tonight on "nightline," oprah's farewell. a chapter closes on the incredible american story as oprah winfrey ends her talk show. tonight, barbara walters offers her take on the queen of daytime's legacy, and 25 years of memories. ♪ 25 years ♪ have come and gone plus, school of shock. a school for special needs using a controversial technique. skin shock therapy. when we investigated the executive director, he had this to say -- >> if it didn't hurt, it wouldn't be effective. >> today, he's been dieted. we have the inside story as a former patient speaks to "nightline." >> i have nightmares. i feel the shocks in my sleep.

and, terrible totals. one after another after another. an historic number of tornadoes this season and an unbelievable amount of damage. how much? we have storm season by the numbers. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," may 25th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with the phenomen phenomenon, the woman who is oprah winfrey. after 25 years, she ended her daytime talk show today and so it is a moment for taking stock. what has oprah just completed, and how did she do it? and why do so many people care? barbara walters joined me for a look at her legacy. >> one more hour of television history. >> the buildup was mammoth. but for all the dramatics, all

the heartfelt tributes -- >> i know you don't have children of your own, but you have mothered millions. >> reporter: all of the tears. ♪ in this lifetime >> reporter: but her final program today, it was just oprah. on her own set, saying thank you. >> from you whose names i will never know, i learned what love is. you and this show have been the great love of my life. ♪ 25 years have come and gone >> reporter: 4,561 shows later, the program that in many ways redefined the talk show, with a mix of spiritual self-help -- >> i wanted people to be responsible for the energy they brought to me. >> reporter: and girl talk. >> was it a consummated

marriage? >> oh, my god. oprah! >> i have to ask that question. >> she laughs, she screams, she cries, she's a great performer. >> you get a car! you get a car. >> reporter: we thought, who better to analyze the phenomenon that is oprah than the woman she said she wanted to grow up to be. barbara walters. >> i see you on "the today show" and i say, there's a woman. she's holding that space. wow. she did that. maybe i can do that. >> reporter: but in fact, oprah wasn't like anyone else. consider what she told barbara in their first interview back in 1988. >> somewhere i have always known that i was born for greatness in my life. somewhere i've always felt it. >> i mean, that's quite a statement. i was born to do great things. but she really feels that. >> reporter: but -- >> and she has, cynthia. >> reporter: it was in that first interview with walters that oprah made it crystal

clear. as hard as it might be, she was not going to hide from her own tragedies. she would bear them all. like the rape she endured at the age of 9. >> and i had been left with a 19-year-old cousin. and he raped me. i went into the fifth grade that fall and i remember maria gonzalez on the playground telling me how babies came into the world and how you made babies. so, i went through the entire fifth grade every day thinking, i'm going to have a baby. and at the time, though, i didn't know that you had to be -- >> you make me want to cry. >> yeah. and so that -- that's why -- i weep for the lost innocence, i weep for that. because you are never the same again. you're never the same. >> reporter: she seemed to take her shame, her suffering, her vulnerabilities, and turn them into empowerment.

for herself and her viewers. her abuse helped others deal with theirs. who can forget this moment? >> there are 200 men standing in our studio audience right now, each one is holding a picture of themselves at the age when they say they were first sexually abused. >> she makes people confess and she is everybody's confessor. before you confess, she's already done it. she knows the questions to ask that are very provocative and personal and that someone else might not ask. >> the color of your skin is obviously different than it was when you were younger. >> i have a skin disorder that destroys the pigmentation of the skin. it's something that i cannot help. >> reporter: but celebrities were the least of it. >> have you ever felt this way before? >> reporter: the show seemed to

deal with all the social issues of the day. from racism. >> to try and understand the feelings and motivations of the people of the all white county. >> reporter: aids. >> when did the rest of the town knew you had aids? when the newspaper ran something every day on it. >> reporter: oprah said it was the real people on her program who touched her most deeply. people like matty stepanek. >> how are you doing? >> a lot better health wise. i'm doing very well excitement wise. >> reporter: she cared for everyone, big and small. what is it that she does that is so effective? >> she cares. and she says, whatever you're going through, i went there, too. and look where i am today. and you can be. >> reporter: who does walters think will carry forward oprah's message of self-acceptance? >> lady gaga reminds me a little bit of oprah. ♪ i was born this way

