Posted by Leslie S. Goldberg, M.Ed., CEP on Sun, Aug 23, 2009
When parents call for help with a child, adolescent, or young adult they are often in crisis and we first and foremost need to determine if we are the right people to assist them. Do they need crisis intervention; do they need a therapeutic wilderness program; do they need a therapeutic boarding school or a residential treatment program; or do they need a young adult program? Do they need a medical facility? Do they need an intervention? Some families may just need to hear some local resources, wherever they are, if they cannot afford to place their child. Do they need some advocacy services to assist them with funding or IEP issues? Once we have tweaked out that kind of information and if they agree to engage our services, we do all of our due diligence and come up with a plan.
Sometimes the plan involves a two-step process with a short term program for a couple of months followed by a longer term school or therapeutic program. Parents are extremely eager and anxious to know all that they can and want to know the long term plan right at the beginning. More often than not, we cannot give them the long term plan until the shorter term program along with clinically sophisticated testing and the 24/7 observation, therapy, and assessment are well underway. Sometimes I really wish I had a crystal ball, but without the weekly calls and reports as well as the careful and thorough test interpretation, the view from that crystal ball may not even be accurate!
We acknowledge that this can be very difficult for parents. Therefore, we do everything we can to help them with this rationale. Although it would certainly be easier for consultants and a heck of a lot less work to come up with the two step process at the beginning, it is not always in the best interest of the child, adolescent, or young adult, and that to us at the Goldberg Center is the most important goal.
Let us know what you think...
Posted by Joshua C. Doyle, M.Ed. on Thu, Jun 11, 2009
During my years directing Admissions at a boarding school for adolescents with Learning Differences (LD), I received hundreds of frantic calls from parents whose children had just been diagnosed with LD and were looking for an immediate school placement. Yet, as I started to ask more questions, I often found that a good portion of these children also presented with clinical levels of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and behavioral problems.
It was with a heavy heart that I had to tell the parents of these students that, although the school that I represented was designed to assist adolescents with LD, but due to their child's additional emotional/behavioral issues, I could not offer admission.
These parents would immediately respond...
"You don't understand, Mr. Doyle!!!! The Psychologists told us that our child's situation is a direct result from the frustration suffered from not getting the help needed to deal with their LD. If we get our child into your school, they will get the help that they need and everything will be fine."
Knowing the raw emotions behind their pleas, it would have been of no help to engage them in a spirited debate. I had to stay firm and explain that we, as a school, would be doing a disservice to their family if we enrolled their child because we did not have the expertise, nor the appropriate resources, to address all of their child's needs. Despite my best efforts, the phone calls often ended with tearful, enraged, defeated-feeling parents.
Countless studies have shown that individuals with LD are at an elevated risk for substance abuse, depression, and delinquency in comparison with their non-LD peers. In more cases than not, many of these LD individuals in crisis did not know they had LD until they were backed into some corner.
When a student acknowledges the existence of LD, it can bring to light a lot of the frustrations experienced over the years. Unfortunately, this new realization cannot turn back the clock and immediately provide relief from other coexisting issues. The emotional/behavioral problems have migrated to the forefront one way or another and now need to become the primary focus of treatment.
Private boarding and day schools for students with LD offer a supportive and nurturing environment that can often help a "fragile" child or adolescent to remain emotionally and behavioral intact. However, this nature and intensity of support and nurturance is not enough to address emergent emotional/behavioral issues. In most of these types of cases, LD Boarding and Day schools for adolescents with co-morbid issues are often not appropriate settings.
Therapeutic Boarding Schools and Residential Treatment Centers can often make academic accommodations for students with LD. However, these accommodations are often not nearly as effective as the academic programming in LD school settings. In some cases, students who attend these therapeutic settings can later attend a specialized school in order to then address the underlying LD issues, but by then they have typically lost a lot of opportunity in the developmental cycle.
So, where does this leave you as a concerned parent? Damned if you do, damned if you don't? Fear not, there are steps you can take; they just need to be more deliberate, more calculated at this stage. You don't have much room for error.
Some Suggestions:
1. If at all possible, do not wait to intervene. Time is not on your side. There are resources you should access whether or not you are planning on changing schools. All research studies show that the earlier the intervention, the better. LD issues do NOT go away on their own.
2. Evaluate or re-evaluate your child ASAP, so you can distill the extent of the emotional/behavioral issues that have manifested alongside the LD. You will need to have a testing practitioner (neuropsychologist/psychologist) administer specific assessments that probe for emotional/behavioral issues.
3. Stop blaming one set of issues on the other. The bottom line is that both exist and need to be addressed as soon as possible.
4. If you are even considering changing schools, make sure you open your scope to those that can work effectively within both issues - the LD and emotional/behavioral struggles. BUT, you also want to keep the balance in check so as to avoid the "catchall" options that claim to treat anything and everything. There are some wonderfully targeted options that achieve the right balance for you.
Posted by Joshua C. Doyle, M.Ed. on Tue, Apr 28, 2009
Parents often hope that all of their struggling children's problems will simply vanish upon enrollment in specialized schools or programs. Frustration therefore tends to mount early in the process since most families have had to make enormous personal and financial sacrifices in real-time to get their children the most appropriate help available. So, despite the build-up of many, many years leading to their children's struggles, parents want to see a quick return on investment in the form of significant change in academic and personal development.
