PITTSBURGH - A child was wrongfully left tied to a chair for long periods of time and forced to wear a helmet at school, parents allege in a lawsuit against the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children.
A lawsuit was filed Feb. 20 in Pittsburgh federal court against the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children (WPSBC) and several of its staff members, including Superintendent Heidi Ondek, Colleen Benton, Erin Kelly, Megan Simmen, and Principal Lisa Reale.
The plaintiffs represent N.S., a minor with multiple behavioral and medical diagnoses including Autism Spectrum Disorder with language impairment, Global Developmental Delay, and Cortical visual impairment.
The suit says the school wanted to put a helmet on N.S. and bind his hands to keep him from hurting himself. Though N.S. would not harm himself at home, he would return from school with injuries, the suit claims.
He also would become distressed at the thought of going to school, his parents say. After child services stepped in to address the parents' complaints, he was withdrawn from the school. They claim while there N.S. was forced to wear the helmet, forced to have his hands bound and was tied with a belt to a chair "for irregular amounts of time."
The suit alleges that the defendants failed to provide adequate care and attention to N.S.'s specific needs. The case was filed by Monte J. Rabner of Rabner Law Offices.