The Maine Department of Education (DOE) has adopted Rule Chapter 33 (ME HP1360), a comprehensive set of revised rules governing restraint and seclusion of students. The rules take effect July 1, 2012.
 
Chapter 33’s core components require that staff be trained in and deemed competent in:

• Responding to potentially dangerous behavior with nonphysical interventions such as de-escalation and positive alternatives.
• Identifying behaviors that necessitate physical restraint or seclusion, evaluating risk of harm, and determining when physical intervention is warranted.
• Practicing safe physical restraint techniques, safely moving students, and recognizing and avoiding positions that pose a risk of restraint-related positional asphyxia.
• Understanding the effects of physical restraint and seclusion; monitoring for physical and psychological signs of distress; recognizing when to obtain medical assistance.
• Recognizing the risks and realities of physical restraint and seclusion.
• Conducting student and staff debriefings.

 
Additionally, the rules require that “Each covered entity shall ensure that a sufficient number of administrators or designees, general and special education staff, maintain certification in an approved training program. A list of staff with the required approved training must be made available in each building office, as well and any central office, along with other school-wide emergency procedures and must be updated at least annually.”
 
CPI can help you meet the requirements of Maine’s new rules!
CPI is an approved training provider in Maine. The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention^® program’s evidence-based techniques have been shown to be effective in both the prevention of and the safe use of physical restraint and seclusion. Our program provides evidence-based training in positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), as well as conflict prevention, de-escalation, crisis response, and debriefing techniques. Additionally, it teaches safe, less-restrictive physical interventions to be used only as a last resort.

Our training can be tailored to the unique needs of your school. With our train-the-trainer option, select staff can be certified to teach the program to other educators in your school or district on a continuing basis. CPI can also help coordinate training for all the schools in your district.

CPI offers training in more than 150 locations throughout the US, and a cost-effective, onsite training option is also available. We have several programs scheduled in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

Read Chapter 33: Rule Governing Physical Restraint and Seclusion in its entirety. 

View the Maine DOE's list of approved training programs.