior that is self-injurious, aggressive, or dangerous.

Applied Behavior Analysis is the application of behavioral principles, specifically classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and learning theory to modify behavior. In the 1970s and 1980s, psychologist and behaviorist Ole Ivar Lovaas fine-tuned, packaged, and promoted ABA as the best and only treatment for developmentally disabled children.

Behaviorism is a systematic approach to identifying, observing, measuring, and explaining behavior based on the philosophy that all behavior is acquired through conditioning, i.e. our interactions with our environment and the reinforcements we receive.

Positive Reinforcement: something positive that is added as a consequence.

Aversive Reinforcement: something unpleasant that causes avoidance or fear.

Negative Reinforcement: withholding something positive as a consequence.
Punishment: something unpleasant or discomforting as a consequence, like an electric shock.

Some aversives used by the Judge Rotenberg Center when it opened were:

Withholding of positive reinforcement
Slapping/Spanking
Pinching (especially with fingernails)
Squeezing
Spraying water on disabled student’s face
Forcing them to smell ammonia
Forcing them to put hot peppers on their tongues
Cold showers
Contingent food programs
Humiliation
Sensory deprivation
Forcing them to wear a white-noise helmet that emits static
Long-term restraints
Seclusion
Eventually electric shocks

(6, 7)

The JRC no longer uses all of these techniques. Still, the ones that have remained in practice (contingent food programs, sensory deprivation, restraints, seclusion, and contingent skin shocks) are violent, inhumane, and extremely controversial.

According to the FDA’s March 2024 press release regarding the proposed ban on the GED, around 50 adult students at the JRC receive electric shocks (1). They must wear the GED device 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Short History of Shock Devices Used on Disabled People

Before I detail the specifications of each device here are some simple definitions and a table copied from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on how different amperes affect the body:

Voltage-the difference in electric potential between two points. (Simple: “The pressure that pushes electricity”).
Amp (A, Ampere)-unit of electric current
Milliamp (mA)-.001 Amperes
Millisecond-.001 seconds

“Train-the-Trainer: Basic Electricity Safety” 2019. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. (Pages 6 and 7 8)

A Table with two colums and 8 rows. Text reads "Below 1 Milliamp: Generally not perceptible 1 Milliamp: Faint Tingle 5 Milliamps: Slight shock felt. Not painful but disturbing. Average individual can let go. Strong involuntary reactions can lead to other injuries. 6 to 25 Milliamps (women): Painful shocks. Loss of muscle control. 9 to 30 Milliamps (men): The freezing current or “let go” range. If extensor muscles are excited by shock, the person may be thrown away from the power source. Individuals cannot let go. Strong involuntary reactions can lead to other injuries. 50 to 150 Milliamps: Extreme pain, respiratory arrest, severe muscle reactions. Death is possible. 1.0 to 4.3 Amps: Rhythmic pumping action of the heart ceases.Muscular contraction and nerve damage occur; death is likely. 10 Amps: Cardiac arrest, severe burns, death is probable."

Cow Prods

In the 1930s, when electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was invented, it was used on autistic people for a short time, in hopes of curing them. It was naturally unsuccessful (9).

In the 1960s, researchers began studying the use of contingent electric skin shocks on autistic children in hopes of eliminating behaviors that were aggressive, self-injurious, dangerous, or non-compliant as well as harmless autistic behaviors like rocking, flapping hands, not making eye contact, and making faces (10, 11). Contingent electric skin shocks (CESS or just CSS) are devices that administer shocks contingent on the subject’s behavior. Behaviorists, including Lovaas and Matthew Israel, used cattle prods (12).

Voltage of Cow Prod: less than 500
Miliamps of Cow Prod: 2-20
Duration of Cow Prod Shock: less than 1 second
(12, 13, 14).

Lovaas once told CBS News that autistic patients become acclimated to the pain; "These people are so used to pain that they can adapt to almost any kind of aversive you give them." (7).

