Struggling Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents
Children with Learning and Developmental
Differences
Young Adults
Local School Planning and Guidance
Struggling
Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents
Parents of adolescents often face challenges for which they are
little prepared. As parents ourselves, we know it is often difficult to
combat pressures that can divert young people’s attention from school or
pull young people towards the norms of peer groups that jeopardize their
chances for a productive adult life. We find that some parents have
struggled with challenging children from an early age only to find that
at adolescence, problems become even more intense. Other parents
describe teens that bear no resemblance to the easy-going, happy,
attentive and cooperative children they once knew.
At Educational Connections we assist families in exploring
alternative educational and therapeutic environments for young people
experiencing difficulty. We work with:
• Oppositional and defiant teens
• Adolescents unable to resist negative peer influences or who
engage in increasingly risky behaviors
• Youth who experience significant social difficulties
• Adolescents experiencing a worrisome decline in school performance
• Teens who refuse to attend school
• Adolescents struggling with emotional, behavioral, and mental
health challenges
• Young people who engage in self-destructive behaviors such as
self-mutilation, sexual promiscuity, and those who struggle with
eating disorders
• Teens abusing drugs and alcohol including those who are chemically
dependent
Often families come to us after they have tried a number of local
resources. For example, many families have already enlisted the help of
counselors, therapists, or outpatient drug and alcohol programs only to
find that these services are simply not powerful or encompassing enough
to alter the self-destructive paths of their children.
We know and understand, through first-hand knowledge, the options that
are available to parents with struggling teens. We have visited and
assessed therapeutic wilderness programs, emotional growth schools,
therapeutic boarding schools, drug and alcohol programs, residential
treatment centers and psychiatric facilities throughout the country. We
are also familiar with schools and programs for adolescents with
learning differences as well as a variety of summer programs and options
for struggling teens.
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Children with Learning, Attention and Developmental Differences
Parents
of children with learning differences, attention difficulties, and
social skills or developmental issues often face tremendous challenges.
Sometimes a child’s learning problems will go undiagnosed for years.
Other children struggle with school settings that lack adequate
resources, teachers without specialized training, or student/teacher
ratios that prevent adequate individual attention. It is not uncommon
for bright children with learning differences or attention difficulties
to struggle with routine learning activities, to experience social
difficulties, or to be labeled negatively by their teachers. Similarly,
children with social skills or developmental problems may struggle with
peer relationships so significantly that they lose interest in school.
We appreciate the challenges faced by these children and their parents
and recognize that an approach that works for one child may not work
with all. We are knowledgeable about schools that work effectively for
students with a variety of learning differences ages five through early
adulthood. We are also familiar with summer program options for this
population. The clients we work with typically struggle with one or more
of the following difficulties:
•
Language based learning differences
• ADHD
• Autism spectrum disorders (including Asperger’s syndrome and
persavive developmental disorder)
• Non-verbal learning differences
• Visual or auditory processing difficulties
• Math disorders
• Dysgraphia
When
working with students with learning differences and their families our
emphasis is on understanding a student’s strengths and assessing those
areas that need further development.
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Young Adults
We work with young adults 18 years and older who are struggling to make
the transition between adolescence and adulthood. Our goal is to help
young people acquire the knowledge, life skills, education and training
necessary to assume healthy, satisfying and productive lives.
Assisting young adults can present special challenges. Often parents
come to us worried about the difficulty that learning differences or
developmental issues have played in delaying their child’s acquisition
of adult roles and responsibilities. Other parents are concerned about
their child’s lack of social and emotional maturity due to their
involvement with drugs and alcohol. Still other parents are aware of
barriers that their child faces because of significant psychological or
mental health issues. For any variety of reasons, many young people have
interrupted their education and are unable to take the steps necessary
to move forward to work, college, or technical training opportunities.
For young adults who are struggling there are frequently benefits to be
gained from participation in a transitional independent living program.
These settings typically promote independence and responsibility through
opportunities for work and continuing education as well as by
emphasizing basic independent living skills In addition, they often
include therapeutic and drug and alcohol recovery components. Other
options include colleges or programs designed exclusively for students
with learning or developmental differences. Young adults who enroll in
these types of options include individuals with:
•
Social, emotional, psychological and psychiatric issues
• Drug and alcohol issues including chemical dependency
• Educational needs such as assistance with the transition to
college, completion of a high school diploma and/or specific
technical skills training
• Learning and developmental differences, including Asperger’s
Syndrome, dyslexia, ADHD, processing difficulties and/or other
learning challenges
• The
need to acquire independent living skills, work experience,
self-discipline, self-reliance, and the motivation necessary to
assume adult roles and responsibilities.
Our
backgrounds in program assessment and evaluation, mental health issues,
and at-risk youth provide us with the experience and knowledge necessary
to understand the subtle differences among the options available for
young adults in order to help families make the best possible decision.
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Local School Planning and Guidance
Choosing an appropriate school or childcare setting is one of the most
important decisions parents make. Given the wide variety of options
available, it can also be a difficult and confusing choice. Finding the
right environment not only requires adequate time to research
possibilities, but also knowledge about the type of setting that will
promote a child’s optimal development.
Our
goal is to help families understand the most important differences among
early childhood, preschool and private elementary school options in the
greater Portland area. We also assist parents and youth in identifying
private middle and high school alternatives.
Educators differ radically in their beliefs about the “best” practices
for children. We find that parents often have many questions. How does
Montessori differ from Waldorf? What is meant by “progressive
education?” Which schools are more academically challenging? Which are
more concerned with the arts? Which are best at protecting and
supporting a socially vulnerable child or a child with learning
differences? And finally, which can support a gifted child who is
under-challenged or bored in school?
Because we have visited the schools that we recommend, we have
first-hand knowledge about available options. During our school visits
we talk with teachers and principals, observe classes in action, and
talk with students. When meeting with parents, we gather in-depth
information about their child and the family’s goals and priorities.
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