Therapuetic schools

[G8P4]

anyone got any info on therapuetic schools...I have a troubled teen

[harrietsmama]

I noticed no one replied yet , and I have no answers either, but maybe try in mental health forum?

[chiromamma]

I know some folks involved with this school. They are positively amazing.
http://www.eaglerockschool.org/home/index.asp

[G8P4]

That school looks good Chiromamma, and there are many on the internet that look fantastic....I wondered if anyone from MDC had any experience with any of them. Most of them are very expensive and we would not qualify for any subsidy so I'm wondering how you can tell if it's a decent school or not.

[StoriesInTheSoil]

My brother spent a year at Aspen Ranch in Utah...

[Satinplum]

You might benefit from reading some of the following:
Warning Signs of Potentially Abusive Facilities
http://www.isaccorp.org/warningsigns.asp

The US House of Representatives just passed legislation to (hopefully) rein in abusive facilities. There were hearings in October and April, and three reports of investigations by the GAO into widespread allegations of abuse, maltreatment and death, and deceptive marketing practices in these facilities.You can read lots more at this link to the House Committee on Education and Labor:
http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/fc101007.shtml

Look for the testimony from parents. I also recommend the GAO forensic investigation of reports of abuse and death and deceptive marketing practices:
http://edlabor.house.gov/testimony/2...4-GregKutz.pdf

Be very cautious about licensure and accreditation. Be very very clear what the claims really mean. For example, if they claim to have JCAHO accreditation, you can look up the specifics here:
http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx
Often it just means they keep needles clean and check two forms of ID before administering meds, or will give an aspirin if someone is having a heart attack. It has nothing--nothing--to do with effective outcomes for teens having difficulty.

I'm guessing you must be pretty stressed out by all this. I wish you well as you navigate this difficulty. Please keep your mind clear and recognize that the programs have a lot of experience at manipulating parents who are at the end of their rope. Take care and keep your wits about you.

[G8P4]

Satinplum....thank you so much for all those links, I haven't checked back here for a few days. You are right, I am stressed and probably vulnerable. It's awful to think that in my present state of mind I could be taken advantage of, but you are right. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm interested in what your brother and your family thought of Aspen ranch, tinyactsofcharity.

[Eavesdrop]

I'm not tinyactsofcharity but I visited Aspen Ranch and I got a very bad vibe from the place.

I was hearded around and only allowed to see what they wanted me to see. We were not allowed to go into the cafeteria where the kids were eating and to see what they were eating.

In fact when we were walking back to our car we saw a couple of kids being made to do pull ups with a Staff member watching them with a walkie talkie...

We went to take a picture of them and the guy said something into his radio and what do you know out comes our tour guide to show us to our car... I left there knowing my kid would never set foot in a place like that.

I used an Ed Consultant. She is the one that suggested Aspen, and then after I got the diagnosis of High Functioning Autism, OCD, Depression, etc. she would still give me names of places that were so of the wall, and not at all for my son's needs. She would get all huffy and explain to me that I was just asking for too much that a school could not provide everything for my son. I beg to differ, when I am forking over well over 120 thousand dollars a year in tuition alone that school better cater to every last need of my child's physical and mental well being.

That is why he stayed at home.

Suggestion; read Maia Szalavitz' Help at any Cost.

[Labbemama]

I'm not suprised that they didn't let you interact with the kids or take their picture HIPPA and all that.

I have some experience with this. what kind of placement are you looking for? Day?School? Residence?

[G8P4]

Wow. Thanks for your responses. I'll try to get that book and I do appreciate your suggestion Eavesdrop.

My daughter is very troubled. She's a danger to herself and to her family....and I am worried things will end badly. I'm looking for residence, that provides therapy for her and family therapy, and will allow her to get back on track with school She is 15 years old.

[G8P4]

We went for an interview at a school today....my daughter initally said she wanted to go and said she recognized that she needed help. But when we got there (it was a really nice place and I talked to kids and got a good feeling about the place) she told the person doing the interview where to stick the programme and said that she has no interest in family therapy ( a requirement of this school) so they turned her down.

To me it is a measure of how disturbed, how traumatized, how ill, she is that she would throw away the chance to be at a place like that, to throw away the possibily of help.

Anyway, I am at the end of my rope. I have been trying to get help for months and months and I have two other children at home who are being deeply affected. I feel like we are in the too hard basket.