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Special Education Series - Part 5 - Residential Treatment Centers
The law says that
your child needs to be placed in "the least restrictive environment" that
provides the services they require. In some cases this can be done in
special classes at the school your child would normally attend.
When
more help is needed, students often attend special schools designed to
provide your child with the help they need. In some special cases, when
students need a very structured, safe and therapeutic environment,
residential treatment centers are the answer.
Each of these placements
are provided to you at no cost when your student qualifies.
The assessment
process must determine what level of services your child requires, and
then the IEP Team decides what the best placement is to meet the needs
of your child.
Because residential treatment is very expensive, school
districts will only turn to this alternative as a last resort.
Sometimes private assessments are needed to force the districts to
offer a residential placement.
And sometimes you have to file for Due
Process in order for your child to be placed in an appropriate
residential treatment center.
In instances
where parents out of desperation have already placed their child in a
special school or residential treatment center, advocates can at times, mediate with the school districts to reimburse the parents most or all of the
monies they have spent on their child's placement.
Because the amounts
involved can be very large, advocates often have to file for Due Process in
order to make the school districts reimburse the parents.
Advocates
may also assist parents in selecting the right residential treatment
center for their child.
This is a very important process that needs to
include visiting the prospective facilities.
Experienced
education advocates will have clients that have been placed in various
residential facilities so they can advise you as to which facilities
will best suit your child's unique needs.
Some states, such as
California, do not allow their residential treatment facilities to
lock-down their residents.
Therefore, children that are at risk for
running away are not best suited to a California facility.
Resources to find an Advocate:
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Family Matters Group
Wrights Law
Next Month - Due Process - Mediation - Fair Hearing
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Elan School accepts adolescents with emotional, behavioral or adjustment problems.
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 Directory of special education and special needs services, providers, and products |
 Gateway to Educational and Therapeutic Solutions
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Follow These Links to Get Even More Information
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50+ FREE, LOW TUITION, SLIDING
SCALE, AND NO TUITION PROGRAMS FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Published By Horizon Family Solutions - Dore Frances, M.A.
These programs went
through an initial screening process in order to be accepted on this
non-advertising list. The list is updated throughout the year. This list
is for parents who are not using the services of an Educational Consultant.
There are currently 50+ programs available.
$35.00. Click here to Order
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Follow These Links To Get Even More Information
If your child is involved with drugs or contemplating suicide, WebSafety will probably know before you do - and warn you.
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Saving Teens
In Crisis Collaborative (STICC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
formed in April of 2004 to assist troubled teens and their families
struggling with substance abuse and other emotional issues.
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Kairos Young Adult Outdoor Adventure Program
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Summit Preparatory School is an accredited private non-profit therapeutic boarding school
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The Academy at Sisters is a small exclusive all
girls boarding school for at-risk teens ages 13-18.
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 Since 1964, West
Ridge Academy has been offering hope and healing to young men, young women
and their families
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 New Horizons Youth Ranch is a Christian residential program for teenage boys who are struggling. |
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Horizon Family Solutions News & Views
Building upon 17 years of success in assisting families with their adolescents, teens and young adults
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Greetings!
I like being a free spirit. I appreciate all of the colors of the world. Perhaps that is the blessing of growing up in the 60's and 70's. I see too many people today sitting in the corner of their life and being miserable all by themselves. When I can help them feel a little bit better, I will.
Perhaps that is why I connect with the kids so well. Barefoot and in jeans is still my favorite at age 55.
I also know I am very, very emotional.
My grandfather used to call me his little intuitive empath. I just feel other people's pain very, very easily. Which can be dangerous when you set yourself up to be that open. It can mess with your own heart. And has. Yet, in another way it has made my life fuller to really feel every inch of every person's feelings, including my own.
Again, that is why I can connect with your kids.
When I am sitting with them talking, it is a story being told. They want to tell their story. That is the most important part of what I do - listening to and sharing stories with your kids. If you are not going to listen to your kids stories, don't bother sharing your own. Your kids are scared to share their stories with you. They like doing things that are difficult. They like the thrill of not knowing.
They like throwing themselves headfirst into the deep end. That was my kind of fun too when growing up. Sometimes still is.
I have always loved lots of color. My friends know that by my green, lime and red colored jeans.
I like flowers and things that make people smile.
No, I have never had bright pink hair, but I have thought about it. Maybe I will get a streak here and there and experiment with all the colors of the rainbow.
Would I be thought less of? Would I be judged?
You bet!
It is wonderful to be at that part of my life where that does not matter to me. However, it matters greatly to your kids when they are thought less of or judged by their parents for wanting to express their emotions and feelings. How wonderful is it to wake up every morning, look at yourself in the mirror and laugh a bit. What amazes me is how many people do not look at themselves in the mirror any longer. It makes them very uncomfortable. When did you lose the part of yourself where you cannot laugh at yourself?
Kids have lost that ability as well, and way too young. That is just sad. People care more about success than being happy. It is better being a free spirit. It is better to hug every person you meet.
You can tell when a person is being real by how they hug and how they feel in receiving a hug.
I tell all the kids I am going to hug them, and then I do. Some really welcome the hug and hug back.
Others barely hug back at all and say hugging is not a big part of their family life. But they let me hug them anyway. My hugs are real. You can tell when a hug is not real. Don't keep your hugs to yourself. Hug you kids. They need it. They want it.
Looking forward to a hug when I see you next!
Dore E. Frances, M.A.
Horizon Family Solutions
What you believe has more power than what you dream or wish or hope for. You become what you believe.
