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What is the Purpose of Educational Consulting?
The purpose of intervention and educational consulting are:
To provide parents with an objective evaluation, information,
guidance and support to address their troubled teen's psychological
and educational problems.
To evaluate and develop a plan to address dysfunctional and
other problem behavior in your troubled teen.
To help parents of troubled teens interview, evaluate and
find schools or intervention programs that will address the
parent's concerns.
To help parents insure the school or intervention program
is appropriate for their child.
To support, monitor and advocate for parents with programs
and staff.
Why use an Educational Consultant?
To help parents of troubled teens avoid programs that are
inappropriate, abusive or incompetent.
To insure that your child receives services appropriate to
their level of need.
To insure that your expectations and concerns of parents
are met.
To provide you with a qualified professional resource and
an advocate that will help you make sure that programs stay
on task and provide the services that your troubled teen needs.
Programs that care about you and your child will value their
reputations with parents and they care about what educational
consultants have to say about them. Educational consultants
are able to evaluate a programs performance before and while
your troubled teen is in enrolled in that program.
When do Parents and Professionals Need Educational
Consultants?
A growing number of parents with teenagers are searching
for boarding schools and other private school programs for
help. They need help because there an increasing number of
teenagers have emotional, psychological, behavioral, school
or substance abuse problems. Many public and private school
are simply not providing the help that children need to learn,
grow and feel good about themselves. In absence of appropriate
supervision and healthy self-esteem, students are dropping
out of school, bonding with other kids who have problems,
turning to drugs, and becoming involved in unsafe activities
that feel more rewarding and worthwhile.
Fortunately, there there are thousands of school and intervention
programs. Unfortunately, many of these "schools"
and "programs" are not safe or may do more harm
than good. Even schools and program that have good reputations
are not necessarily appropriate for your child. Some schools
and programs have earned good reputations a long time ago,
but programs change and reputations may no longer be deserved.
What Problems do Parents Bring to Educational and
Psychological Consultants?
Parents are usually overwhelmed with information and decision
factors when they are exploring school and intervention programs.
If there is a crisis involved, the situation is even more
distressing. Very few parents know how to tell if a program
is appropriate or not. Research and published materials on
programs are simply not adequate and the results of parent
surveys are never enough to assure that your child's needs
will be taken care of. In many cases, children need some form
of crisis intervention, psychological and educational evaluation,
as well as a referral to an appropriate school or intervention
program. Previous evaluations and services may have been inadequate
or incomplete. Parents need objective advice and information
as well as commitment to their family.
Intervention, therapeutic and educational programs vary considerably
and there are a tremendous number of programs. Programs vary
tremendously in terms of:
philosophy
health and safety
structure and design
student populations
level of supervision
intensity of educational or clinical programs
quality and competence
follow-up support cost
In many cases, an intervention is necessary before students
can return home or go to a private school that can address
any special educational needs. Interventions may involve screening,
runaway location, crisis stabilization, clinical and educational
evaluation, developing treatment plans, monitoring, and educational
planning.
Description of a Program of Positive Peer
Culture
We believe that young people who populate our nation's schools
are in desperate need of an antidote to the narcissism, laziness,
rebellion, and antisocial lifestyles that have become so prevalent
with today’s youth. The antidote is to teach the principles
of the Bible as declared by Jesus Christ and the Apostles
through a system known as "positive peer culture".
However, teaching the principles of the Bible are not enough.
Churches everywhere are doing that and are failing our youth
The real secret is to “experience” the principles
of the Bible… meaning, we make our relationship with
Jesus Christ real, with true experiences, and not just head
knowledge. Students of Abundant Life Academy experience their
faith through participation in Mercy Ministries as they are
encouraged by their peers to drop the selfishness and give
to those who are in need. The Positive Culture promotes the
ideals of caring, serving, and trusting. For example, we feed
the poor and elderly, we build homes for the homeless, and
we provide mercy to those who are in desperate need. Jesus
taught his disciples to love and serve one another. The Abundant
Life Academy Positive Peer Culture process uses and promotes
the same foundational teachings of Jesus Christ that He used
in the peer culture he created with His disciples.
You are probably very familiar with the concept of "negative
peer pressure". Negative peer pressure involves selfishness
and self-centeredness. Everything you dislike about the negative
choices of your son/daughter was taught to him/her by his/her
negative peers. However, being taught about negative values
is not enough to compel them to act out negatively. It takes
another component that is often overlooked. It takes a combination
of "modeling" and "peer pressure" to cause
a perfectly good teenager to turn into a troubled teen. The
positive peer culture process works in the same manner, only
the outcome of the behaviors are positive as opposed to negative.
The Positive Peer Culture process uses “modeling”
and “peer pressure” to create the transformation
of a negative peer into that of a positive peer.
The peer pressure your child has been under is immense and
beyond your understanding. The pressure comes from your teen’s
desire to fit in, to be cool, and to gain status within his/her
peer group. If his/her peer group has determined that they
must defy authority to gain status within the group, then
you have a rebellious troubled teen that won't listen to you,
and you can bet he/she is creating havoc and pain for you
and the rest of the family. At Abundant Life Academy we use
the same foundational mechanisms of the peer pressure system,
but instead of being pressured to act out our students are
encouraged to love, serve, and support one another and others.
