Closed After Northridge Fire : Autistic Youth Institute to Reopen--in Sunland

A controversial Northridge live-in center for autistic youths that was closed a month ago when an arsonist set it on fire will reopen in Sunland, state officials said Monday.

Operators of the Behavior Research Institute will relocate to a quiet hillside neighborhood, ending a six-year dispute over the use of aversive therapy in a residential area near California State University, Northridge.

Resumption of specialized behavior-modification treatment for six youths between the ages of 15 and 21 was approved late Monday by the California State License Board.

The license renewal will restore the $378,000 annual financing that the privately run center receives from the state Department of Social Services and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Northridge Center Set Afire

That cash was cut off after a late-night burglar set fire to the Northridge live-in center on April 12, apparently to cover up the theft of an office safe. The blaze gutted part of the Zelzah Avenue residence rented by the institute and sent its six residents fleeing with staff members on duty.

The institute is the only autistic children’s center in the San Fernando Valley that uses a system of rewards and punishment to treat autism, a neurological disorder characterized by severe withdrawal.

It is that treatment that has prompted allegations of child-abuse at the center from some Northridge neighbors of the institute. Neighbors have also complained of the sometimes violent actions of autistic sufferers.

Several Zelzah Avenue residents have charged that they had heard frequent screaming from within the center and had seen children “grabbed by the throat and dragged inside” by institute staff members before last month’s shutdown.

The 1981 death of a 14-year-old autistic boy at the center prompted a state investigation into the institute’s therapy techniques. Although an inquest found that the boy died of natural causes, the state Department of Social Services put the institute on probation for two years.

At the time of last month’s fire, Judith Weber, the institute’s founder and president, said that the center had toned down its punishments--which at one time included spanking, pinching and squirting with cold water.

She said Monday that all forms of physical punishment have been discontinued and rewards are emphasized by round-the-clock staff members who supervise the autistic boys.

Odus Bradford, a Northridge resident who said he has sought for six years to have the center closed, said Monday he is pleased that the institute will not return to Zelzah Avenue.

“What a relief this is for our neighborhood,” he said.

Sunland Location More Isolated

The institute’s 2 1/2-acre Sunland location is more isolated from neighboring homes than was its Northridge site. The rented four-bedroom home backs up against a steep, brush-covered hillside and is set back from McGroarty Street.

It is between a single-family home and the Sunair Home for Asthmatic and Diabetic Children, a 22-acre, 88-bed facility that closed in January because of a lack of funding.

Sunair caretaker Howell Bell said Behavior Research Institute officials are negotiating to rent part of the 38-year-old facility for classroom and recreational use.

Weber said Monday that the institute will reopen as soon as she can round up 10 staff members who were layed off after last month’s fire.

Jim Shorter, director of the North Los Angeles County Regional Center, which supervises the placement of autistic youths in live-in centers, said three of the institute’s patients were returned to their parents for the past month. The other three were temporarily placed in other licensed residential-care facilities, he said.

Martha Mills, Valley-area director of the California State License Board, said the center’s permit to reopen is provisional. It will give Weber until Sept. 11 to complete paper work needed for a permanent Sunland license.

Arson Suspect Arrested

Los Angeles Police Department spokesmen said a suspect in last month’s fire has been arrested. The fire caused an estimated $50,000 damage to the center and its contents.

The suspect, Kenneth L. Kimble, 26, of West Los Angeles, an ex-employee of the institute, faces charges of arson, burglary, receiving stolen property, forgery and drug possession, Detective Charles McCrillis said .

Kimble is scheduled to be arraigned in San Fernando Superior Court on May 23, court officials said Monday.