The stretch between Halloween and winter break is when restraint and isolation incidents climb in a lot of buildings. Routines slip, daylight shrinks, and the students who were barely holding it together in September stop holding it together.
Most de-escalation training focuses on the moment a student is already escalated. That moment matters. But the incidents that never happen are the ones prevented moments or days earlier, by adults who noticed the warning signs and changed what they were doing. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Know the first signs, not the last ones
Every student who escalates has an early stage: pacing, going quiet, putting a head down, asking to leave, arguing about something small. If your team only recognizes the stage where a student is yelling or leaving the room, you have already missed the window where a quiet redirection, a break, or a change of task would have worked. Consider asking your team this week: for the three students we worry about most, what does their early stage look like, and what has worked before? Write it down where the adults who see that student can find it.
Reduce the demands you can control
Escalation usually follows a demand the student cannot meet in that moment. Before the break, look at the demands you can adjust without lowering expectations: transitions without warning, unstructured time, back-to-back tasks with no choice, and public correction in front of peers. Adding a two-minute warning, offering two acceptable options, or moving a correction to a quiet word at the door costs nothing and prevents more incidents than any crisis technique.
Decide now what “emergency” means
Washington law allows restraint or isolation only when a student’s behavior poses an imminent likelihood of serious harm, and it requires family notification and a debrief after every incident. Teams get into trouble when “emergency” quietly expands to include disruption, refusal, or property damage. Before the busiest weeks of the year, have your building team restate, in plain words, what does and does not meet that standard, and who makes the call. Consider making a T-Chart together for reference.
Treat every incident as data
The post-incident review is not paperwork. It is the only time the adults involved can learn what happened before the incident and what to change. Keep the review short and structured: what did we see first, what did we try, what did the student tell us afterward, and what one thing will we do differently. Then check who is being restrained or isolated. If the same students, or students who are Black and have disabilities and students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, keep showing up in the reports, the opportunity is in the system, not the students.
This month’s challenge
Pick one student your team worries about. Before the break, write down that student’s early signs, one thing that calms them, and one demand you can adjust. Share it with every adult who sees that student in a day. Then notice what changes.
Dig deeper: OSPI PBS manual (de-escalation and post-incident review) · RCW 28A.155.210 · RCW 28A.600.485
Questions, or want help putting this into practice in your district? Email connect@dec.solutions.
