Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) A
center must adopt and enforce written policies and procedures for the use of
person-centered direction and guidance by individuals providing services to
minors at the center. The policy must include:
(1) the implementation of a system-wide,
person-centered direction and guidance program for minors that includes:
(A) the teaching of successful behavior and
coping skills;
(B) proactive
strategies to identify and manage a minor's behaviors before they escalate;
and
(C) the monitoring and
evaluation of the effectiveness of direction and guidance used with a minor by
a committee as described in this section;
(2) procedures for ensuring consistent
language, practices, and application of direction and guidance by individuals
providing services at a center; and
(3) procedures for documenting and providing
to a minor's parent a daily report of the minor's behavior.
(b) A center must ensure that only
person-centered strategies and techniques that encourage self-esteem,
self-control, and self-direction are used for the purposes of direction and
guidance of a minor at a center. A center must not use a restraint as part of
person-centered direction and guidance.
(c) Person-centered direction and guidance
must be:
(1) individualized and consistent for
each minor;
(2) differentiated in
both nature and intensity based on a minor's level of behavior;
(3) appropriate to the minor's level of
understanding and functional or educational development; and
(4) directed toward teaching the minor
successful behavior, awareness of behavior triggers and self-control,
including:
(A) encouraging a minor to develop
positive behavior in accordance with a minor's individualized psychosocial
program;
(B) redirecting behavior
using positive statements; and
(C)
teaching the minor to use effective behavior management techniques.
(d) A center must ensure
that quiet time, if used, is:
(1) in
accordance with the minor's psychosocial program and plan of care;
(2) brief and under continuous face-to-face
observation by center staff;
(3)
appropriate for the minor's age and development;
(4) limited to no more than one minute per
year of the minor's developmental age; and
(5) does not place a minor alone in a
room.
(e) A center must
ensure the protection of minors at the center from harsh, cruel, or unusual
treatment. Negative discipline is considered punishment and abuse and is
prohibited at a center, including:
(1)
corporal punishment or threats of corporal punishment;
(2) punishment associated with food, naps, or
toilet training;
(3) pinching,
shaking, or biting a minor;
(4)
hitting a minor with a hand or object;
(5) putting anything in or on a minor's
mouth;
(6) humiliating, ridiculing,
rejecting, or yelling at a minor;
(7) subjecting a minor to harsh, abusive, or
profane language;
(8) placing a
minor alone in a locked or darkened room, bathroom, or closet without windows;
and
(9) requiring a minor to remain
silent or inactive for inappropriately long periods of time for the minor's
developmental age.
(f)
The center must establish a person-centered direction and guidance committee to
review the techniques and strategies used at a center to:
(1) determine whether the individualized
direction and guidance used as established in a plan of care is consistently
applied for each minor in accordance with center policy;
(2) evaluate the frequency and outcomes of
strategies and techniques used with a minor to:
(A) determine the impact of the direction and
guidance on a minor's ability to achieve progress in goals;
(B) determine effectiveness of the minor's
program; and
(C) recommend the use
of new strategies and techniques when current strategies and techniques are
determined to be ineffective.
(g) The committee must include:
(1) the center's administrator;
(2) the center's nursing director or
designee;
(3) an individual
providing psychosocial treatment and services on behalf of a center;
and
(4) a parent or an individual
from a parent council or support group for minors receiving services at the
center.
(h) The center is
not required to include a parent or individual from a parent council or support
group if, after a good faith effort, the center is unable to include a parent
or individual in a committee meeting. The center must document, for DADS
review, a good faith effort to include a parent or individual from a parent
council or support group at each meeting.
(i) The center must adopt and enforce written
policies and procedures for the frequency, format and documentation of
committee meetings.
(j) A center
must provide its written person-centered direction and guidance policy to all
parents, employees, volunteers and contractors. The center must maintain
documentation of acknowledgment of the written policy from all employees,
volunteers and contractors.
