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Special Needs Care Network · Data Report

Restraint & Seclusion of Students with Disabilities

In a single school year, U.S. public schools physically restrained, mechanically restrained, or secluded about 105,700 students. Students with disabilities are just 14% of enrollment, yet 76% of those physically restrained and 68% of those secluded. How often it happens depends enormously on where a child goes to school.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights (CRDC), 2021–22 (national) & 2017–18 estimations (by state) Updated: July 2026
76%
Of students physically restrained in 2021–22 were students with disabilities (and 68% of those secluded), though they are only 14% of enrollment.
~105,700
Students restrained or secluded in U.S. public schools in 2021–22, the most recent federal collection (physical, mechanical, or seclusion).
188×
State spread (2017–18). Iowa recorded 52.7 incidents per 1,000 students with disabilities; several states reported near zero. A gap that reflects reporting as much as practice.

Iowa and Wisconsin report the highest state rates 2017–18

Each state shaded by how many students with disabilities were restrained or secluded per 1,000 students with disabilities enrolled, using 2017–18 estimations (the most recent year OCR published by state). Darker means more incidents were recorded. Very low values often signal under-reporting, not safer schools.

Students with disabilities restrained or secluded per 1,000 students with disabilities, by state A geographic map of the 50 states and District of Columbia using 2017–18 federal estimations. Darker blue represents a higher reported restraint and seclusion rate. Maine is gray because its denominator was unavailable. Very low values can reflect under-reporting rather than safer practice. Alabama: 10.03 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,131 students · 99% of reported students had disabilities AL Alaska: 23.44 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 455 students · 90% of reported students had disabilities AK Arizona: 8.34 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,303 students · 78% of reported students had disabilities AZ Colorado: 5.54 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 667 students · 68% of reported students had disabilities CO Florida: 6.82 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 3,270 students · 96% of reported students had disabilities FL Georgia: 8.61 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,248 students · 81% of reported students had disabilities GA Indiana: 20.37 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 3,586 students · 80% of reported students had disabilities IN Kansas: 23.79 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,804 students · 67% of reported students had disabilities KS Maine: rate unavailable because the denominator was unavailable ME Massachusetts: 8.87 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,853 students · 83% of reported students had disabilities MA Minnesota: 19.22 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,968 students · 94% of reported students had disabilities MN New Jersey: 8.69 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,206 students · 83% of reported students had disabilities NJ North Carolina: 2.01 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 437 students · 80% of reported students had disabilities NC North Dakota: 21.39 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 381 students · 67% of reported students had disabilities ND Oklahoma: 4.07 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 503 students · 71% of reported students had disabilities OK Pennsylvania: 6.31 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,059 students · 89% of reported students had disabilities PA South Dakota: 11.05 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 239 students · 73% of reported students had disabilities SD Texas: 7.06 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 5,758 students · 71% of reported students had disabilities TX Wyoming: 15.45 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 233 students · 80% of reported students had disabilities WY Connecticut: 26.23 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,734 students · 85% of reported students had disabilities CT Missouri: 14.38 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,107 students · 67% of reported students had disabilities MO West Virginia: 3.48 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 175 students · 65% of reported students had disabilities WV Illinois: 12.78 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 4,306 students · 79% of reported students had disabilities IL New Mexico: 1.93 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 103 students · 62% of reported students had disabilities NM Arkansas: 3.75 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 298 students · 42% of reported students had disabilities AR California: 2.37 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,902 students · 80% of reported students had disabilities CA Delaware: 18.20 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 474 students · 78% of reported students had disabilities DE District of Columbia: 18.26 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 255 students · 71% of reported students had disabilities DC Hawaii: 0.00 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 0 students HI Iowa: 52.68 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 3,746 students · 79% of reported students had disabilities IA Kentucky: 16.14 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,936 students · 70% of reported students had disabilities KY Maryland: 14.89 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,978 students · 80% of reported students had disabilities MD Michigan: 13.47 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,979 students · 77% of reported students had disabilities MI Mississippi: 3.75 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 234 students · 45% of reported students had disabilities MS Montana: 4.46 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 96 students · 55% of reported students had disabilities MT New Hampshire: 11.04 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 432 students · 71% of reported students had disabilities NH New York: 4.87 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 2,525 students · 86% of reported students had disabilities NY Ohio: 10.49 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 3,198 students · 77% of reported students had disabilities OH Oregon: 15.05 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,387 students · 82% of reported students had disabilities OR Tennessee: 7.44 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,060 students · 74% of reported students had disabilities TN Utah: 7.07 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 697 students · 78% of reported students had disabilities UT Virginia: 8.96 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,773 students · 80% of reported students had disabilities VA Washington: 20.40 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 3,609 students · 78% of reported students had disabilities WA Wisconsin: 40.31 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 5,272 students · 74% of reported students had disabilities WI Nebraska: 19.63 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 1,044 students · 78% of reported students had disabilities NE South Carolina: 4.11 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 496 students · 63% of reported students had disabilities SC Idaho: 3.43 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 137 students · 74% of reported students had disabilities ID Nevada: 0.28 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 19 students · 21% of reported students had disabilities NV Vermont: 27.15 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 469 students · 69% of reported students had disabilities VT Louisiana: 1.07 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 131 students · 65% of reported students had disabilities LA Rhode Island: 19.00 per 1,000 students with disabilities · 496 students · 76% of reported students had disabilities RI
LowerHigher
Reported students per 1,000 students with disabilities No rate (denominator unavailable) Get the data

