School districts can only use emergency interventions when: 

1. a student with a disability engages in unpredictable, spontaneous behavior; and 
2. the behavior presents a danger of serious physical harm to the student with a disability or others; and 
3. the dangerous behavior cannot be immediately prevented by a less restrictive response than the emergency intervention.^[1]

School districts must never substitute the use of behavioral emergency interventions for positive behavioral interventions.^[2] The school can use an emergency intervention such as physical restraint on your child only as long as needed to control the dangerous behavior and only use the amount of force that is reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.^[3]

1. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56521.1(a).[↩]
2. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56521.1(b).[↩]
3. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56521.1(b)-(c).See also Chapter 15, Information on the Rights of Students with Behavioral Needs and Students Who are Bullied.[↩]