The Other Au Clair Story

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

*All Newspaper Clips in this Blog Series are Attributed to the Archives at the News Journal, where you, too, can purchase a one month membership for access to Journal related papers dating back to the 1800s. http://delawareonline.newspapers.com/?tpa=ZgmgrjZB3AJIJY7Ba7t93Q%3D%3D

The charming, charismatic Ken Mazik was not one for rejection, nor one to be toiled with. He responded swiftly to state's case against his school calling the state's license rejection "unprofessional" and assembling a panel of parents who were willing (and later would) staunchly and publicly defend the school's approaches as therapeutic and not abusive

But, first, what did the state find? What had lit Mazik's fire?

After an eight month investigation, the state found that Au Clair had been operating in violation of state regulations for programs, staffing and organization of private residential childcare facilities. The list of violations leading to the license denial was exhausting. The investigators focused their findings in three general domains:

The unregulated use of aversive techniques in behavior modifications;
Mazik's own involvement with the school;
The lack of staffing and training

The most contentious finding was the use of aversive techniques to modify a child's behavior. Investigators found that Au Clair used aversive techniques without proper planning and monitoring. Former staff members went on the record calling the techniques abusive and violent. The report cited incidents of beatings, blows to the head, using an instrument to deliver blows, and dunkings in a dirty swimming pool as examples of painful aversives being utilized at the school.

The State brought in three independent experts, two from the Princeton Child Development Institute and one from Johns Hopkins, to review the school. Each concluded that the use of painful aversive without controlled conditions was a critical deficiency. Within the autism field opinions on the use of punishment to teach children with this disorder were beginning to sway. Longitudinal data revealed that painful aversive techniques were seldom effective. The conventional wisdom of the time was that such techniques needed to be used under carefully controlled conditions. Au Clair did not have these conditions in place nor any documentation supporting them.
Investigators could not find any Individual Treatment Plans for the use of punishment for Au Clair's residents. (There was one exception of the 30 students living at Au Clair.)

At least twice in 1978 social service workers were called to Au Clair to investigate cases of child abuse. While no charges had been filed by 1979, the workers findings were the catalyst by Social Services, jointly with the Office of the Attorney General.

Both the state and the News Journal independently determined that Mazik's Masters Degree in Clinical Psyschology from Temple University was a lie. Mazik fired back that he had only claimed to have similar credentials. But, that didn't stop him from signing internal Au Clair documents with MA after his name.
Former staffers accused Mazik of manipulating the computer and video recording equipment he had at the school. They claimed that he would have students put on multiple outfits during the course of the day, taping after each wardrobe change. When parents came to visit and review the tapes, he portended that these were recordings made over multiple days.
In May 1978, a social worker arrived at Au Clair to investigate an abuse allegations that 8 or 9 children had been excessively beaten. It was determined that there existed evidence of abuse, but not enough to close the school.
Officials were called to the school the following November to check on a child who had allegedly been beaten by Mazik over the weekend. The reporter determined that a belt or similar object had been used against the child's back. The child's face was also badly beaten.
The state's reported also accused Mazik of failing to fulfill his duties as Executive Director due to frequent absences and failure to communicate with staff.
Findings included a lack of staff from 12:30 am to 8:30 am when only one staff member was present at the school to monitor the students. This deficiency lasted for more than a year.
The school was also cited for not having enough day-time staffing and when those staff came aboard, they received little training
Au Clair was cited for failing to have a person knowledgeable about nutrition planning the facility's menus.
Parental consent forms related to care and treatment of children were found unsigned.
While each childcare facility is required to provide a single bed for each child, Au Clair was found to have at least one room containing four beds and housing six students.