Profile of an Esther B. Clark School Student

What type of student will derive real educational benefit from 3 years at Esther B. Clark School?

Here is a typical profile of an EBC student who can genuinely benefit from the EBC program. Better than 8 out of 10 cases will end up being successfully placed in a less-restrictive environment after 3 years with us.

Primary Eligibility

Must be one of the following:

Emotional Disturbance (ED)
Other Health Impaired (OHI)
Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
Autism (Aut)

Cognitive

Verbal Comprehension (VC) and Visual-Spatial (VS) domains at least in the Average range
Fluid Reasoning (FR), Working Memory (WM) and/or Processing Speed (PS) may be disproportionately lower (ie >1 standard deviation) lower than VC and VS domains

Language

Receptive Language (Listening Comprehension/Receptive Vocabulary) at least in the Average range
Pragmatics underdeveloped and an identified problem area

Academic Achievement

Reading Decoding, Vocabulary and Comprehension at least in the Low Average range
Math Calculations, Reasoning and Applied Problems at least in the Low Average range
Written Expression domains likely to be in the Low Average even Borderline range and a source of frustration and trigger for mal-adaptive behaviors
Visual Motor Integration likely to be Low

Behavior/Emotional Rating Scales

Anxiety, Depression/mood, Fears, Withdrawal, Somatization may all be in the Elevated or Clinically Significant range
Academic/School Problems likely at least the At Risk range
Hyperactivity, Impulsivity likely in the Clinically Significant range
Social skills and adaptive skills in likely in the Clinically Significant range
Defiance, Violence potential, Aggression and Conduct problems evaluated on a case by case basis

Notes: EBC has had much success in assisting students who struggle to attend school. We help students who have missed extensive time (i.e. weeks, even months) and have refused to attend despite district interventions (e.g., SARB, interactions with truancy officers, reduced days) to successfully re-integrate and re-engage in school-based academics and social activities.

We also served as a transition from residential treatment programs and as a school placement for students who are coming out of acute and/or repeated psychiatric hospitalizations for extreme anxiety and/or depression.

Typical Issues Present upon Referral

Lower Division – Grades K – 6

Hyperactivity, impulsivity
Problems with delay of gratification rewards
Overreliance on frequent/immediate tangible incentives to cooperate
Low frustration tolerance ending up in fight, flight or freeze behavior
Work refusal followed by eloping
Poor friendship skills; inflexible when peer conflict resolution is attempted
Argumentative then escalates to disruptive
Chronically gets timed out of class and ends up repeatedly getting sent home
Rigid and blaming of others in the moment, then distressed/sad about self afterwards
Slow developing reading and writing skills even though oral language skills age-appropriate

Upper Division – Grades 7 – 10

Recent escalation of school and/or work refusal
Socially isolated/ostracized; may have significant social anxiety
Fearful, anxious, depressed including reported episodes of suicidal ideation
Threatened to or has engaged in self-harming behaviors; emergent psychosomatic ailments
Poor perspective taking; tends to catastrophize
Poor self-awareness but acutely aware of own discrepancy relative to peers
Has fallen up to 2 years behind in academics because of lost instructional time
Persistent hardship with and distaste for writing assignments, homework chronically not done
Perceives self as victimized by others; little sense of having an internal locus of control
Outpatient therapy, Resource Specialist support, other weekly interventions inadequate to stem social-emotional and behavioral decline

Admissions

To become an official candidate for admissions, the student’s home school district must first forward a referral packet to the school. This packet needs to contain the immediate past and the current IEP, most recent and complete psychoeducational testing report, current Behavior Support Plan or Behavior Intervention Plan, and any disciplinary reports occurring at school in within the community. Esther B. Clark Schools cannot process any intake request that comes directly from a parent or private practitioner unless it is to be a privately funded placement.

The referral packet to EBC includes:

Most recent triennial or psychoeducational testing report with all scores included
Current and immediate past IEP, including any addendums
Current FBA and Behavior Support Plan (if one)
Disciplinary or incident reports from past six months (if any)
Mental health evaluation such as an ERMHS assessment (if one)
Reports from outside agencies such as wrap services, outside tutor, therapist, assessors in past year (if any)