He claimed that he only used electric shocks on disabled children who were engaging in self-injurious or aggressive behavior (11), but the author of the 1965 Life Magazine article, “Screams, Slaps, and Love” wrote about Lovaas putting an autistic girl in a room with electric floors for “abnormal” facial expressions and falling asleep during a lesson (11).

When Matthew Israel opened the Behavior Research Institute in 1971, he decided to use the cattle prod but found that disabled children who were shocked tended to struggle, which resulted in many injuries to themselves and staff (6).

SIBIS

So, in 1988, he purchased the only device on the market to deliver skin shocks to humans called the Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System (SIBIS), which was developed in 1984 by the parents of an autistic child (15).

The text on top reads “U.S. Patent April 3, 1984, Sheet 1 of 2”. Figure 1 is a diagram of a male upper body with straps on his head and both biceps. The strap on the head sends a transmission signal through the body to the arm strap that gives the person an electric shock.

The SIBIS was specifically made for children and adults who engage in head-banging self-injurious behavior. They would wear a headband with a sensor that detects abnormal head movements resulting in shocks being administered via arm or leg band (15). There would also be a buzzing sound that accompanied the shock to create an association so that the tone alone can be used as an aversive (15).

Israel used the SIBIS on 29 students at the JRC between 1988 and 1990 (7).

Voltage of SIBIS: 84

Miliamps of SIBIS: 3.5-4.1

Duration of SIBIS Shock: .2-1 second

(12, 13, 14).

U.S Patent diagram for the SIBIS. Public Domain

Comparison of the Cow Prod and the SIBIS

Table Comparing the Cattle Prod to the SIBIS Voltage of Cow Prod: less than 500. Voltage of SIBIS: 84 Miliamps of Cow Prod: 2-20. Miliamps of SIBIS: 3.5-4.1 Duration of Cow Prod Shock: less than 1 second. Duration of SIBIS Shock: .2-1 second.

What Matthew Israel Did to Brandon

One of the students was a 12-year-old boy named Brandon who engaged in severe self-harm behavior, including head-banging and biting himself. Shocking Brandon was not working and it resulted in him vomiting and losing an excessive amount of weight, so instead of finding a different approach Israel decided to give him almost 5,000 shocks in one day (6, 7, 18). There are only 1,440 minutes in a day.

“I couldn’t find any medical solution. He was vomiting, losing weight. He was down to 52 pounds. I knew it was risky to use the shock in large numbers but I had to weigh that against…If I persevered that day, I thought maybe it would eventually work. There was nothing else I could think of to do to keep him from these behaviors. But by the time it went into the 3,000 or 4,000 applications, it became obvious it wasn’t working, so we gave up”. -Matthew Israel (6).

Israel didn’t stop shocking autistic people, though. He decided that the SIBIS did not give a strong enough shock and asked its manufacturer to make a stronger version. They refused, so he made his own (6, 7).

The Graduated Electronic Decelerator

In 1988, Matthew Israel invented the Graduated Electronic Decelerator and in 1994, the US Food and Drug Administration cleared the device for the treatment of self-injurious behavior (19).

Top text reads “US Patent April 19, 1994 Sheet 3 of 5. The first figure (figure 7) is a drawing of a front-facing, shirtless, male wearing a square device that is strapped around his torso and both shoulders with a shock device strapped to his bicep. There are numbers and arrows pointing to specific parts of the apparatus. Second figure is the side view of same male wearing device, with numbers and arrows pointing to parts on the side and back.

The remote control transmits a signal to a receiver box that is strapped to a person's torso.

The receiver box then generates an electric skin shock via electrodes which are strapped to their arms or ankles (20).

A person’s left arm resting on a table. The sleeve is rolled up exposing an electrode strapped to their forearm that is connected by a long wire to a white electronic box that is on the table.