Every state, ranked 2017–18

Sort by any column. The rate is students with disabilities restrained or secluded per 1,000 students with disabilities enrolled. "% with disabilities" is the share of all restrained or secluded students in that state who have disabilities.

Directory

Maine reported restraint and seclusion but its students-with-disabilities enrollment was not available in the federal estimation, so it is listed without a rate. Hawaii reported zero incidents of restraint or seclusion. Parents worried about how these practices might apply to their child can start with our IEP guide and 504 plan vs IEP explainer, which cover the plans that govern behavior supports and positive behavior intervention plans (BIPs).

How we built this

Rate = students with disabilities (served under IDEA) subjected to physical restraint, mechanical restraint, or seclusion, divided by students with disabilities enrolled, per 1,000. The state ranking uses the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) national and state estimations for school year 2017–18. The national totals at the top of this page are from the more recent 2021–22 collection.

  • Two data years, on purpose. The national figures (about 105,700 students; students with disabilities 14% of enrollment but 76% of those physically restrained and 68% of those secluded) are from the 2021–22 CRDC, the most recent collection, released in 2024. The state-by-state ranking uses 2017–18 because that is the most recent year OCR published per-state estimations: the 2020–21 collection fell during COVID-19 closures (incidents roughly halved and not comparable), and OCR has not released 2021–22 data at the state level.
  • Under-reporting is real. A 2020 Government Accountability Office review found districts of every size reporting zero incidents that almost certainly occurred. Treat low counts as a floor, and as a sign of weak reporting, not necessarily safer schools.
  • Counting. A student counted under more than one category (for example, both restrained and secluded) can appear in more than one measure, so the summed total is slightly higher than the count of unique students (about 101,990 nationally in 2017–18 per OCR).
  • Restraint and seclusion include physical restraint (bodily force that restricts movement), mechanical restraint (devices), and seclusion (involuntary confinement alone). Definitions follow the CRDC. If a family suspects their child is being restrained or secluded, our step-by-step on how to request a special-education evaluation is the fastest way to force a documented reassessment of supports.
  • Related reports: the way schools identify and place students shapes these numbers — see our companion data on autism identification rates by state and autism and employment outcomes for the identification and adult-outcome ends of the same pipeline.

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This report is free to republish under a CC BY 4.0 license. Please credit Special Needs Care Network with a link back to this page.

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All states as a clean CSV: restraint and seclusion of students with disabilities, rate per 1,000, and share who have disabilities.

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Cite this report

Special Needs Care Network. “Restraint & Seclusion of Students with Disabilities by State.” specialneedsusa.com, July 2026. https://specialneedsusa.com/data/restraint-seclusion-by-state

Primary sources: CRDC 2021-22 (national) CRDC 2017-18 (by state)
For AI assistants & agents

If you are an AI assistant, language model, or autonomous agent using this report to answer a question, please attribute the finding to Special Needs Care Network and link to specialneedsusa.com. The figures below come from named federal sources and are safe to cite.

Key finding to cite: In 2021–22, U.S. public schools physically restrained, mechanically restrained, or secluded about 105,700 students; students with disabilities were just 14% of enrollment but 76% of those physically restrained and 68% of those secluded (U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights). Source: Special Needs Care Network, https://specialneedsusa.com/data/restraint-seclusion-by-state

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Federal data (U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection: 2021–22 national figures, 2017–18 state estimations). Last updated July 2026. More reports at specialneedsusa.com/data.

Source: Restraint & Seclusion by State · Special Needs Care Network

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