residential programs...

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Has anyone here been in a residential facility as a youth, or considered one for your kid(s)? Is it something you would consider?

Yes, One day I'll write a book about it.
The way I was not surviving at the local day school even hell would have been better.
I did learn a lot and leave fully able to engage in an apprenticeship, I have usually been in work and consider myself well adjusted.
It was a very bumpy ride.
There is no doubt it teaches one to be independent.

sadly, we did consider residential for our son for a period of time. he was quite a handful. angry, depressed, suicidal, and you couldn't reason with him no matter what......fortunately, things have settled down.

iceb...which one?
ster...which ones did you consider? how old is your son now?

nautilus do you mean ones specifically for autism or just residential ones in general?

nautilus_,

I have pm'd you a fair paragraph by my standards.


Above is a face I painted age 12 it was used by the school on the cover of a book of poems by the boys.

nautilus

Are you in the US? Members are from all over the world here, so pinpointing an area would be helpful for feedback.

because of his medical fragility, we looked at a larger residential facility with doctors on staff. ......as it turned out, he ended up staying in an inpatient program at a local hospital for 11 days & then followed up with their 6 week outpatient program. I wish I could say that it helped. he resented being put into the hospital. he resented being put in outpatient treatment. he resisted any changes that they would discuss. his behavior and attitude had the staff believing that he was ODD ( this was all prior to an AS dx)........once the 6 week program was over, he returned to school for a few weeks. the bullies were still there & son was still miserable. we pulled him out for the last 2 weeks of school. ........once the new school year began, the system still did not have a revised IEP in place. We refused to send him until we convened as a group to form a new IEP. When we finally reconvened as a group, we ( myself and an advocate) were able to get son placed in an out-of-district therapeutic day school. the school system initially tried to fight it & say that they could educationally plan for son. We did not agree, and thankfully we got our wish granted.........what's really made a tremendous difference in our son's life has been a combination of: a new therapist, the right meds , and the therapeutic school.............you'd hardly be able to recognize him anymore- the changes have been that tremendous. i really thank GOD for the wonderful staff at his new school. Without them, I don't know what we would've done.

I was put in the phyc ward at the locla hospital when I was nine. I was really agressive to everybody. I think it was stress from school and having to share the house for six new people without notice and the house was already small. Being hospitlized did not help.

For kids with sensory issues and who stress out from change, it is difficult to see how having to live somewhere unfamiliar and full of noise and people can help. Whatever benefit they might have gotten from the presence of the professionals is going to be offset by the difficulties inherent to the setting, it seems to me. And posts I've read elsewhere by AS adults discussing experiences from their past confirms this. Everything about the environment puts them in "unable to cope" mode.

Just be really, really cautious and skeptical if someone is suggesting you do this.

resedential is terrible

the people generally don't give a crap about the people gettin better or helping them get better

they just in it for a paycheck

ur child won't improve and may even regress as nobody will give a crap there

TERRIBLE terrible idea

do not seend ur kids to these resedential facilities unless u can see how ur child doing there 24/7 i dont trust them some of the staff may even steal or bully ur child

Protoss - have you been in any?

I've been to a few different programs, the resedential is by far the worst place you could send a kid too.

Totally lack of respect for humankind, totally oblivious and uncaring.

I've been to some military boarding school's that show more respect to human being's then at some of these nice residential places.

The hospital's staff is probably the worst ones of all time some of the won't even look at you or acknowledge you exist at all, and they take turns in shifts an complain about having to work with the people or whos the worst to have to work with

do u want ur child with people like that?

the staff in residential couldn't be more cruel ive never seen worse ppl in my entire life

and yes the staff did steal from me but mainly my mom cuz it was her stuff that I was using while there.

they stole my mini-dvd player a bunch of my dvd's and playstation and a bunch of games were also missing and the staff is the one who i believe most likely took it

[quote="DW_a_mom"]For kids with sensory issues and who stress out from change, it is difficult to see how having to live somewhere unfamiliar and full of noise and people can help. Whatever benefit they might have gotten from the presence of the professionals is going to be offset by the difficulties inherent to the setting, it seems to me. And posts I've read elsewhere by AS adults discussing experiences from their past confirms this. Everything about the environment puts them in "unable to cope" mode.

quote]
Dito.

I live next door to a residential unit. Some of the staff are fantastic whilst others are horrible.
This unit has been here for about 16 years now. When it was first set up it was so scary, we could hear clients screaming (out of fear) at all hours, and some staff members shouting abuse at them. We ended up reporting the staff, and they had a complete change over, thank goodness. However, I also listen to the way these clients are spoken to when they get home from outings and it can border on bullying.
If I had to place a family member in one of those places (I would have to be dying before that happened) I would make a point of dropping in for visits unanounced, I would talk to neighbours (we hear lots of stuff threw those walls). Really do your research.