AASR Live

Each year, the guardianship of thousands of vulnerable youth are signed over to private and for-profit residential programs that lack state and federal oversight. This means that these programs can be established fairly spontaneously and are not required to report what goes on within the facility to the state or federal government. 

These programs may label themselves as wilderness, therapeutic, boot camp, or religious programs, and are collectively known as the “troubled teen industry” (tti). The TTI operates out of sight and out of mind, typically in remote locations away from public scrutiny. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that exploits vulnerable youth & their families for profit. 

Thousands of cases of abuse and neglect have been reported in the media over the last 40 years. During this time, young people in the TTI have experienced human rights violations, abuse and injustices. These include but are not limited to:

• Seclusion & Restraint: Including seclusion, restraint, isolation, solitary confinement & strict restriction of communication with the outside world including contact with family, mandated reporters, lawyers and advocates.

• Unethical & abusive force of Transporting ( kidnaping) young people. 

• Abuse of Religious Exemptions: Including physical abuse, emotional abuse, racist verbal abuse, neglect, medical neglect, and death

• Conversion therapy harmful therapeutic to change another individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

• Human Rights Violations: Including sleep deprivation, food deprivation, forced feeding, restrictions on marriage based on race, lack of freedom of religion, exploitation of labor and exploitation of traumatic experiences.

During this event we will talk to several survivors of the trouble teen industry and learn why change is necessary to protect our children and youth. 

Our guests included:

Kayla is a resilient foster care survivor of institutional abuse. They hope to use their insight of the child welfare system to spread awareness of the civil rights violations happening day in and day out, especially within the Troubled Teen Industry. She has written articles for The Hill, Ms. Magazine, and Children's Rights. They are currently attending Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Texas. They have been a certified dog trainer since 2016 and found healing through working with dogs of all breeds. They currently work with a pit bull service dog.

Robert bucklin is a 27 year old Patient CareAssociate studying to be an ICU Nusre who is also heavily involved in bringing awareness to the abuses within the Agape Boarding School for boys, a private school located in Missouri- a school that he attended his whole teenage life. 

Josh Cook is a survivor of the “Troubled Teen Industry” who began his anti-TTI advocacy by helping to facilitate the closure of Freedom Village USA, a religious TTI program. He also works on prisoner rights issues, where he has been involved in several campaigns. He is based in Alabama, where he lives with his grandson.

Gabriel Joseph Gonzáles is a survivor that educates and advocates for young people’s rights in The Troubled Teen Industry. In 2019, he worked with the Freedom Village Experience survivors group on awareness projects that involved New York and South Carolina. In 2020, Gabriel co-facilitated a collaborative campaign with the National Youth Rights Association to ask congress to regulate controversial care practices and challenges in "Troubled Teen" Residential care facilitation. He currently resides in New York City and is an active member of his community.

Chelsea Maldonado is an Atlanta-based activist and investigative researcher with a focus on youth rights and criminal justice reform. She is a survivor of the so-called "Troubled Teen Industry," having attended the notorious WWASPS' program, Tranquility Ba

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Learn why so many behavior plans don't work and how to create one that will work with Diane Gould LCSW. Ms. Gould has worked for the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization and the Niles Township District for Special Education. She has served as a consultant and been a guest lecturer for many area school districts. During her twelve years working in schools, Ms Gould developed new parent support programs. She also created and led many peer buddy groups creating a community of support for students in special education programs.

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A special presentation with Julie Roberts, a neurodivergence-affirming therapist, and founder of the Therapist Neurodiversity Collective: “Shifting Therapies towards an empathetic and respectful Neurodiversity Paradigm”.

Why does therapy need to change? (Whole body listening, social communication expectations, compliance-based therapies, and outcomes, pathologizing natural autistic ways of interacting and communicating, tolerance, or the 'extinguishing' of sensory issues.)

In what ways are the majority of therapists "behind" in contemporary Autism research knowledge? (Autism research that is done in conjunction with and by autistic researchers, Monotropism, Autistic Masking, and Camouflage, The Double Empathy Problem, Diversity in Social Intelligence)

How do neurodivergence-affirming therapies reduce situations that lead to restraint and seclusion? (Therapy becomes about reaching the person where they are, goals become less about compliance and more about increasing personal agency and self-determination.)

Julie Roberts is a licensed, ASHA certified Speech-Language Pathologist and the Founder of Therapist Neurodiversity Collective who has been practicing for over 20 years. She is a frequent presenter on overviews of Autism and Neurodiversity, and why Social Skills Training is an ableist therapy model (based on contemporary research and autistic lived experiences). A frequent blogger who writes articles on disability rights, empathetic therapy practices, and advocacy efforts, Julie is a passionate and tireless patient/client/student rights advocate and activist.

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Restorative Justice and its implementation is often misunderstood in schools. However when done correctly, it can be the golden panacea to building a relational school.

In this presentation I will share my successes and challenges of implementation in various school settings as well as sharing how it can be successfully used with all students, including those from a trauma background, ADHD and ASD.

I will also provide some practical tips that can be used in all classrooms and schools.

I have been an educator for 35 years, working in a multitude of roles including teacher, Behaviour support consultant, Head of Special Needs and Principal. My Principal role has been in low socioeconomic areas and Northern Territory in the remote end of Australia working with our indigenous communities.

I am passionate about shaping our schools to ensure that EVERY student is understood, safe and able to succeed no matter what their need.

I am a Doctorate Candidate with QUT researching the intersection between Complex Trauma and Developmental Disabilities in school settings.

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How can you move past teaching compliance towards teaching self-determination and self-advocacy? Many programs that specialize in education for Neurodivergent children are rooted in compliance-based techniques and behavioral control. This talk explores the history of behaviorism in schooling for neurodivergent kids and will offer alternative ways to think about and respond to student behavior. 

Robin Roscigno is a scholar/practicioner specializing in education for Neurodivergent children. She is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education and consults with school districts and parents on a range of topics. Most recently, Robin was awarded the Irving K. Zola Award for Emerging Scholar in Disabiliy Studies from the Society for Disability Studies for her article “Semiotic Stalemate: Resisting Restraint and Seclusion through Guattari’s Micropolitics of Desire” which combined her scholarly interests with her anti-restraint and seclusion activism.

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Mike Hipple is a man with cerebral palsy and uses Augmentative Alternative Communication. He was misplaced in a behavioral classroom known as EBD for 8 long years, just because he couldn't communicate his needs and wants. Somehow he got out and now he is on the mission to educate and to advocate for families, students, and professionals that children who is nonverbal and " having challenging behaviors" don't need to be in a behavioral program and or cognitive program just because they are having behaviors. Mr. Hipple serves on the education committee and the membership committee for United States Society of Alternative and Augmentative Communication {USSAAC} and he is the founder of Wisconsin AAC Network. He is a member of Wisconsin Autism Society and Autism Society of America.

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Our special guest will once again be Mona Delahooke, Ph.D. for this special interview.

Mona Delahooke, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience caring for children and their families. She is a senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting families of neurodiverse children, adolescents and adults.Dr. Delahooke holds the highest level of endorsement in the field of infant and toddler mental health in California, as a Reflective Practice Mentor (RPM). She is a frequent speaker, trainer, and consultant to parents, organizations, schools, and public agencies. Dr. Delahooke has dedicated her career to promoting compassionate, relationship-based neurodevelopmental interventions for children with developmental, behavioral, emotional, and learning differences. She is the author of Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges (PESI, 2019), and Social and Emotional Development in Early Intervention: A Skills Guide for Working with Children (PESI, 2017). Her popular blog, at www.monadelahooke.com covers a range of topics useful for caregivers and childhood providers.

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Robbyn describes the neurodevelopmental effects of early abuse and neglect, the process of dissociation and hyper-arousal and its effect on the development of the four main areas of function in children (sensory processing, self regulation, relational skills, cognitive capability). She will discuss the continuum of harsh punishment and overt child abuse and the dose rate relationship to negative mental and physical outcomes. She describes effective treatment of self regulation problems often appearing as oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, anxiety, tantrums, bullying behaviors. This workshop covers the overarching principles of positive discipline from a neuro-developmentally informed perspective.

Robbyn Peters Bennett, LPC, CMHS is a psychotherapist and activist for children, specializing in the treatment of mental health issues due to child maltreatment. She has directed inpatient and residential treatment programs, worked with families in child protective services, foster care and post adoption. Robbyn is Phase II certified with ChildTrauma Academy in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). 

A national speaker, Robbyn’s TED talk frames spanking as domestic violence. She founded StopSpanking.org, an online parenting resource for parents and clinicians to better understand the harm of hitting children. She is a board member of the U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children leading the movement to end spanking in the USA. https://stopspanking.org/robbynpetersbennett/

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The Keeping All Students Safe Act, introduced by Rep. Don Beyer (VA-08), Sen. Chis Murphy (CT), Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Chair Patty Murray (WA), and Rep. Donald McEachin (VA-04) would make it illegal for any school receiving federal funds to seclude a child or use dangerous restraint practices that restrict breathing, such as prone or supine restraint. The bill would also prohibit schools from physically restraining children, except when necessary to protect the safety of students and staff. Lastly, the bill would better equip school personnel with the training they need to address school- expected behavior with evidence-based proactive strategies.

In this session we will be talking with several individuals that experienced restraint and seclusion firsthand. 

Guest include:

Julie Weiner is a graduate student, writer, and disability rights activist and advocate from suburban Philadelphia. She lives with a chronic pain and fatigue condition and uses a wheelchair part-time. She survived restraint and seclusion at an affluent public school in both fourth and sixth grade as a response to her nonviolent dysregulated episodes. In 2019, Julie joined the Alliance Against Restraint and Seclusion’s efforts in fighting restraint and seclusion in the hopes that the next generation of students will not experience the trauma she experienced. She is a 2020 graduate of Muhlenberg College with a B.A. in English and is pursuing an M.A. in student affairs and higher education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Mina (real name: Jennifer) Han is an aspiring creative. During her childhood, she experienced the trauma of restraint and seclusion in school. With her passion for creative writing and art, Mina hopes to encourage self-care in a way to cope with the trauma and heal. As an advocate, she also supports the ban on the use of both restraint and seclusion in schools.

Sam is a self-advocate who is against the use of restraint and seclusion and a supporter of the Keeping All Students Safe Act. Sam was diagnosed with autism at age three. Sam was restrained when he was just five years old until he was fourteen. Sam runs his own photography business. Sam also works to shift the way people think about autism: from “awareness” to “acceptance.”

At forty eight years old Tom was diagnosed with PTSD. He has had trouble finding treatment since. As Tom would say "I'm still alive, so I guess that I’m a survivor, but I definitely don’t feel like one." Tom's experience with seclusion in special education in the nineteen eighties left him unable to maintain personal and professional relationships, or finish his education. Currently in therapy, Tom finds himself starting his life over at a time when other people his age are sending their kids off to college. 

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Kelly Sarah and Rachel Polacek are two educators from Wisconsin. Rachel has been school psychologist for 19 years and is currently in a K-5 elementary school. Kelly has served students as an elementary school counselor for 7 years. Kelly and Rachel will provide an overview on how to incorporate the CPS model into a PBIS system; something they have done successfully in their elementary schools.

For more information about infusing collaborative and proactive solutions into PBIS contact Rachel and Kelly at [email protected]

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