US opens Canton school inquiry

The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into whether a special needs school in Canton violates federal disability laws by disciplining students with electrical skin shocks.
In a September 2009 letter, the groups said the facility’s use of “painful and dehumanizing behavioral techniques violates all principles of human rights.’’ They seek to end the school’s use of shock therapy, something that several state inquiries have so far failed to do.
Many parents who have children at the Rotenberg center have supported the school, saying it accepted their children when other institutions turned them away or that the shocks are a better alternative to heavy sedation administered at some facilities.
But advocates for the disabled have been sharply critical, spurring a number of efforts to close the school.