Health

NEW YORK (AP) ― Cedric Napoleon suffered so much abuse in his young life that, at age 14, he was already experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, an affliction often associated with soldiers at war.

By 2002, he was under the care of a foster family and attending middle school in Killeen, Texas, in a class with a special education teacher. That's when his troubled childhood took an even darker turn, lawmakers learned Tuesday in a hearing about school discipline.

Acting out in class one day, Cedric, 129 pounds, was pinned to the floor by his 230-pound teacher, who lay on him to quiet him down, federal investigators say. When she got off or soon after, he was dead.

"If that teacher was just doing her job, then something is very wrong with the system," Toni Price, his foster mother, told a congressional committee.

Her testimony came on the same day government investigators released a study on cases of alleged abuse of children, particularly those with disabilities, arising from the practice of restraining or confining pupils in the classroom.

The new federal study, released exclusively to CBS News, reveals hundreds of cases of abuse of students at the hands of school officials -- and even deaths.

The report, done by the Government Accountability Office, finds incidents of abuse of restraints and seclusion, among other forms of mistreatment, in public and private schools alike, all across the country, says CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

The litany of cases prompted Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., to ask: "Do we need anti-torture legislation for our schools?"

In one instance, a 4-year-old autistic girl born with cerebral palsy was strapped to a chair for throwing tantrums when she needed to use the bathroom, according to findings by the Government Accountability Office. She came home with bruises on her chest, calves and wrists, her mother told investigators.

In a separate case, a 9-year-old boy with a learning disability was placed in a "time out" room 75 times in six months for such actions as whistling and waving his hands. He got blisters at least once for trying to escape from the room, the report said.

At least 20 deaths since 1990 were attributed to restricted breathing tactics used as school discipline, the report said.

Ann Gaydos, with her daughter Paige seated beside her, told lawmakers that Paige would return home from school in Cupertino, Calif., with cuts and bruises from being restrained.

In one instance, Gaydos said, a teacher took Paige, who was then age 7, to an empty classroom after the child became agitated. "There, she grabbed Paige's wrists in her left hand, forced them up between Paige's shoulder blades, grabbed Paige's left ankle in her right hand, lifted her off the ground, and drove her headfirst into the ground."

Paige, now age 15, has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. She now lives in Monument, Colo.

Gregory Kutz, the GAO official who presented the findings at the House hearing, said no federal laws limit the use of restraints or seclusion in public or private schools. Nineteen states have no laws that restrict either practice, while eight states specifically ban restraint that restricts breathing, he said.

Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said the panel would look into ways to limit the use of restraints and seclusion.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California, the committee's top Republican, said teachers must have safe ways to intervene if students get out of hand. But leaving them alone or restricting them in a way that makes it hard to breathe goes too far, he said.

"This is child abuse, plain and simple," McKeon said. "And it has no role in our nation's schools."

In Cedric Napoleon's case, government investigators said the death was ruled a homicide, but a grand jury did not indict the teacher.

A judge found that the teacher used excessive force on the child and was reckless in her actions, the report said.

"The teacher also ignored pleas and warnings that the child could not breathe and continued to hold him after he became still and quiet, the judge noted," the report said.

"If I'd treated Cedric that way, I'd be in jail," said Price, who appeared with a framed photo of her son.

Lawmakers said the teacher now works at a public high school in Loudoun County, Va. GAO officials said they have referred the Texas case to Virginia authorities for their investigation.

Gaydos sued Paige's teacher, multiple school officials and the school district. The family was eventually awarded $260,000, according to the report.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)