What outcome can I expect from residential care? Are there any parents out there who can understand?

Question

We have a teenage son with Aspergers, who was court ordered into a residential treatment program, due to the severity of his behavioral problems. Our son has a complex diagnostic picture and has had extensive treatment. His placement is the renowned, Boy's Town, in Omaha, Nebraska, which is considered by the court to be the leading residential facility in the United States.

Although we struggled many years with our son, he maintained well in school through the sixth-grade. Beginning seventh-grade, however, the school refused to acknowledge a disability and the entire school year passed before an IEP was written. By this time, the damage was done, and our son began to identify with other boys, who also felt alienated and angry. Our son, who was also adopted, felt a compounded sense of rejection, when he was later removed from two middle schools. The situation at home, which had been tenuous, unraveled and our son ended-up in detention, awaiting placement.

Answer 1

I can understand,but I can`t answer your question.I have a 13 year old son with autism and behavior problems.He still is at home.I`m terrified,at the thought of what will happen to him when i`m gone,or even in a residential home.I have tried to help his behavior issues with diet and alernative medicine.I did help alot in the beginning,but now he is going through puberty,and I don`t think it helps as much as it did.Still,I think he is better with special diet and suppliments.He was so out of control and hard to handle before I put him on the diet.Like a jeckel and hyde.I am  concerned about the possibility of putting him in a home,I know he will have to go someday,and I don`t know how I will handle it.I hope that if there are enough of us concerned parents,we will look out for each others kids.Autism is growing by leaps and bounds.It seems like you could find an advocate to fight for you if your son is on the autism spectrum.Or a lawyer.If he wasn`t diagnosed,until late.Good luck.I wish I could offer more,but I want to know the answer to that also.

Answer 2

I have an older son, he will be 21 next year, when he was 2 his mother brought him to stay with me for a holiday, told him she was going shopping and never came back......from day one he had problems, we paid for him to go to very good pre-scool, we did everything we could to make him feel loved and wanted. When he started school he got into LOTS of trouble Setting fires , being abusive etc, I had the social services giving me a hard time about giving him up etc, and I was accused of being unhelpful as I did not know his parents dates of birth, we had made friends with them whilst on holiday. Eventually he was expelled from school  and sent away.... I really regret not having the energy left to fight the descision... but now he is, after a  long and bumpy ride doing well, hes at college and seems to have a descent attitude to life...

This may not help apart from to reassure you that one day you may find that he will realise all you have tried to do for him is because you love him, as long as you are always there he will remember it.

Good luck for the future, I hope one day you will also find your son can show you that he knows that you are the ones that have given him a chance.

Best of luck. Helen.

Answer 3

I really have some problems with the administrator's assessment of residential treatment since it is based solely on his or her experience, which in research terms is not enough of a sample.

For instance, how do you define successful outcomes? Is successful outcome based only on the child's behavior once he or she is reunified with the family? That shouldn't be the only criteria for judging residential treatment. Sometimes kids have improved their behavior to a great degree, but when placed back in the environment that they came from, do not do well. However, a lot of them do, which is starting to show up in the research.

Here is an example of the research on Boys Town - "A well specified residential treatment model is described, and preliminary outcome data are presented. The Boys Town Psycho-Educational Model (PEM) empowers direct care staff to be important treatment agents by training them to use systematic teaching techniques. Data obtained on youth served at the center since its inception in December 1995 indicate that the youth have had multiple prior placements and serious psychiatric disorders. The model sustains an active and positive treatment environment as documented by high levels of focused treatment occurring during the youth’s stays. To date, 94% of the youth have departed to placements that were equal to, or less restrictive than, their placements at admission to the program. Of those who had Children’s Global Assessment Scale ratings both at admission and at discharge, 84% (n=21) of the youth had better functioning at discharge."

I guess one of the things you should consider is what kind of restrictive environment do you want your son in, Boy's Town of the Juvenile Justice system? I would say that you will get far better results with Boy's Town.

Answer 4

This is a much more restrictive environment.  I'm an educator.  I have spent many years in sp.ed. too....as an administrator.  I've found that most children who are sent to residential facilities come back worse than when they left....because they are being sent to a place with only children that have as bad or WORSE problems...than they do...so they have No role models...except adults...  Sorry for the negativeness of this answer...I generally like to react positively.