Technology

My electricity went out the other evening around 7:15 pm.  No one knew what happened and it only effected 87 households in my neighborhood. I panicked!   What was I going to do without the TV, IPhone (which was about drained of power), and internet??!!  I sat outside for a while, until it got dark.  I actually listened to the birds and the sounds of the neighbors.  Then, when it got dark, I went to bed.  'What else was there to do?', I thought.  How quickly I have forgotten what it was like before the internet and smart phone.

Imagine telling a high-schooler who has never known what it was like to go outside and play flashlight tag,catch fireflies, or actually use their imagination to entertain themselves to turn off their electronics for 7 hours a day and listen to someone lecture.  LET THEM USE THEIR TECHNOLOGY!!  Now, I'm not saying that all students should be given unfettered access to the open internet without filters in school (or home for that matter).  But let them use what they know.  No longer are the days where you have to go to the library to do research.  Gone is the phrase "get a dictionary" when trying to find the correct spelling of a word.  Harness how smart these kids are and let them use their tools they are accustom to.  “It’s very serious, because the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.” (Prensky, 2001).  A digital immigrate is someone who has not embraced the technology that is available to them and incorporated that technology into their daily living.  

We have a rule at our schools:  No electronics allowed.  You want to know what I think of that rule?  Control-Alt-Delete.  I simply ignore it.  It's important for our students to learn how to use technology for educational growth, instead of just..."OMG, did u c what she rote on FB?".  You get my point.

TIPS:

1.  Let them use what they know.

2.  Learn what it is they know.  They can teach you fantastic things with this technology that you would rarely learn on your own.

3.  Don't be scared of it.  

Physical Health

The majority of our students are teen-aged boys. At this stage in life, these kids are going through the physical fight of their lives, they just don't know it. These kids not only have to deal with hormones, they have to deal with the medication that they have been taking (hopefully), not working as well anymore. It is not uncommon for a student to have to change up types and/or doses of medications several times throughout adolescence. 

What I have noticed is a lot of our boys and girls are severely overweight; which leads to self-esteem issues, which leads to poor choices outside of school including drugs, alcohol, and very poor diet. 

This year, one of our therapeutic day schools started a Wii fit pilot program. We were testing the hypothesis that if students with mental health issues got some physical activity throughout the day, their moods would be better, therefore increasing their PBIS points they earn, in turn helping improve their grades. What did we find? It's interesting...the students figured out a way to be the least active as possible. For example, if they were doing skiing, they figured out how to move your hand with the wand to make the avatar move, all the while sitting in a chair. Honestly, that's fantastic. Their intelligence never ceases to amaze me. However, the students who took the games seriously did indeed increase their PBIS earned points as well as dropping a few pounds. "Exercise promotes psychological and mental health." (Dolgin, 2011).

We have also tried to limit their junk food. I can recall one school we had in Pennsylvania that was simply out of control. The kids were disrespectful, often walking around the building with very little care about the rules or their education. You know what the district gave the students every morning for breakfast? Donuts. Greasy, glazed donuts. After witnessing this, I made a concerted effort to provide healthy snacks as incentives for the kids. Granola instead of chips, popcorn instead of Pop-tarts, white milk instead of chocolate.

TIPS:

1. Feed the kids breakfast. But not donuts. 

2. Increase the students physical activity.

3. Never underestimate their ability to find a loop hole.

Self Medicating

This terminology is a fancy way of saying “using”. It my opinion, drug usage has increased to an alarming level among teens. I’m not talking about the social pot smoker; I’m talking about the users of such drugs that I have had to look some of them up to find out what they were. To name of few, my students use pills, cocaine, marijuana laced with heroine, DMT, and often a combination of them all. There are a couple things that surprise me about how I know this information. They tell me. Simple as that. They come to school obviously under the influence, and don’t deny what they have done. One time we had to call the paramedics due to the student’s inability to stand or breathe normally, I’ll speak more about this young man in a minute. 

Bill 

I have had the great pleasure of knowing 16 year old “Bill” for a few years now. He came to one of my therapeutic day schools due to inappropriate social behaviors at school. Basically, he told the security guard to ‘fuck off’ one too many times. This student has an IEP with a diagnosis of ED (emotionally disturbed). Frankly, knowing some of these security guards, I may have been ED when I was in high school a million years ago too. Anyway, Bill is an angry young man and I don’t blame him. What Security Guard Joe didn’t know about Eric is that his brother is serving a life sentence in prison for beating his girlfriend to death with a baseball bat. Imagine having THAT as your pedigree. Anyway, Bill came to me angry and tough as nails. It took a LOT of work with me and the social workers to get him to open up to us. Then, his behavior got weird. That’s the only way to describe it. He would chest bump the walls, pace around like a caged animal in the room, and then sometimes explode and punch a hole in the wall, all unprovoked. He would come to school high after smoking pot before getting on the bus. Since we are an alternative school, I’m happy he has come at all. I didn't send him home for a couple reasons. One, I knew that’s what he wanted, and two, I knew he was safer with me at school than doing God knows what with God know who. He was getting something from school that he needed but we just couldn't figure it out. 