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Advocates Guide
This guide is in process of completion and the deadline for submitting your program is nearing - June 1, 2009.
This guide will be helpful in assisting the hundreds of advocates, attorneys, educational consultants and parents
who help those who have been exposed to the juvenile justice system in accessing and locating possible addiction treatment and residential placement alternatives for youth. The information obtained in
this guide is the result of over 8 years of effort. I have about 300 programs and
services in my current database and they are all recognized for their ability to
address the special needs of youths with minor to extensive histories of
juvenile justice system involvement. This includes the very minor first arrest type individual, usually for drug
possession or truancy, to those that have been involved in more serious issues
such as arson, sexual acting out, etc.
However, I may not have
everyone that is eligible to be listed in the database.
This is an effort to get as many addiction treatment, residential / wilderness programs as possible
in the first published handbook guide and to make sure information is current.
The guide will then be updated annually. There is a small annual cost for
each listing.
Non Profits - $35 annually. For Profits $45 annually.
For those that would like to have their color logo and some additional
information listed about their program on their individual page, the annual cost
is $170. You will be responsible for keeping your information updated on any changes that occur and a
reminder will be sent prior to the next released update. To be listed you must be a program that allows those from the juvenile justice system to
enter your program, whether for minor offenses or more serious offenses, and
have knowledge of working with attorneys and probation officers. The guide is set up to be listed by State of location.
Those listed are Adolescent
Counseling Services, Adolescent Programs, Adoption Services, Attorneys working
with juveniles, Community Homes, Educational Centers, Foster Care Centers,
Foundations, Group Homes, Hospitals, Psychiatric Residential Treatment
Facilities, Ranches, Recovery Centers, Residential Treatment Centers, Schools,
Teenage Pregnancy Homes, Teen Programs, Wilderness Programs, Youth Adventure
Programs, Youth Crisis Centers, Youth & Family Services, just to name a few.
The guide will be for sale on TroubledTeenHelp.com as well as several other locations that support advocates, attorneys, counselors, doctors, health care professionals, all looking for options when recommending placement for a youth.
Please call me with any
questions.
Sincerely,
Dore
E. Frances, M.A.
Horizon Family Solutions, LLC
(541)
312-4422 |
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The Adolescent Addictive Process - Part 1 of the Series
 I will start this column off by stating that there is no such thing as an adolescent addictive personality, in the sense that there is no adolescent personality type that causes addition; this has been clearly proven. When I speak of the adolescent addictive personality I am speaking of how this powerful illness - addiction - alters one's personality.
Addiction is not the only disease that has this affect. I had cancer when I was 35, and as a result of that illness, it altered my personality and the way I saw and walked through my life and the rest of the world. Some people who have had cancer or know someone in cancer treatment speak of this effect as the "cancer personality."
I believe that this powerful process of decay that we call adolescent addiction alters these children in how they view themselves, the world, and in how they conduct themselves as human beings.
The current medical definition of addiction in Webster's New World Medical Dictionary is a helpful one.
It is as follows: Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain.
But because we are social creatures, and because adolescent addiction primarily affects how they engage in relationships, I offer a different definition of addiction.
My definition of adolescent addiction is this: Adolescent addiction is a pathological love and trust relationship with an event and/or object.
At its most basic level, the adolescent's primary relationship becomes one with an object - alcohol and/or drugs - or with an event like gambling, gaming, sexual acting out, etc. Instead of going to other people or to a value system to solve issues and problems, the adolescent addict goes to the event or object that their addictive ritual is centered around, in so doing they learn problem solving techniques that tie them to the addictive process. There are four basic forms of relationships in which humans get emotional intimacy and spiritual needs met.
These four are: - A relationship with spiritual principles (like honesty, integrity, respect, etc.)
- A loving relationship with oneself
- Relationships with community
- Relationships with family and friends
These four are where humans turn when they have issues and problems to find help and solutions. Adolescents learn to transform pain into new growth and insights. As the addiction progresses, the adolescent ends up turning away from and against these four; in fact, adolescent addiction works to destroy a personal relationship with these four groups, to the point where eventually the addict's only relationships are with themselves (creates adolescent addictive narcissism), and with other addicts. The adolescent addict ends up having only superficial relationships with people, their community, and spiritual principles. They become one-dimensional, they lack depth, for their life is about chasing sensations at the cost of these four forms of relationships. The betrayal of these four natural forms of relationships creates pain, which become the irritant from which they seek relief by acting out in addictive ways. The adolescent continues to spiral down into addiction until they are willing to end this dysfunctional destructive relationship, rejoin humanity and relearn human ways of dealing with issues and problems.
This is partly why the residential / wilderness community model of recovery found in the self-help movement is so effective; it gives the individual a place to learn how to be human again.
As the adolescent addicts distance themselves from their humanity and the humanity of others, they go through a process of decay, of disintegration. It is this process that is called the addictive process. I will be writing about the three stages to the adolescent addictive process:- June - The Adolescent Internal Change Stage
- July - The Adolescent Lifestyle Change Stage
- August - The Adolescent Life Breakdown Stage
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Families who choose to have me assist them can expect a professional atmosphere where discussions focus on the
student's interests and talents, needs and educational objectives and
strengths and weaknesses. I will recommend options, and help
families weigh alternatives of activities, cost, curriculum, location,
and institutional atmosphere.
I advise families about the
admissions process and share information based upon recent personal
visits, research and experience.
With warm regards,
Dore E. Frances, M.A.
Horizon Family Solutions, LLC
About Dore Frances, M.A. |
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