Therapeutic curiculum? HELP need to devise program for public school
Hello,
My son attends public school, he has been in ESE (special ed) his whole life in various programs here in FL. I want to stick with public school for a variety of reasons. Anyhow, I am wanting to find info on what I am calling "therapeutic curiculum". In other words, at our public schools there is really no mental health support. There are autism classes (my son is pdd nos on the spectrum along with major mood, emotional, self etseem, immaturity, and severe impulsiveness issues) but they even are mediocre in terms of teaching the kids social skills and coping skills and they do NOTHING regarding mental issues such as impulsivity, mood, irrational problems. I have worked some mental health type things into his IEP but it never manifests in much day to day. What I am looking to do now is find some therapeutic model such as one would have in place maybe in a private school or residential facility to introducde to the school district and try and get it into my son's IEP.
My son needs so much help, he is so extremely emotionally labile, he misperceives his peers alll day ("you hate me" when some kid doesnt answer him quickly enough or doesnt want to play with him one day etc), is irrational, extremely oversensitive, peers and adults must respond and act a very specific way or he becomes unhinged, he is very depressed with lots of self hatred and biting self, low self etseem, and very immature/emotionally delayed. He is also impulsive and has little to no coping skills emotionally and poor self regulation. I KNOW there are private facilities out there across the country that are "therapeutic" and address these issues and teach the skills needed. My son also has the autism side of things where though he is super friendly and social and hates to be alone, he has personal space issues, wants everyone to love him and doesnt understand when they dont, and need social skills interventions.
Does anyone know of a program or programs (curiculums) that I could look into? For example when he was very little we learned about Love and Logic and that was helpful. Now at this stage, 12 yrs old and starting middle school next fall, we need something geared toward mental health issues, some program I can introduce at the IEP and ask to be implemented for my son either with an aide or having the teachers trained etc. Any knoweldge of ideas of how to search tihis is appreciated. ALSO comments about what you have in place for your child at school would be helpful. Thank you!
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Clara - mom, person, Florida, 38
Elijah - 12 yrs old, Dx: PDD NOS, mood disorder NOS (or some pdocs say IED, BP unsure) OCD/childhood anxiety disorder, Tourettes, trichotillomania.
Current treatments/meds: Have been through a ton of meds with zero improvement, been through some vitamins and supplements with no improvement. Particularly interested in natural treatment/diet and dream someday of achieving stability with no pharmaceutical meds. Abilify 30 mg, clonidine .1
I don't have specific ideas for programs that can be taught within the existing school framework but I do know that if your current public school system does not have an appropriate placement for him they must pay to have him sent someplace that is appropriate. That means that you need to get their buy in that it is needed and then research the private therapeutic schools they would be willing to pay for. Most states have an approved list on their department of education website. Time consuming, yes. But it seems better in the long run than trying to get the existing system to mold to the needs of one child. That will be quite a few years more of on going monitoring for compliance and effectiveness.
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Karenj
Self: as sane as I can be everyday
A - DD (17yo) well adjusted, high functioning, motivated, successful, waiting patiently to go away to college
M - DD (13yo) Bipolar I (dx 4/2011) ADHD (dx 2nd grade), dumb high IQ, mainstream education with IEP/BIP, Seroquel 200mg - morning 250mg bed time; Lamictal 150mg - morning
BF - Live in boyfriend of 5 years, supportive and learning more every day
EX - Ex-husband, divorced since 2002, family history of bipolar, unpredictable and sometimes explosive
Clara-
Karen is right and you may have to consider that even if your son's school is willing to buy in to a new system for working with kids like your son, there will be a considerable learning curve. You might want to consider whether your time and energy is best spent pursuing that course of action or if you should switch gears and figure out how to get your son placed in a setting that is already able to meet his needs. We're at that crossroads right now too so I know it's a tough decision...
That said, if you want to pursue the training route, you might want to look at Ross Greene's work. I'm currently reading this book which has chapters for educators (one for regular school staff and one for therapeutic school staff). He also has a book specifically about school issues (I think titled Lost at School. And here's his website: http://www.livesinthebalance.org/ which has info on seminars and other training tools.
