WAC 110-301-0331. Prohibited behavior and discipline, and physical separation of children

(1) A school-age provider is prohibited from using the following behaviors and discipline of children: (a) Profanity, obscene language, "put downs," or cultural or racial slurs; (b) Angry or hostile interactions; (c) Threats of physical harm or inappropriate discipline such as, but not limited to, spanking, biting, jerking, kicking, hitting, slapping, grabbing, shaking, pulling hair, pushing, shoving, throwing a child, or inflicting pain or humiliation as a punishment; (d) Intimidation, gestures, or verbal abuse including sarcasm, name calling, shaming, humiliation, teasing, derogatory remarks about a child or the child's family; (e) Emotional abuse including victimizing, bullying, rejecting, terrorizing, extensive ignoring, or corrupting a child; (f) Sexual abuse, pursuant to RCW 26.44.020 ; (g) Preventing a child from or punishing a child for exercising religious rights; (h) Restricting a child's breathing; (i) Binding or restricting a child's movement unless permitted under WAC 110-301-0335 ; (j) Taping a child's nose, mouth, or other body part; (k) Depriving a child of sleep, food, clothing, shelter, physical activity, first aid, or regular or emergency medical or dental care; (l) Forcing a child to ingest something as punishment such as hot sauce or soap; (m) Interfering with a child's ability to take care of their own hygiene and toileting needs; (n) Withholding hygiene care, toileting care, or diaper changing from any child unable to provide such care for themselves; (o) Exposing a child to extreme temperatures as punishment; (p) Demanding excessive physical exercise or strenuous postures. Excessive physical exercise includes, but is not limited to, running laps around the yard until overly tired, an extensive number of push-ups, standing on one foot for an uncomfortable amount of time, or holding out one's arms until tired or painful; (q) Placing the separated child in a closet, bathroom, locked room, outside, or in an unlicensed space; and (r) Using a confining space or equipment to punish a child or restrict movement. (2) A school-age provider must supervise to protect children from the harmful acts of other children. A provider must immediately intervene when they become aware that a child or children are teasing, fighting, bullying, intimidating, or becoming physically or sexually aggressive. (3) A school-age provider may separate a child from other children when that child needs to regain control of themselves. (a) During separation time, the child must remain under the appropriate level of supervision of a licensee, program director, site director, lead teacher or an assistant teacher. (b) Separation time should be minimized and appropriate to the needs of the individual child. (4) If a child is separated from other children, a school-age provider must: (a) Consider the child's developmental level, language skills, individual and special needs, and ability to understand the consequences of their actions; and (b) Communicate to the child the reason for being separated from the other children. (5) If a school-age provider follows all strategies in this section, and a child continues to behave in an unsafe manner, only a licensee, program director, site director, lead teacher, or an assistant teacher may separate the child to a less stimulating environment. Staff must remain calm and use a calm voice when directing or removing the child.