U.S Patent diagram for the GED. Photo credit: Wikipedia

Reciever Box for the GED Photo credit: Aljazeera 2012

The hands and wrists of a person putting a white strap on a second person’s ankle. The second person is wearing tan pants, short white socks, and black velcro shoes.

Staff at the Judge Rotenberg Center fastening the strap of the graduated Electronic Decelerator to a student’s ankle.

Photo credit: Charles Krupa AP Aug. 13, 2014

The waist of a person in a white shirt, black pants, and a black apron with papers in it. Hooked on the apron strapped around the wait are 4 rectangular devices with a silver button and blurred-out photographs of Black and Brown students taped to the front.

JRC staff wearing GED transmitters with each student's face taped to the front.

Photo credit: Rick Friedman/Corbis

GED-1:

60-106.3 Volts

15-56 mA

2 sec

(21, 22, 23)

Israel found that the GED-1 lost its effectiveness over time so he created a second (GED-3a) and third version (GED-4) (24). At the GED-1’s most minimal setting, it is three times stronger than the SIBIS.

GED-3a:

60 volts

15.25 mA

2 seconds

(23)

GED-4:

66 Volts

41-90 mA

2 seconds

(14, 22, 23)

Reminder of OSHA's Ampere Table...

Comparison of the Cow Prod, the SIBIS, the Ged-1, GED-3a, and GED-4

Voltage of Cow Prod: less than 500. Voltage of SIBIS: 84. Voltage of GED-1: 60-106.3. Voltage of GED-3a: 60. Voltage of GED-4: 66. Miliamps of Cow Prod: 2-20. Miliamps of SIBIS: 3.5-4.1. Miliamps of GED-1: 15-56. Miliamps of GED-3a: 15.25. Miliamps of GED-4: 41-90 Duration of Cow Prod Shock: less than 1 second. Duration of SIBIS Shock: .2-1 second. Duration of all GEDs: 2 seconds

Comparison of Several Shock Devices (and static electricity)

$A table with 4 rows and 10 columns depicting the Voltage, Milliamerage, and duration of various shocks: Status electricity has a voltage of 4,000 to 35,000, less than 5 milliamps, and duration of less than a microsecond. Colum 3 Dog Collar has a voltage between 400 and 3,500, between 30 and 80 mA, and a duration between 6 and 8 milliseconds. Column 4 Police Taser (Conducted Electrical Weapons) Average Voltage is 50,000, Average mA between 2-4, average duration of 5 seconds. Column 5 Cattle Prod (used on cows and livestock) has a voltage between 5,000 and 13,000, between 10 and 20 mA, and a duration of a fraction of a second. Column 6 Sears Stock Cow Prod (used on autistic children) has a voltage of less than 500, between 2 and 20 mA, and a duration of a fraction of a second. Column 7 SIBIS has a voltage of 84, between 3.5 and 4.1mA, and a duration of .2 to 1 seconds. Column 8 GED 1 has a voltage of 106.3, between 15-56 mA, and a duration of 2 seconds. Column 9 GED 3a has a voltage of$

Static Electricity: (25, 26) Dog Shock Collar: (13, 27) Police Taser: (28, 29, 30) Cattle Prod: (12, 13, 14) Sears Stock Cattle Prod: (12, 13, 14) SIBIS: (12, 13, 14) GED-1: (21, 22, 23) GED-3a: (23) GED-4: (14, 22, 23)

Reasons for Being Shocked at the JRC

The American Civil Liberties Union asserts that the JRC is deceptive in their marketing of the GED, in that they claim it is only used to prevent self-injurious or aggressive behavior, but according to student accounts and the JRC’s own records, they shock students for various, non-dangerous behaviors (6, 32, 33, 34). This could be because Matthew Israel believes that small problem behaviors (34) or because abusing disabled people has become normalized at the Judge Rotenberg Center (and society). Israel has also set the example with his staff that it’s acceptable to force disabled individuals to exhibit a problem behavior so that aversives can be used, and the person can learn what behavior to avoid (page 17 32). The ACLU believes the device's purpose is to cause pain to achieve compliance (33).