It sounds like a great approach and is evidence based. It involves identifying lagging skills that cause kids to act out or struggle, rather than using punishment or consequence of any kind (assuming natural consequences are already effective for having the kids realize that their behavior is a problem.)
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Chris Stanley- DS 11, ADHD, ODD, mood disorder NOS
currently taking Risperidone, Trileptal, Melatonin
When Elijah was in the behavioral classroom his teacher and class aides all took this class: http://www.ccps.info/. It was a couple days of workshops by Ross Greene about Collaborative Problem Solving. It is a whole teaching of how to deal with children. http://www.ccps.info/cpssentials/index.html tells more about Collaborative Problem Solving and what it is. Basically it says: "The Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach was first described in Dr. Greene's book, The Explosive Child. The model sets forth two major tenets: first, that social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in kids are best understood as the byproduct of lagging cognitive skills (rather than, for example, as attention-seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, or a sign of poor motivation); and second, that these challenges are best addressed by resolving the problems that are setting the stage for challenging behavior in a collaborative manner (rather than through reward and punishment programs and intensive imposition of adult will)." Granted, his classroom was a younger age group then your son is. Charlie's old school had a point and level system which seemed to work well. That type of system is also known to have it's drawbacks too though.
Janice from MA
"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain there would be no rainbow." Jerry Chin
"Sunshine is my quest". ~Winston Churchill
--Thank you everyone. Christin and Janice, I am familiar with all of Greene's work and every new school I give "lost at school" to the principal. The only reaosn I had not thought of implementing it further is that nowhere do I see specifics about how to teach the lagging skills. So I was going to search for something that was more in a literal curiculum format. What do you think?
As for private, yes I agree effort is possibly better spent trying to get the system to pay for private, BUT I actually would prefer him to stay in public for many reasons, among them that he does VERY poorly among kids with the same issues and same severity as him - he is one of those that will mostly act like who he is around. For all his severity, the more typical the kids are (Im thinking like asperger types) the more he acts appropriately. Also he is very social and needs opportunity which he may or may not get in a very restrictive setting such as private school unless the school had levels or was in conjunction with a typical school etc. I have seen people get what I am thinking of for my son for their child. I dont mean that my goal is to make a systemic change, but just to get what IDEA mandates: an individualized education program to fit the childs unique needs. In doing so this means that the child does not have to accept or fit into their pre made 2 or 3 program options (behavior class, autism class, life skills class). and of course the whole point would be that the teachers would be trained in the curiculum. Of course I would not close the door on the private option but it would have to be a unique environment.
If any of you can tell me how you would implement the ross Greene stuff please let me know because I have his CPS steps written IN to the IEP, I have his ideas and language all throughout the IEP BUT it is not translating into practice because it does not take the form of a curiculum or program at least not the way I have it in the IEP. Thank you!
please excuse any typos
Clara - mom, person, Florida, 38
Elijah - 12 yrs old, Dx: PDD NOS, mood disorder NOS (or some pdocs say IED, BP unsure) OCD/childhood anxiety disorder, Tourettes, trichotillomania.
Current treatments/meds: Have been through a ton of meds with zero improvement, been through some vitamins and supplements with no improvement. Particularly interested in natural treatment/diet and dream someday of achieving stability with no pharmaceutical meds. Abilify 30 mg, clonidine .1
Yeah, it's true that it's a big difference between having a concept and implementing it, isn't it?
The thing about the CPS model though is that it's not formulaic- so it really will rely on everyone buying into it and then getting trained. The problem solving part has to be individualized and if I understand it correctly, the remediation of the lagging skills really is just a consequence of the process being followed. It's like an exercise in problem solving skills and involving the child in that process allows them to practice it (as well as reducing triggers for oppositionality.)
Check out the websites above, there are seminars and other teacher training tools. There's also a rubric sort of thing although again, they stress that it isn't about tallying up a score and then automatically taking a certain action based on the score- it's simply a tool to help think through the problem and help brainstorm solutions.
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Chris Stanley- DS 11 ADHD, ODD, mood disorder NOS, RAD?
currently taking Risperidone, Trileptal, Melatonin