In today's Time Magazine online, I have an article about a school -- Mount Bachelor Academy -- which is part of a Supreme Court case to be argued on April 28. The Court will answer the question of whether parents can sue to get reimbursement for private residential schools like Mount Bachelor, if their disabled child hasn't first tried public special education. In this case, the child's disability was ADHD.
For the article, I interviewed more than ten students, two unrelated parents and a current employee who describe bizarre, abusive, one-size-fits-all "therapies" that are neither educational or therapeutic. Most of the teens I spoke with say they had witnessed or were personally made to perform lap dances or other sexualized activity in front of dozens of peers and staff. The school's management denies all allegations of wrong-doing.
It may be the case that parents should have access to the courts if they feel that their school's plan for their child with a disability is wrong. The Supreme Court will make that decision.
However, I think it's very difficult to argue that sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, food deprivation and isolation from family (kids are only allowed one ten-minute, monitored phone call every other week for months on end, no calls if they are punished) is an effective treatment for ADHD, depression, addiction or any other form of teen misbehavior or mental illness.
Though the school denies that it uses degrading tactics, reports of them have come from students, former employees and parents for decades.
Mount Bachelor is part of Aspen Education -- believed to be the largest chain of teen residential programs in the U.S. Aspen, as part of CRC Health, which is owned by Bain Capital, was seen by advocates as much more sedate and less given to wacky practices than clearly "out there" programs like those associated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP or WWASPS). At one WWASP school, for example, teens were kept in outdoor dog cages.
The stories of psychological abuse coming out of Mount Bachelor -- a few of which are included in my Time piece -- are every bit as bad as I have heard from teens and parents at chains of programs that have far worse reputations.
Under the IDEA act -- the special education law for people with disabilities -- kids are supposed to be treated in the least restrictive setting with evidence-based approaches. Evidence-based treatment requires that teens have maximum contact with their families, be treated with dignity and respect and be empowered and given real choices.
It does not appear that Mount Bachelor meets anyone's definition of a "least restrictive environment" or that its treatment is based on accepted research data.
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Yes, there is evidence of abuse and misrepresentation in such reforming schools; just as there is in the other corrective or punitive institutions; how else would the believers of firm hand treatment sell their system to the needy parents?
Yes there are the well meaning guardians who trust that their wayward child would never have lived through the teen years without the help of a lock-down facility and the apparent care of such strong staff.
So, the author, Maia Szalavitz is offering the prospect of ensuring proper monitoring of such institutions, from scientific data to sifting of claims and pronouncements. Just as advertisement is monitored on a baby's car seat or warnings are printed on a ladder. Truth in advertising with all its petty implications can work in the case of correctional education.
Buyer beware! when desperate families farm out their beloved children to remedial hope, they need to know what really is involved there.
CONTINUED FROM MY PREVIOUS COMMENT BELOW...
Their stories are much like my beloved niece who is now a happy, well adjusted, funny, compassionate, beautiful 19 year old human being who is wise beyond her years and has gained a level of self awareness and insight at Mount Bachelor that most adults don't obtain until much much later in life. Your slanted and biased articles are damaging, inaccurate and all I can say is shame on you for not talking to more parents who credit Mount Bachelor for literally LITERALLY saving their child's life. The toll that your article is taking on the school is terrible and it will be tragic if your "expose" helps lead to the closing of a place that I know from personal experience, works miracles with children that the schools, teachers and yes, even parents give up on. I am angry, I am offended but most of all, my heart is breaking for the good people at Mount Bachelor who I respect, adore and owe my baby's life to.
Your articles in Time magazine and in this post are extremely one sided and offends me in the most profound way. My niece, who I have been legal guardian of since she was 11 years old graduated from Mount Bachelor Academy over a year ago. That school saved her life. I will say it again. Mount Bachelor saved my child's life. And she will tell you the exact same thing, unequivocally. I will not go into the detail about what she endured before coming to live with my husband and me, but she was a completely traumatized child who was suicidal and depressed. We tried everything in our power to help her, but by the age of 14 she had given up on herself and on life. We had no where to turn. Mount Bachelor was a god send to our family. I know that the negative stories are much more sensational and interesting to write about rather than the stories you will hear from the vast majority of students who graduated from Mount Bachelor. My comment continues in a separate box since there are limits to the number of words in the comments section.
"There are plenty of parents, including TA's, who say they are happy with the services provided to their children. Former students have also praised the school for turning their lives around, in comments on Internet message boards and in letters to regulators.
'All methods of therapy are done in a supportive atmosphere with trained professionals and the intent to raise self-awareness and self-worth,' said Bitz."
