I appear to be getting a lot of traffic b/c I mentioned the Christine Mischenko case. If you're Googling for her, try using Christine Mischenko bail or jail: that may give you more specific hits. What can I tell you--I'm a reference librarian's daughter. I like to help.

Someone on one of my lists pointed out that this may be a watershed case ITO requiring some kind of standard or certification to be called a behavior therapist. Which has its downside, of course: it's not covered by insurance, so if therapists have to be certified, that might make them beyond many parents' budgets.

I'm rambling here: I'm also wondering about the kind of control and power issues this person had. I had one consultant tell me that the field of special education is filled with control freaks. Which makes some sense psychologically: if you want control, who could give you more absolute control than a nonverbal child?

The flip side, of course, is that some therapists are just much better people than the mass of humanity: they love children, they are enthusiastic and selfless and loving and patient. The people who answer frantic phone calls. The therapist who offered to attend a session with Prima and the psychologist if I thought it would help. The endless thoughtful little gifts they've brought for my daughter. There is nothing better or more important than what they do. The creativity and common sense they've brought to helping my child.

And then you have someone like Christine Mischenko....