Students at the Judge Rotenberg Center have been shocked for:

Self-injurious behavior (34)
Violent behavior (34)
Property destruction or attempts at property destruction (34)
Stealing (34)
Calling in bomb threats (34)
Making verbal threats (34, 35)
Aggression (34)
Running away (35)
Yelling (34, 35)
Swearing (35, 38)
Noncompliance (34, 35, 38)
Attempting to remove GED (34)
Slouching (33)
Not taking off a coat (33, 36)
Stopping work (33, 38)
Flapping hands (33)

Autistic JRC Student Restrained and Shocked for Not Removing Jacket

Black and white view from the ceiling corner of a white room with tables, cabinets, and chairs against all 4 walls. In the center of the room is a mattress-sized board with a person, spread eagle, with their wrists and legs restrained by a strap. On their right is a person crouched down looking up, and on their left is a person crouched down with their right arm extended to the restrained person’s leg.

In 2002, an autistic student refused to take off his jacket, so he was tied to a gurney, face down, and shocked 31 times for seven hours as he screamed in pain and begged for them to stop. Two days later when his mother visited him, he was restrained and catatonic. He was then hospitalized for 3rd-degree burns and acute stress disorder (4, 19, 36).

In 2012, CBS News obtained surveillance footage of the incident and it went viral:

“Video shows student being shocked” Aug 5, 2014. CBS Evening News. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcxpGKctZMs

Burn marks on Andre McCollins due to shocks.webp

Burns from the GED on an autistic JRC student's arm.

In 2006, a 17-year-old student’s mother sued the JRC and her school district after he suffered emotional trauma after being shocked 79 times in 18 months. He was shocked for swearing, stopping his work, and saying “no”. The shocks were so painful that he would often be knocked to the ground (38, 39).

2007 Prank Call & Destruction of Evidence

In 2007, staff received a phone call from someone pretending to be a supervisor who told them to wake up two residents (ages 16 and 19), restrain them, and shock them a total of 106 times in one night. The teens had to be treated for 2nd-degree burns. Six staff members participated (40, 41). Matthew Israel then told staff to destroy the surveillance video, which resulted in him being indicted in 2011, ordered to serve probation for 5 years, forced to resign, and prohibited from working at the JRC or serving on the Board of Directors ever again (40, 41).

NBC News speaks with Rico Torres

In 2021, NBC News interviewed a former student at the Judge Rotenberg Center, Rico Torres, who had to wear the GED and receive shocks from age 8 to 18. His treatment plan allowed him to be shocked for swearing, screaming, refusing to follow directions, threatening another student, and running away. One staff member would shock him in his sleep, which would cause him to urinate, and he would get shocked again (35, 40).

Trying to eliminate self-injurious and aggressive behavior with a torture device is barbaric, traumatizing, and completely unjustifiable. Additionally, the Judge Rotenberg Center shocks disabled students for reasons other than self-injurious and aggressive behavior.

Let the FDA know that SHOCKING DISABLED PEOPLE IS NOT THERAPY!
Comments can be left until May 28, 2024.

Read the FDA's Proposal To Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices for Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior
Why the GED Must Be Banned Part 1: It's Torture and it Doesn't Work
Why the GED Must Be Banned Part 2: Abusive and Negligent Staff at the Judge Rotenberg Center

References

1. FDA Press Release. March 25, 2024. FDA Proposes New Ban of Electrical Stimulation Devices for Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior. https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/medical-devices-news-and-events/fda-proposes-new-ban-electrical-stimulation-devices-self-injurious-or-aggressive-behavior?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

2. Food and Drug Administration & Department of Health and Human Services Final Ruling: Banned Devices; Electrical Stimulation Devices for Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior. Marc 5, 2020. https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-04328

3. Lam C, Patel P. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. [Updated 2023 Jul 31]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585046/