Also:
"Bitz dismissed Jane's story and called it "very suspect" in an interview with the Bend Bulletin, which also spoke with Jane. "We know that some current students have made a conscious decision to lie about our school, hoping that it will be closed as a result, and that they would then be sent back home," Bitz told TIME."
Clearly the article presents serious criticisms of Mount Bachelor's techniques, but Ms. Svalavitz seems to be reporting with integrity. The fact that this school and some like it may improve or even save some children's lives--even a majority of students--doesn't mean that allegations of abuse should go unreported.
I also have to wonder why Svalavitz hasn't answered anyone here in the comments section who have actually had direct experience with the school. I guess she feels comfortable with hit and run journalism. Drop these bombs on Huffington Post and then on to the next assignment.
Traditional parenting does not work for the students sent to behavioral modification schools. Parents become desperate, be grateful your parents loved you enough not to give up on you. You had choices and you made bad ones. For the first time in your life you were being held accountable for your behavior and it wasn't fun. Actions have consequences.
Please, stop your whining and move forward in gratitude. You are alive, hopefully healthy, and wiser for the lessons learned and the tools you were given to cope with real life.
Point made - disciples, unquestioning allegiance... complicity in ones own maltreatment... and a 'blame the victim' sociopathic-like lack of empathy. If nothing more, this is what MBA produces. I would argue that, um, no, these youth were not given the tools (unless you're characterizing submission and depredation as a tool?) to cope, etc etc.
"For the first time in your life you were being held accountable for your behavior and it wasn't fun. Actions have consequences."
Yes, for the first time MBA may find this to be true as well. And, it should be noted, that mental health treatment should not conceptualized in the form of punishment/consequence... If we were talking juvi for delinquency, this posters statement would make sense. But we're not talking about a private detention center... are we? OMG, ARE WE?
Parents of children at Mount Bachelor Academy have sent their children there to keep them ALIVE. How dare anybody who does not have a child in a life-threatening situation comment on how we are trying to save our children? I LOVE MY CHILD MORE THAN ANYTHING. Mount Bachelor Academy is keeping my child ALIVE. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN KIDS. IF YOU DON"T HAVE KIDS, ADOPT ONE AND DO YOUR BEST LIKE THE REST OF US.
Many do believe that the teen would not have lived in the terrible circumstances of peer pressure and debauchery in social circles.
So in the light of the tremendous importance of therapeutic needs, all concerned people must support the actual supervision and study of the institutions which claims to save children.
Many parents have lost the strength to raise children, through emotional or lifestyle issues. Children who suffer from low self-esteem and scholastic failure, or drug problems become the last straw on their family's weakened system. So much help is needed to empower them.
A solid scientific overview of this new industry is indeed needed to re-assure parents, my compliments on your support of your child, and as you educate yourself, you can add this new strength to your family and others.
survived running away to a stranger. Guess I forgot to mention that the stranger
was a middle aged porn "director" and told my child they would be rich. The police
said my child would have been dead in a ditch and my child laughed. HELLO
I SAID i sent him there to save his life and I meant it.
I wonder what other evidence you are referring to? In MBA's own promotional materials, they refer to "studies" done that had surveyed parents of graduates and graduates themselves. What they don't tell you is that it is very common for less than half of a graduating peer group to leave the school prior to graduation. I wonder what a survey including both graduates and non-graduates would reveal? Unfortunately, no such study exists.
However, there have been numerous studies done on the effectiveness of confrontational therapy and specifically on the practice of psychodrama. All of the evidence emphatically supports the idea that these techniques are counter-productive to actual healing. Furthermore, the surgeon general released a study on the effectiveness of wilderness and boot-camp style therapy, indicating that those techniques, too, are typically abusive. To disregard all of this actual scientific study and to blindly support MBA because of how convincing their promotional materials seem is a mistake.
We have a child at Mount Bachelor. We spend a weekend with him every month, and in June he will get to come home for a week. There are so many statements in this article that are not factually true it's hard to know where to start. For anyone wanting to investigate what the Aspen schools do, and their success rate, they should tap into the community of parents and take a scientifically valid poll. To trust a couple of at-risk kids over all other evidence is deceptive at the very least.
The State of Oregon has not concluded their investigation, but already they have allowed the school to start admitting new students again. It is not likely that they have found anything significantly out of order if they are allowing new students to enroll at this time. The Aspen schools have done wonderful things for so many of their students AND THEIR PARENTS for many years. Talk to the parents and the alumni and get a balanced view---a view not very evident in this article.