We believe that the answer to negative peer pressure is
found in the presence of a pro-social "positive peer
culture". By using the identical dynamics of a negative
peer culture (the need to fit in), the positive peer culture
system replaces the anti-social values with pro-social values
with incredible results. In a positive peer culture the only
way to gain status within the group is to function in the
pro-social values while challenging the anti-social values
of negative peers. This is exactly what Jesus taught to his
disciples. Instead of anti-social values as a means of gaining
status within the group (negative peer culture), the positive
individuals who exemplify pro-social gain desired status.
Those who wish to be first shall be last, and those who wish
to be last will be first.
To better understand ALA's definition
of a Troubled Teen, Click Here.
We know that kids just want to fit in and be accepted within
their peer group. We also know that they can easily adapt
to the pro-social values if those values help them to "fit
in". As adults, we can direct the negative peer culture
in such a way as to promote pro-social values. In doing so,
kids naturally begin to conduct themselves in a manner that
gains acceptance. Once they transition from the anti-social
to the pro-social values, the outcome is amazing. To the Abundant
Life Academy student, operating within the positive peer culture
becomes as natural as hanging out with his friends
The core design of positive peer culture is accomplished when
we create an environment where young people develop a sense
of self-worth, significance, dignity, and responsibility.
However, this only happens as the students become committed
to the positive values. The commitment toward pro-social values
is reinforced when the student gains status for behaving pro-socially.
In the case of Abundant Life Academy, the pro-social values
are centered on the idea of helping and caring for others.
With the positive peer culture we direct students away from
narcissism and conflict, moving them toward a spirit of concern
and service for others.
With the positive peer culture system the Abundant Life Academy
staff build a climate characterized by "trust and openness".
Most schools and programs operate on the opposite premise,
as they use "invasion and exposure". In reality,
it is the operation of invasion and exposure that actually
creates the negative peer culture in the first place. So,
it would reason that "trust and openness" would
create an opposite effect, that being a "positive"
peer culture. The positive peer culture process empowers the
students. They are empowered to help and serve one another.
The focus is to reward those students who demonstrate genuine
concern for fellow students, as well as staff. There is no
coercion, psychological intimidation, or manipulation involved.
Within the peer culture no one is forced to do anything. Instead,
they are encouraged through authentic concern.
Within the positive peer culture there is a climate of "change"
versus and climate of "security". Many people believe
that children grow strong in an environment that is safe and
free of conflict. That simply is not true. Growth comes through
conflict and struggle. "Change" often creates conflict
and struggle, and many times the behavioral issues regarding
kids are derived from their unwillingness to deal with change.
When kids are taught that change are opportunities that are
to be embraced and relished, then their struggles turn into
opportunities to advance and grow. Change becomes exciting
and fun, instead of frustrating and disliked.
Positive peer culture focuses on the direct and immediate
issues and challenges of an individual, not the past problems.
Contrary to popular belief you can't go back into your past
and fix things. There are many unfortunate events in everyone's
life, causing tremendous trauma. Many times children are truly
victims of horrendous truama. Nevertheless, you can't go back
and change what happened. The question is, "what are
you going to do about it now?" Within the positive peer
culture one does not go back and get entangled in an analysis
of all the details of a child's history. It is all about how
and what someone is going to do with the choices he has today,
even when it involves a horrific event of the past. Again,
when kids see all problems as opportunities for growth, they
can reframe their past to positively impact their present,
as well as their future.
In schools across the country teachers demand conformity
and obedience. Elaborate sets of rules are concocted and then
they search for ways to enforce them. Rewards are offered
to students for behaving, and punishments are applied to keep
them from misbehaving. Rather than demand obedience, the positive
peer culture concept demands that young people become the
mature and productive human begins they can be. Positive peer
culture is concerned with setting expectations high enough
to challenge the young person to do all he is capable of doing.
To expect less is to deprive him of the opportunity of feeling
as positive about himself as possible.
Additionally, the focus of a positive peer culture is on
"values" instead of "rules". Kids need
obvious boundaries in the form of rules; however, values are
much more powerful. Too often rules are geared used only to
keep students in submission, and to "control" behavior.
Moreover, kids often see rules as an opportunity to "get
over" on adults. This creates an "us" versus
"them" mentality, and subverts trust between student
and staff. The truth is that rules do not teach a child how
to live responsibly amid the complexities and uncertainties
of the real world. While some students may learn to obey rules,
they still may fail miserably when no one is there to set
and enforce the rules. Young people need to learn the basic
values for living and not merely memorizing and following
a set of rules.
At Abundant Life Academy we make "caring' fashionable.
We know that a positive peer culture can only exist in a climate
of mutual concern. The job of the teachers and staff of Abundant
Life Academy are to establishing positive values, and teach
the students how to serve one another. The teachers and staff
of Abundant Life Academy establish the pattern of caring through
modeling, and rewarding those students who follow their lead.
Jesus did the very same thing in His three year ministry.
Jesus created the most powerful positive peer culture known
to man!
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