>> and when she talks about her little monsters, she says to them, be yourself. i was nobody, i was nothing. nobody believed in me. but you can make it. this is lady gaga. it is a different time, but the same message. >> reporter: oprah's daytime show may have ended, but her influence certainly has not. as was made man any fest on yesterday's show when more than 400 who she helped send to college came to pay their tributes. ♪ because we knew you ♪ we have been changed >> reporter: are you proud of her? >> i am. and i also like her enormously. i respect her, i admire her and i truly like her. >> and i thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as i've tried to be for you. i won't say good-bye. i'll just say, until we meet again.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with cynthia mcfadden. >> today, news on a story we've been reporting on for four years about a controversial method for treating children with disabilities. literally giving them electrical skin shocks to change their behaviors. it is used by the judge rottenberg center in massachusetts. a school that stood behind the practice even after the head of the u.n. office on torture condemned it here on "nightline." and the justice department launched an investigation. but now, a new development.

today, the school's founder, dr. matthew israel, was in a criminal court in massachusetts. indicted by the state attorney general on charges of misleading a grand jury and destroying evidence. the case stems from an incident in 2007 in which two students were mistakenly administered dozens of shocks. for years, dr. israel and supportive parents have argued that his method, while controversial, has been the only help for their children. over and over the center has shown us videotapes like this one, which they say prove that students with severe disabilities improve after receiving the skin shock treatment. when we told the center we were doing this follow-up, they even threw in one of their success stories from florida to tell us that the shock treatment, though painful, had worked for him. >> looking back, i'm thankful

for it, because i'm now a contributing member of society. i have a high school diploma. >> reporter: but not every former student feels that way. >> that was the worst part of my life. >> reporter: he was at the center from the ages of 10 to 15. he received the shock treatment. >> the best way to explain jrc is very manipulative. >> reporter: we first heard from him after our last report on the school aired almost a year ago and he saw me get the shock. >> okay. you ready? >> reporter: yep. i'm glad it's over. >> i saw you receive the shock and seeing your leg jump and it brought back memories. >> reporter: memories, he says, that haunt him. >> i can't sleep sometimes. i have nightmares. i feel the shocks in my sleep. >> reporter: he tells me he went to the senter with a history of emotional problems and aggressive behavior. so, tell me about your

childhood. >> multiple institutions, multiple residential facilities. >> reporter: according to the judge rottenberg center, about half of the 200 or so residents here, a mix of physically disabilitied and emotionally s disturbed people, are shocked, with court approval, in an attempt to change their behaviors. >> it has no detrimental affects whatsoever. >> reporter: it hurts, though. >> if it didn't hurt, it wouldn't be effective. >> reporter: the device and the philosophy are dr. israel's creation. he continues to be a staunch defender of this system of reward and punishment, which, he says, is the only solution for many of the kids who are here. so, when someone calls this torture of school children -- >> the realtor sure is what these children are subjected to if they don't have this problem. they are drugged up to their gills. they end up in state institutions or warehoused in james. >> it's torture. there's no other way to explain it. >> reporter: when he was 13, modesto tried to run away from

the center unsuccessfully. >> i ran away the first time, they put me on a board and put on a timer for 30 minutes and another one for two and they would wait for the two to go off and shock me. two minutes go off, i screamed, i begged bloody murder, i said, please, stop. >> reporter: the school's lawyer denies that happened. >> no. no. i mean, modesto received, i think, 56 skin shocks for the entire four years he was on the program. so, that's -- i don't know, is that 15 a year, maybe? so, i don't -- i'm sure none of that's true. >> records will never be -- they will never be accurate. >> reporter: how many times would you estimate you were shocked while you were there in those five years? >> i lost count.

