A national firm that offers advice, guidance and advocacy to families seeking change.
Overview
Our job as therapeutic and educational placement specialists is to find the best environment in which to help your child thrive. Families often take a leap of faith in this unfamiliar process by putting their trust in people they do not know. With our background and experience in mental health, addiction and education, we are in a special position to develop recommendations based on the specific needs of each client. By making our approach explicit, we can help you have confidence that you are choosing the right course.
The Process
We begin by identifying issues, needs, and criteria for an evidence-based recommendation. Our process entails analyzing information we get from psychological and educational evaluations, in-depth conversations with you and professionals who have worked with your child, a review of school records, and, if possible, meeting with you and your child.
100% of clients who answered an ECS survey tell us that we give a clear, concise, and informative presentation of our services to families.
Sometimes, to supplement what we know from these sources, we recommend a short-term diagnostic program to identify the major issues you and your child deal with on a daily basis at home, at school and in social activities.
We begin by asking questions in four areas of development: personality, cognitive, emotional, and social.
Personality tells us how a person presents him/herself to the world, such as level of trust and openness, introversion and extroversion, general attitude and outlook on life, and approach to people and to meeting challenges in life.
Cognitive development refers to how a person perceives, reasons, makes judgments, processes information, uses language and symbols, and performs in school.
Emotional well-being helps us understand how a person experiences his/her world through feelings, responds with emotions, and the ability to empathize.
Social life refers to how a person relates to one's family, friends, community, and institutions.
These four areas of development are intricately interwoven and do not operate in isolation. It is our job as consultants to sort through the complexity in order to give you a comprehensive portrayal of the major issues your child struggles with, the changes your child needs to make in order to thrive, and the kind of program that can meet these needs.
Your Child’s Profile
Once we have identified and defined the nature of the major issues, we begin to formulate a profile of your child's needs. It is important to understand the difference between needs and wants. There are many things that all of us want that we don’t necessarily need. In fact, what we want may not be in our best interest to get our needs met. It is our job to identify core needs. Both parent and child may want programs to possess certain attributes or characteristics that may have little to do with what is necessary for healing or thriving. For example, parents may require their child “to be close to home” and use geographic location as a criterion for school choice. Oftentimes, schools/programs that are closer to home do not meet the child’s core needs.
100% of clients who answered an ECS survey tell us that we give a clear, concise, and informative presentation of our services to families.
What kind of structure does your child need?
Supervision: How well does your child self-manage? Does he/she need external support to maintain healthy behavior, or is there a strong internal compass? Does he/she have the capacity to internalize learning? Are reminders needed frequently, or does your child anticipate and follow through with what is expected?
Scheduling: To what degree does your child depend on predictability and consistency? Is there a tolerance level for ambiguity and unfamiliarity? How does your child function with unscheduled events or schedule changes?
Accountability: Who has leverage with your child -- peers or adults? Who is he/she most likely to accept compelling feedback from? Is he/she internally motivated or responsive to external rewards?
What kind of group milieu or social environment fits your child best?
Dynamics: Does your child tend to internalize problems, or is your child more streetwise and energized by peers?
Management: Would your child thrive, seek affirmation and direction in a peer or adult-driven milieu?
What kind of therapy or counseling would benefit your family?
Psychotherapy: Would your child/family benefit from exploring in-depth relations through "talk therapy," experiential activities to understand relationships metaphorically, or "in-the-moment" therapy addressing behavior as it occurs?
Coaching/mentoring: Would your family benefit from learning techniques and strategies to avoid crises?
Program/school: How therapeutic does your child's school need to be?
Clinical support: What level of psychiatric or psychological sophistication of staff and program does your child require? Are clinical services, assessment and/or medication management needed? Will your child benefit from specialty groups (e.g., substance abuse, adoption, trauma, grief, body image, social skills, eating disorders) or from a program using animals for therapy? Will your child need drug and/or alcohol treatment?
What type of academic environment is your child most likely to thrive in?
Size: Would your child do better in a small classroom, or in a larger, more diverse setting?
Instruction: Does your child learn best in a traditional classroom or listening and working independently? In experiential learning activities, discovering ideas and concepts? Or with a tutorial method at an individual pace? What is an appropriate level of intellectual challenge? Does your child have a special talent?
Learning support: Does your child require special instructional considerations for a learning difficulty or attention deficit?
Physical education component: What level/type of physical activity does your child need or excel at? To what extent does physical activity enhance his/her mood, self-esteem or sense of accomplishment?
Once we answer these questions, we look at schools that meet most of the criteria identified. We say most because there is rarely a "perfect" school/program, but we can get close to the ideal by sorting through the nuances of care, treatment, and milieu.
At a time when parents/guardians are making one of the hardest decision of their lives, it is reassuring to know that we at ECS are knowledgeable, deliberate and systematic. Our background and experience in mental health and education allow us to make informed recommendations for the best possible fit for your child and family.