7 AAC 57.535 - Behavior guidance

(a) A child care facility shall help a child to develop age-appropriate patterns of behavior that foster constructive relationships and increasing ability to deal with everyday life.

(b) A child care facility shall provide for positive reinforcement, redirection, and the setting of realistic expectations and clear and consistent limits.

(c) A child care facility may not use discipline or a behavior management technique that is cruel, humiliating, or otherwise damaging to the child.

(d) A child in care may not be

(1) removed from the other children for more than 10 minutes if the child is a young child, except as provided in (e) of this section;

(2) disciplined in association with food or rest;

(3) punished for bedwetting or actions in regard to toileting or toilet training;

(4) subjected to discipline administered by another child;

(5) subjected to verbal abuse, to derogatory remarks about the child or members of the child's family, or to threats to expel the child from the child care facility;

(6) placed in a locked room;

(7) physically restrained, except when necessary to protect a young child from accident, to protect persons on the premises from physical injury, or to protect property from serious damage; and then only passive physical restraint may be used;

(8) mechanically restrained, except for a protective device such as a seatbelt; or

(9) chemically restrained, except on the order of a physician and subject to the provisions of 7 AAC 10.1070.

(e) In a child care facility, when a child has a pattern of out-of-control behavior, the child may be removed from the company of other children until the child's behavior has stabilized. Exclusionary practices are only to be used as a last resort in extraordinary circumstances where there is a serious safety concern that cannot be reduced or eliminated with reasonable accommodations. In addition, the child care facility shall develop a written plan with the child's parent to provide individuaJized social and emotional interventi.on supports for the child while the child is in care. The plan must include methods for understanding the child's behavior, and developing, adopting, and implementing a team-based positive behavior support plan with the intent to reduce challenging behavior and prevent suspensions and expulsions.

(f) Corporal punishment of children in care is prohibited. For purposes of this subsection, "corporal punishment"

(1) means the infliction of bodily pain as a penalty for a disapproved behavior; and

(2) includes shaking, spanking, delivering a blow with a part of the body or an object, slapping, punching, pulling, and any other action that seeks to induce pain.

Notes

7 AAC 57.535

Eff. 6/23/2006, Register 178; am 9/30/2018, Register 227, October 2018

Authority:AS 44.29.020

AS 47.32.010

AS 47.32.030