new to list and seeking therapeutic day schools?

October 14, 2009

Hi,

I am new to this list and look forward to all the great info on here. I have a

10 yr old son, and his primary difficulties come from mood disorder, Tourette's,

anxiety disorder, ADHD and possible PDD NOS. He is one of those kids who are

hard to diagnose. He has some quirks but no real social impairments although he

has a speech and language disorder which of course impact social interaction. He

does deal with sensory issues, developmental delays in most areas, mood

problems, severe emotional problems, tics, anger and a general lack of . In

moving to the east coast of FL as we are about to do, I am hoping to find a

greater breadth of services and a good community for him. Due to his

emotional/psychiatric/neuro and behavior problems, he has not been able to

attend school any more and I am doing school at home so far this year. None of

the special ed programs here were equipped to really help him succeed. They are

either 100% focused on just issues related to autism, or just behavior problems,

and he needs a combo of psychological help along with behavioral. Nothing like

that seems to really exist in regular schools. We are therefore hoping to find

out if any therapeutic day programs/school in the Broward area (including dade

or palm bch counties) for kids like mine. I am trying to avoid turning to a

residential program, as I think we could make it work at home if had the right

help all day. I have heard that Broward schools has one or two therapeutic

schools but I dont know what that means - here the school for the emotionally

needy kids is like a jail, its horrible, I am seeking a true therapeutic setting

that does academics as part of the program. Sorry this is so long winded, but if

anyone knows of any day programs like this I would greatly appreciate the info.

He just wouldnt fit in in an all autism private school and so far has been

restrained and secluded all his years in the publis school system here. Thank

you for any guidance.

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