Policy and Program Considerations for Choosing Crisis Intervention Programs

Recently there has been national media attention focusing on the number of deaths and injuries associated with the use of physical restraint and seclusion procedures in schools. Research shows these procedures are most frequently applied to students with disabilities, and that lack of staff training in de-escalation procedures, as well as the use of these interventions, is commonly viewed as a contributing factor to student injuries and death. This study compares and contrasts crisis intervention training from 17 commercial training programs as a way to assist administrators in finding the crisis training program that best matches their program goals and policy guidelines. Choosing an appropriate training program can be a difficult administrative decision given the legal and financial obligations that can be associated with such trainings. This study compares course content, and provides descriptive information about specific features of each program to allow stakeholders to make adequate comparisons. Similarities in these training programs, as well as some of the relatively wide variations in the way the training content is emphasized, are also noted.