>> reporter: mark was a teacher at the school. so, you saw kids strapped down to a four-point restraint -- >> yes. >> reporter: and shocked? >> yes. they can't go anywhere. they can't hurt anybody. but they're punishing them for, they might have spit at somebody. >> reporter: swearing? >> maybe they did hit somebody. >> reporter: what about swearing? >> they would get shocked for swearing, yeah. talking without permission. you know -- >> reporter: talking without permission? >> yeah. yeah. >> reporter: you know, one of the things that dr. israel says over and over again is this g.e.d., these shocks, are administered only to people who really need it, people who are going to harm themselves or others. and i know you work with a lot of low functioning kids. but there are also some high functioning kids at the institution. were they getting the shocks, as well? >> absolutely they were getting shocked. he's using the excuse of the very serious, bizarre, sel

self-injury behaviors as an excuse to use the shock treatment, and, to me, it's an experiment. >> reporter: mark says he stayed at the judge rottenberg center for two years, despite his qu m qualms, in an etch fort to keep his students from getting shocked. but in tend, he couldn't take it. >> i was sick. i wasn't sleeping. i was in poor health. i had to leave. i said, this is -- i just -- i just couldn't do it anymore. >> reporter: so you quit? >> i quit. i did. i -- and i tried my best. >> reporter: modesto left, too, running away again. this time, successfully. he says, with the help of a staff member, shown here on this missing persons poster. >> i couldn't go home. i couldn't go back there. i have to live in the street. i made sure wherever i was, i don't care, i'll sleep on a bench for two months if i have

to, to stop that program. >> reporter: but the school sent us this video, saying, modesto is wrong. he was benefits from the shock treatment and that even modesto said so at the time. >> but thanks to this center, i'm the person i wanted to be. >> reporter: modesto tells us he was only saying that to get better treatment and that even as he was making this speech, he was plotting his escape. certainly life has not been easy for him since he left. he's 22 now, living independently after bouncing in and out of other hospitaling during the years since he left the judge rottenberg center. proof, he say us, the treatment didn't work. >> there are kids out there, in these programs, in these institutions, just going through it. and no one cares. >> as part of the deal with the massachusetts attorney general's office, dr. israel accepted five years of probation and agreed to step down as the head of the school. his deputy, the woman who

shocked me, is taking over from him, at least temporarily. meanwhile the u.s. justice department continues its investigation. stay with us. well, hotels know they can't fill every room every day. like this one. and this one. and oops, my bad. so, they give expedia ginormous discounts with these: unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. my brain didn't even break a sweat. where you book matters. expedia. and my dog bailey and i love to hang out in the kitchen. you love the aroma of beef tenderloin, don't you? you inspired a very special dog food. [ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired.

there have been more than 500 deaths from tornadoes in the united states so far this year. the deadliest since 1953. here's john donvan with tonight's tornadoes by the numbers. >> reporter: 13 to 14. that, in minutes, the is average warning time available now days with the knowledge we have of tornadoes. 24 minutes. that's about what they got in joplin, which is above average. even so, other numbers on how that was not enough. number of residents killed in joplin? 125. number of buildings destroyed? 8,000. number of individual tornadoes to have hit that town on sunday, just one.

average number of tornadoes recorded in the u.s. annually in the past decade, 1,274. number recorded so far this year? 1,000. where the joplin tornado ranked in the ef scale? ef-5, the highest there is. minimum speed to qualify for ef-5? more than 200 miles per hour. the power of an ef-5 tornado? it's on par with a small atomic explosion. daytime population of joplin during business hours monday through friday, counting visiting shoppers, workers and others who reside outside of town? 270,000. population on a sunday, the day that the tornado hit? 49,000. which items us, clearly, had it not been a sunday, all the numbers could have been worse. much worse. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington. >> 13 minutes to react. a lifetime to rebuild. 's