| Opinion
& Essays - Feb, 1992 Issue |
Why Special Purpose Schools?
By Lon Woodbury
When a parent has a child
with emotional and/or behavior problems, most are aware of only three
choices open to them. Parents can work within regular schools and local
resources, the mental learning model, or they can choose some form of
hospital, the cure model, or the child can be punished if he or she
has broken the law, the correction model.
Regular schooling has a variety
of approaches - Special Education tracks, public alternative schools,
reading specialists, counseling, residential boarding schools, military
schools, etc. These can help the child with mild behavior/emotional
problems and who accepts the help. They fail with the vast numbers of
children who are out of control, resistant to authority, and/or with
more serious behavior problems.
The next choice parents are
usually aware of is hospitalization. This includes adolescent psychiatric
hospitals, residential treatment centers, drug rehabilitation programs,
etc. There are many variations, but the commonality is the idea that
these children are "sick," and need to be diagnosed and then cured.
The third option is state
detention facilities. These operate under the idea that punishment will
stop the wrong behavior. It is a choice that is usually imposed on the
child by the court for serious law breaking.
There are a vast number of
adolescents who are not helped by any of these three options. Schools
cannot meet their special and individualized needs, juvenile detention
might backfire by making them bitter and criminalize them, and hospitals
overkill by attempting to cure a child that just needs to grow up emotionally.
For those adolescents who
fit none of these standard solutions, a forth model is available, the
Special Purpose School and Program approach. It is partly a mix of regular
school approaches, and of therapy, but the emphasis is on structure
more than anything else. For a child in one of these programs, the emphasis
is in consequences which are swift, appropriate, and dependable. From
this, the child can learn the consequences of his or her behavior, and
learn values and behavior which can produce a successful life. The goal
is to teach them the lessons they need in order to become fully mature
and responsible adults. These programs vary in length, and in approach.
Some emphasize the structure imposed by challenging the wilderness,
others emphasize experiential education techniques, and others primarily
utilize the structure of the work ethic. Some use all of the above.
Special Purpose Schools and
Programs were developed to fill a need unmet by the three traditional
options. These new programs work well with the child who is immature
with behavior problems, but not as well with the psychologically damaged
or violent child. The growth and popularity in the number of Special
Purpose Schools and Programs prove that the need for the psychologically
non-damaged child with emotional and/or behavior problems is beginning
to be met. By the existence of these programs, professionals in the
field of youth care have a fourth tool to use, once they understand
that Special Purpose Schools and Programs are an expansion of opportunities,
not a competition with regular schools or hospitals.
Robert L. Freedman
71 Barbara Road, Orinda, California 94563
(510) 253-9712
Copyright
© 1992, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |