CHILD THERAPEUTIC DAY SCHOOL
The Child Therapeutic Day School (CTDS) is an out-of-district
special education school located within the UBHC Building
in Piscataway. Its mission is to provide educational and
treatment services in an integrated manner to children whose
psychiatric and behavioral difficulties are too severe for
them to be educated effectively in their local school systems.
CTDS includes six therapeutic classrooms with a total capacity
of 48 children. Although ages may range from three-and-a-half
through thirteen, over 90% of children are between the ages
of five and eleven at the time of admission. The educational
range is between preschool and seventh grade. Planned lengths
of stay typically range from six months to three years,
with a very small number discharged during their fourth
year. All referrals for the day school are from local school
systems or the Office of Education. The sending school districts
or the Office of Education support the costs of placement
through tuition payments.
The six classes function as autonomous, self-contained,
therapeutic classrooms. Staffing includes certified special
education teachers, mental health specialists (most function
as assistant teachers, and have substitute teacher certification),
clinicians, speech/language therapist, occupational therapist,
psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, special education supervisor,
and the program manager (who functions as the program
director).
The six classrooms include:
- The Therapeutic Nursery and Kindergarten (our “Greenhouse”)
which is open from 9AM-2PM with a maximum of seven children,
3-6 years old, and one teacher and at least one assistant.
- The Therapeutic Primary which is open from 9AM-2PM with
a maximum of nine children, 6-8 years old, and one teacher
and two assistants.
- The Child Day Program includes four classrooms each
with a maximum of nine children, ages 7-13 years, and
is open from 9AM-3PM, with one teacher and two assistants
per class.
CLINICAL SERVICES
Clinical and psychiatric services include individual play
or verbal psychotherapy, family psychotherapy, and medication
management and counseling. The integration of clinical and
educational services is a core aspect of the Child Therapeutic
Day School. Clinical and educational staff collaborates
in providing group therapy, social skills training, therapeutic
activity groups, therapeutic group discussions, behavior
modification, and behavioral crisis intervention and counseling.
Speech/language therapy and occupational therapy are also
provided as needed in accordance with each child’s
IEP. All of these services and interventions are imbedded
in the overall program or provided during the program day,
although family sessions can be scheduled for non-program
hours.
All CTDS direct providers of treatment and instructional
services participate in regularly scheduled treatment planning
meetings. Each child’s plan is reviewed at least once
monthly. Parents and guardians have opportunities to have
input into the child’s plan, as well as reviewing
the written treatment plans and being able to comment on
them. Parents are also involved in dispositional planning
concerning the educational program and treatment services
that will be in place upon the child’s discharge from
CTDS.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
The program is an approved public college operated special
education facility, which is staffed by certified special
education teachers. They offer a variety of elementary subjects.
The educational program emphasizes subject material and
content with the goal of addressing the specific learning
needs and concerns of our student population. The education
program is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education
and the curriculum is aligned to fulfill the New Jersey
Core Curriculum Content Standards. During the course of
treatment/education in the Program, the program director
and staff work collaboratively with the Child Study Teams
to ensure that each youngster’s academic program is
in compliance with the IEP (individualized education plan).
Collaboration with the Child Study Teams of the sending
school districts ensures compliance with the individual
educational plan prescribed to meet the needs of each student.
The educators and program director provide ongoing information
regarding each youngster’s level of functioning within
the program. The school program is also an approved state
testing site so that students can be administered the required
state assessments.
BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT
While each classroom has its own behavior management system,
all adhere to the same basic principles. All are based on
positive reinforcement. Natural and logical consequences
are utilized, and punitive responses are avoided. All involve
the setting of individual and group behavioral objectives
that are developmentally appropriate, involve increasing
and strengthening the coping skills and behaviors that are
related to the child’s future success upon discharge,
and are both reasonable and achievable by the child. Some
of the basic behavioral goals and objectives include maintaining
safe and respectful behavior, attending to and following
staff directions, using words to communicate feelings and
needs, improving social skills (especially cooperativeness),
developing effective emotional self-regulation, enhancing
self-esteem, and encouraging positive, optimistic thinking.
Behaviors relevant to learning and academic success are
also a major focus. These include participation, attentiveness,
effort, appropriate requests for help, acceptance of instructional
help, and task completion (including homework).
Programs make use of visual displays to mark and reinforce
behavioral improvement. All utilize a combination of immediate
and delayed reinforcement; and both individual and group
reinforcement. Some make use of points, point cards, and/or
levels with differentiated expectations, responsibilities,
privileges, and incentives. All programs are designed to
be flexible in order to better meet the individual and collective
needs of the current group of children, and to maintain
the interest and investment of the children in the behavior
management system. Refinements and modifications of the
classroom based behavior management systems are made by
the teaching staff in collaboration with clinical and supervisory
staff. Significant variations of an individual child’s
behavior plan are developed by the treatment team and incorporated
in the child’s treatment plan.
STUDENT REFERRAL PROCESS
There are two ways that children are admitted to the Child
Therapeutic Day School. Most of the children are referred
directly from the local school districts. Children who are
admitted to the Children’s Transitional Residence
attend CTDS for the duration of their period of residential
treatment and are enrolled in CTDS by the Department of
Children and Families Office of Education. The referral
includes Child Study Team evaluations and current IEP. Referred
children, who appear to need the integrated educational
and treatment program we provide, are invited to have a
screening visit to one of our therapeutic classrooms, along
with their parents. In most cases the decision as to whether
or not to accept a child is made within 24 hours of the
screening. If accepted, and the child’s school system
and family are in agreement, the child is typically able
to start in approximately one week, assuming that there
is a current opening.
Referrals, or inquiries about the program, should be directed
to the Program Manager, or Education Supervisor, at
732-235-5720. The mailing address is:
Child Therapeutic Day School
University Behavioral HealthCare
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
671 Hoes Lane West
Piscataway, NJ 08855-1392
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