I called and called and called the mom. Every time I expressed my growing concern about his drug use, her answer was simply, “OK”. There was no follow through at home. Rumor has it, she would provide the ‘munchies’ to him when he got done getting high.

On days where Bill didn't show up to school, I often found me and my social worker doing friendly home visits, driving around the neighborhood to houses we thought he may be, and basically playing Charlie’s Angels. We would go so far as to stake out the home high school 10th period to make sure that when he got there for his one course he actually went to school instead of ditching to get high. 

Somehow, this kid became my special project. We had staff meetings to discuss options on how to help. We contacted the school district asking for help. We had the high school’s drug counselor come over to do an in-service. Knowing Bill wants to go into the Marines, we had the military come in and do a presentation to all the kids hoping this would get through to him. We found a drug rehabilitation program that would come out to our school and do a free drug assessment on him. However, mom wouldn't consent. Nope, nothing, nada. He told us that on his 17th birthday, he was going to have one final blowout and then stop using all together. 

Exactly two days after his 17th birthday, he asked for help. Bill realized that he was having a lot of trouble staying away from the party. This was IT! This is what we needed to get our plan in motion. We called the rehab, set up an appointment the very next day, called mom to let her know that Bill reached out to us for help, got mom’s consent, and prayed. The rehab came out to talk with all of us first, Bill included. Bill admitted to taking Ecstasy, pills (mostly Xanax), DMT which I have learned is similar to LSD, pot, bath salts and cocaine. He’s barely 17. 

The Rehab accepted him quickly; he checked in within 3 days. I drove 2 hours out to see him, to let him know we didn't forget about him. I have never seen him look better. We talked for about two hours. He still is struggling with his demons and at times. I cried. I am so excited to say that today he will be having his exit meeting from rehab and will be returning to summer school tomorrow. I believe that Bill will always struggle with his demons, but this path he is on has a bright future and I look forward to fighting to keep him on this path. Hoo-rah Bill! 

Steve 

Steve was a 17 year old boy who also has been with our school for about 3 years. Steve has a diagnosis of OHI (other health impaired). However he was sent to use due to inability to be successful at his home school. I have come to learn that he was difficult to handle in class and didn't do any work. This is a fancy way of saying the teachers didn't like him and wanted him gone.

Let me go back and tell you some background on Steve. He was left at a grocery store in Germany when he was 3 months old. He was sent to a German Orphanage until he was adopted by his mom here in the states.  He was reported to have fetal alcohol syndrome. His US dad dropped dead of a heart attack when Steve was 14.  "Of all the risk factors that contribute to substance abuse, familial factors may be most important" (Dolgin, 2011).   "Overall, research has found that the family relationship of adolescents who abuse drugs are similar to those of adolescents who are emotionally disturbed." (Dolgin, 2011). 

Steve was not as much trouble as Bill however Steve loved to talk about his drugs. He was often over -heard talking with the kids about what he was getting, when, and from whom. He didn't often open up to the staff about his drug use. When he did, he said he just drank sometimes and smoked cigarettes. Yeah, right. One of the most powerful tools a teacher has in finding out about the lives of the kids is to eavesdrop. That’s how we found out that Steve was our resident ‘dealer’. Not in school but after school. You name it, he could get it. 

Steve came to school last summer with claw marks that stated at his forehead down to his chin. Apparently, he had taken meth and this made him think he had bugs on his face. We called mom and told her what he shared with us. She came to get him and had him hospitalize for a few days. We came up with an emergency action plan at school if he came to school with marks on him again and if he was ‘tripping’. 

After this incident and when returning from the hospital, Steve was better; sort of. Anyway, Steve has a borderline IQ on paper but he is one of the smartest kids I've met. He heard that the pill Xanax could get you ‘really messed up’. Know what he did? He looked up online what to say to a physician on how to get prescribed Xanax. The buzz word is “Anxiety”. He used the buzzword and he got the pills; simple as that. Well, after school one day he went home on the bus and decided to take 11 pills. I guess after ingesting 11 Xanax, he got scared. He got on his bike and rode back up to the school asking for help. We immediately called the ambulance. He technically OD’d but I’m happy to say he survived and I’m even more happy to say he graduated high school 2 weeks ago.

TIPS:
1.  Call the parents.   Call early and often.  Call until they get the point.  I do NOT care if they get upset with you.  Keep calling.

2.  Use your resources.  Find out what programs there are in the schools and communities.  Reach out to anyone you can.

Preface

Let me start by prefacing the following information is solely based on my own professional experience and my own opinions. I chose to write this based on what I have come to find as topics of importance in the lives of adolescence, problems they face, and ways adults, teachers, social workers, and concerned caregivers may be able to help. And, all the examples and stories that I tell are true. Of course, the names and places have been changed, but I have all personally been involved with all these young souls. I made some, ok, a lot, of mistakes, but I have some great success stories too. 

I have worked with the most ‘troubled’ teens, middle school and high school alike, boys and girls, all levels of wealth and income over the past 14 years. I began as a special education teacher in public schools and now I am the Director of Special Education for a company that provides therapeutic day schools and alternative education for students ‘at-risk’. This term is broad, however 100% of all 11,554 students we education have been unsuccessful in their home schools for a multitude of reasons. For this blog, I’m going to focus on the most severe of those ‘at-risk’.