wellspring uses a restorative relational model of therapy which is working really well for him. It is also great because it is a very small setting with few kids (6 total in the residence/6 in his class with 3 teachers and 5 in the other class with 2 teachers--total kids in school 11). the day has minimal transitions, he does not need to get on a bus to school as the school is located about 10 steps from the residence, there is an animal program and the residence really replicates family living in a wonderful way.

what options are there for transitioning a child his age?? he will be going into 4th grade in the fall 2010. he is a very bright boy but is quite anxious, sensitive, has some language/processing issues, etc. altho i do not think he has pdd-nos/spectrum issues, now that he is stable, he will have a full educational/neuro-psych and speech/lang eval this summer to rule out pdd and hone in on any other LD concerns. he will definitely need a small therapeutic (day or boarding) or sped/ld placement. he has never been in a class with more than 8 students (ratio no more than 4:1) he has previously attended villa maria in stamford (K-2 until he became too unstable)and then CES' therapeutic day program in trumbull, ct (~1 year). altho he knows ces, i am reluctant to return to CES/TDP due to itsbehavioral mod/token economy-based system which has not worked for my son--especially when he is unstable. i am considering eagle hill if he continues to remain stable (e.h. won't take behavior problems). if we choose a therapeutic boarding school, i would like it to be close enough that he could come home on weekends and we could visit sometimes (we live in stamford, ct) his wellspring clinician mentioned the klingberg center's raymond hill school in new britian (1-1/2 hours from our house--not commutable on a daily basis). does anyone have any experience with raymond hill, seton academy(hallbrooke), any boarding school options in CT, MA, NY, NJ, PA, VT, NH. what about the hunter school, learning clinic??? any help/ideas welcome. thanks!!!
dawn

This may be the ideal choice for a troubled teenager dealing with self-destructive issues. Generally, these schools may be more expensive than the other kinds but improvement in your child's behavior is normally a guarantee.