4. Corey Mitchell “The U.N. says it’s torture. Judges ruled this school can use shock therapy anyway.” July 30, 2021. Center For Public Integrity Watchdog Newsletter.

https://publicintegrity.org/inside-publici/newsletters/watchdog-newsletter/when-a-school-turns-to-shock-therapy/

5. Perone M, Lerman DC, Peterson SM, Williams DC. Report of the ABAI Task Force on Contingent Electric Skin Shock. Perspect Behav Sci. 2023;46(2):261-304. Published 2023 Jun 15. doi:10.1007/s40614-023-00379-w https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CESS-Task-Force-Report-09-28-22.pdf

6. Jennifer Gonnerman “Matthew Israel Interviewed by Jennifer Gonnerman” August 20, 2007. Mother Jones.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/matthew-israel-interviewed-jennifer-gonnerman/

7. Jennifer Gonnerman. August 20, 2007. “School of Shock” Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/school-shock/

8. “Train-the-Trainer: Basic Electricity Safety” 2019. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. OSHA.gov https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/2019-04/Basic_Electricity_Materials.pdf

9. Science and Autism: History of Autism Therapy” February 7, 2018. History of Autism Therapy. Neurodiversity. https://intr100neurodsp18burk.sites.wm.edu/2018/02/07/science-and-autism-history-of-autism-therapy/

10. Stephen M Edelson (Executive Director of the Autism Research Institute “Treating autism with contingent electric shock: Are all possible options really considered?” 2022. Autism Research Institute. Appeared in Autism Research Review International, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2022. https://autism.org/treating-autism-with-electric-shock/

11. “Screams, Slaps, and Love” May 7, 1965. Life Magazine.

https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/d/16656/files/2018/11/Screams-Slaps-and-Love-Life-Magazine-13javg3.pdf

12. Birnbrauer JS. Generalization of punishment effects-a case study. J Appl Behav Anal. 1968;1(3):201-211. doi:10.1901/jaba.1968.1-201 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1311002/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1311002/pdf/jaba00085-0011.pdf

13. Shock collar. (2024, March 30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_collar

14. A Proposed Rule by the Food and Drug Administration: Banned Devices; Proposal To Ban Electrical Stimulation Devices Used To Treat Self-Injurious or Aggressive Behavior. April 25, 2016. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/04/25/2016-09433/banned-devices-proposal-to-ban-electrical-stimulation-devices-used-to-treat-self-injurious-or

15. Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System. (2023, September 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Injurious_Behavior_Inhibiting_System

16. Paul Kix. June 17, 2008. “The Shocking Truth” Boston Magazine.

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/06/17/the-shocking-truth/

17. Arnold L Newman “SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR INHIBITING SYSTEM” Johns Hopkins A PL Technical Digest. 1984. https://www.jhuapl.edu/Content/techdigest/pdf/V05-N03/05-03-Newman.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1286211/pdf/jaba00087-0055.pdf

18. Lʏᴅɪᴀ X. Z. Bʀᴏᴡɴ “Court Hearing on JRC - October 26!” October 13, 2015. Autistic Hoya https://www.autistichoya.com/2015/10/court-hearing-on-jrc-october-26.html

19. Robin Young and Serena McMahon. “Disability Advocates Fight Ruling Allowing Electric Shock Treatment Back In Mass Residential School” August 12, 2021. WBUR, NPR Boston. https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/08/12/shock-treatment-school-disability

20. van Oorsouw WM, Israel ML, von Heyn RE, Duker PC. Side effects of contingent shock treatment. Res Dev Disabil. 2008;29(6):513-523. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2007.08.005 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17945467/

21. Matthew L. Israel, Robert E. von Heyn, and Daniel A. Connolly. “A Remote-Controlled Electric Shock Device for Behavior Modification” The Judge Rotenberg Center. http://www.effectivetreatment.org/remote.html

