Abuse in special education usually refers to the use of restraint and seclusion, but can also refer to students being threatened with violence or staff withholding food. This abuse often leaves students with trauma and can leave the parents feeling guilt for the abuse.^[1][2][3][4]

Many students have gone home with bruises from being restrained by staff often without being properly reported and leaving the student with trauma.^[1][5][6]

Students are often locked in what are called seclusion rooms or padded cells. In 2015, an 8-year-old student at a Maryland school was dragged down his school's hallways by three staff members and locked in a windowless seclusion room; he was later found laying in his own blood.^{[7][undue weight? – discuss]}