Typically, children come home to visit during a holiday or school break and complain how they do not want to go back to their specialized schools or programs. They try to their best to wear their parents down to the point that the parents' hope for a "new relationship" with their children seems impossible. Rather than gratitude, they only receive gut-wrenching guilt-trips.
And then, during subsequent phone calls, these students may embellish stories or even fabricate disturbing scenarios to send their parents over the edge. There is nothing more difficult for parents than to sit on the other end of those phone calls, especially as they are so far away, so detached from what their children are experiencing. They feel completely powerless, especially as the stakes seem so high in those moments.
Advocating for struggling children in specialized schools and programs feels like a full time job. Oftentimes, parents put their own needs on the back burner during that time and suffer dramatically. Friendships are neglected, pastimes abandoned, marriages challenged, and other children's needs are overlooked.
So, how can you as parents find some relief and entrust the professionals at these specialized schools and programs to enable the real work to progress? And how can you simultaneously avoid hindering that progress by micro-managing your child's treatment or education?
1. When you get a phone call from your child about an incident, say to them "I know you are upset but you need to speak to a staff member about this." The greatest skill a parent or school can teach their child is "self-advocacy." This will prevent your child from thinking he/she can embellish or manipulate you. It is important that your child knows that you are supporting the school; if you come off anxious or disenchanted, he/she will exploit that. No school or program is perfect, but the good ones know how to manage expectations and work with you to establish a common platform from which to work collaboratively. Here's where educational consultants can help significantly as well... we're really good at helping you differentiate between an issue with your child and an issue with that specialized school or program.
2. If that specialized school or program has a parent mentoring program, take advantage of it. The struggles that engulf you while your child is getting help can leave you feeling very isolated. Sympathy from friends and family is often NOT enough. They likely cannot relate. Empathy and support from others who have had a similar experience will aid you through the process in a way you cannot even imagine.
3. Treat yourself to guilt-free pleasures. Reconnect with your old friends and re-engage prior passions. Spoil yourself on occasion - you need to go on living even if it is tougher to do so under the current circumstances.
4. Seek counseling. It is unreasonable to think that you will be able to get through this process unscathed. Optimally you should work with a practitioner who is both supportive of and familiar with the impact that a specialized school or program can have on your family system.
Leave a comment and let us know what you have experienced either as a parent or a professional.
Posted by Joshua C. Doyle, M.Ed. on Wed, Feb 18, 2009
In an ever-changing educational environment, students and families are more often than ever considering options for special education schools to help address learning and attention issues. But what do you need to know about specialized day and boarding private schools from an admissions standpoint? As a former admissions director in LD schools and now as an educational consultant, I spend considerable time demystifying the admissions process for parents and professionals making decisions in the face of student struggles.
The following are my top tips for navigating the admissions process for special education schools:
1) Assessment: It is vital that, before embarking on a search, your child has received updated cognitive and achievement testing. Most schools will not consider a student unless the testing has been performed in the past 2-3 years. In more cases than not, a school will require the submission of a full Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC- IV).
2) Research: The admissions process for you and your child can prove to be overwhelming and emotionally exhausting. Nevertheless, it is important that you all do a significant amount of research on the schools before applying. All special education schools cater to different students in varying ways and it is up to you to understand the realm of possibilities.
A few key questions for initial admissions inquiries:
-To which other schools are your applicants most likely to apply as well?
-What types of teaching methodologies and technologies does your school use?
-Are organizational and study skills taught as core curricular disciplines or treated as peripheral?
3) Retention of Students: It is important to know how many students decided not to return to their school. If the number is higher than 10%, ask why that percentage of students didn't return.
Examples of questions to ask about retention:
-What has been your retention rate for students over the past 3 years?
-factoring out economic variables, why was the retention rate low relative to other schools?
-How many students have transitioned back into a more traditional school environment?
-How many students have been dismissed in the past 2 years? For what reasons?
4) Outcomes Studies: Ask a school if they have performed outcome studies on their students' progress. Many special education schools have done clinical studies that will give specific data on the reading gains their students have made since they have been attending the school. Note that anecdotal information is not a good substitute for hard data. Also, find out where students go, on a percentage basis, when they graduate from the school. How many move on to a four-year college? A two-year college? Take time off? Jump right into industry?
5) Special Education Schools vs. Traditional Prep Schools / Private Schools: In order to meet enrollment goals, many traditional schools are choosing to admit students with learning differences these days. It is very tempting for families to consider these schools because they have a more traditional private school setting and culture. However, not all of these schools have the expertise and/or proven methodologies "in-house" to academically assist these students. It is important to be cautious and ask detailed questions when considering traditional private schools for your child with specialized needs if the school does not have a proven history of working effectively with this sub-population.
A few questions that can open up a discussion about supports for your child:
-Are the teachers trained in special education and what credentials do they carry?
-Is my child going to be pulled out of class or an after school activity to receive help?
-Will my child have to go to a resource room to get additional support?
6) Always ask the school for at least 3 parent references and, in doing so, make sure each has had their child attend the school for at least one full academic year. It may also be helpful to request parent references that are from the same geographical area in order to be able to control comparisons in relating to local school decisions, requirements, etc.