22. Graduated electronic decelerator. (2024, April 24). In Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduated_electronic_decelerator

23. “A Comparison of the GED and other Devices that Deliver Electrical Current” May 2023. The Judge Rotenberg Center. https://judgerc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/understanding_the_electrical_parameters_of_the_ged.pdf

24. Cynthia McFadden, Kevin Monahan and Adiel Kaplan. “A Decades-Long Fight Over an Electric Shock Treatment Led to an FDA Ban. But The Fight iIs Far From Over” April 28, 2021. NBC News.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/decades-long-fight-over-electric-shock-treatment-led-fda-ban-n1265546

25. Static electricity. (2024, April 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_electricity

26. “Static Electricity” Northwestern University.

https://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/infocom/Ideas/static.html#:~:text=Thus%2C%20you%20can%20see%20that,their%20power%20is%20very%20low.

27. Cody Mitchell “How Many Volts is a Dog Shock Collar?” January 26, 2023. World Animal Foundation. https://worldanimalfoundation.org/dogs/how-many-volts-is-a-dog-shock-collar/

28. Taser. (2024, April 5). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser

29. Electroshock weapon. (2024, March 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon

30. Axon Press Releaser “Axon Unveils TASER 10” PR Newswire. January 24, 2023.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axon-unveils-taser10301729592.html#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20the%20TASER%2010%20has,volts%20with%20the%20TASER%207.&text=TASER%2010's%20additional%20capabilities%20make%20it%20more%20than%20just%20an%20energy%20weapon.

31. Rechargeable Livestock Prod for Cows Electric Cattle Prod for Cow Dog prod Animal prod with Flexible Shaft. Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/RANCH-CHOICE-Rechargeable-Livestock-Electric/dp/B09ZB5MDQT?th=1

32. New York State Education Department Review of Judge Rotenberg Center. 2006 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1379107-2006-nysed-review-of-judge-rotenberg-center.html

33. Written Statement of the American Civil Liberties Union that was submitted to the

For a Hearing on “The Safety and Effectiveness of Averse Conditioning Devices” Neurological Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). April 24, 2014.

https://autistichoya.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/aclu_testimony_for_fda_hearing_on_aversive_devices_4-14.pdf

34. Perone M, Lerman DC, Peterson SM, Williams DC. Report of the ABAI Task Force on Contingent Electric Skin Shock. Perspect Behav Sci. 2023;46(2):261-304. Published 2023 Jun 15. doi:10.1007/s40614-023-00379-w https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CESS-Task-Force-Report-09-28-22.pdf

35. Cynthia McFadden, Kevin Monahan and Adiel Kaplan. “A Decades-Long Fight Over an Electric Shock Treatment Led to an FDA Ban. But The Fight iIs Far From Over” April 28, 2021. NBC News.https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/decades-long-fight-over-electric-shock-treatment-led-fda-ban-n1265546

36. “Video Evidence of Torture at JRC Released to Public” April 11, 2012. Disability Rights International. https://www.driadvocacy.org/video-evidence-of-torture-at-jrc-released-to-public/

37. “Video shows student being shocked” Aug 5, 2014. CBS Evening News. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcxpGKctZMs

38. Dave Reynolds.“New York Mom Sues JRC Over Son's Skin Shocks” July 31, 2006. Inclusion Daily Express. http://www.inclusiondaily.com/archives/06/07/31/073106nymajrc.htm

39. Evelyn Nicholson’s complaint against Freeport Union Free School District and the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center. July 19, 2006. https://autistichoya.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/2006_a.twone_nicholson_lawsuit-1.pdf

40. Jen Quraishi. “School Of Shock” Founder Forced To Resign” May 27, 2011. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/judge-rotenberg-forced-resign-school-shocks/

41. “Staff fired over prank-call shock treatments” Dec. 20, 2007. The Associated Press. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22347088

20. References

What is the Graduated Electronic Decelerator? May 2024 By KG