Frequently, students come to Turning Winds with existing individualized educational plans (IEPs) or so-called 504 plans. Our experienced teaching staff works with our clinicians to help treat learning disorders within the classroom and support any IEP or 504 plan through every stage of our residential program.
504 plans typically describe adjustments to remove barriers to regular education at school while IEPs also remove barriers but also provide specialized instruction and services to help a child develop the skills their disability makes harder to learn.
“On a 504 plan, they have accommodations that are not as specific as with an IEP, it’s more of a catch-all,” explains Turning Winds English/licensed Special Education teacher Greg Hall. “They get accommodations like more time to complete a test or they are allowed to walk around if they get stressed or anxious. An IEP is a little more concrete in the daily things that you could do.”
If students are behind in their academic curriculum, the Turning Winds team works hard to get them caught up at their specific grade level. The aim is usually for them to reach scores of 80 percent or higher.
Many clients stay ten months to a year at Turning Winds. After an initial assessment, Hall works to match the targets of IEPs from public schools. It’s not uncommon for students to be put on IEPs as early as elementary school but most of them start in middle school.
SET UP TO COMPLY WITH ANY ACCOMMODATION
“We’re set up really well to handle IEPs,” says science teacher Cathy Miller. “The fact that we have such a low student-teacher ratio means we get to do a lot of one-on-one work. In a regular school, students who are on an IEP are sent to a resource room.”
At Turning Winds, classrooms are resource rooms. “Even though about 50 percent of our students are on IEPs, I would say we treat all our students as if they were on an IEP,” says Miller. “We want to work with each child individually on an education plan that will accelerate them to the place where they should be when they leave Turning Winds. We work very hard with that goal in mind. It’s very important that the young people in our school feel success.”
Most of the teenage clients who come to Turning Winds are failing school when they arrive. “They have felt like failures when it comes to school,” explains Miller. “Whether it’s because they were high or whether they were not able to focus or could not thrive in their classroom environment, there are any number of reasons why they were not successful at home. We want them to feel successful and be successful and that carries over into their treatment. Since we are a treatment center, it’s very important they feel good about that part of their lives while they are working on the other stuff.”
“Compared to a public school, our school is small and very focused and so we are very aware where our students are at,” says Hall. “We’re aware of what’s going on with our students and we know where their deficits are. That’s how we are able to help them achieve growth.”
HIGH-QUALITY ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Turning Winds offers a high-quality academic experience for each teenage student. We provide a variety of teaching and learning opportunities such as experiential learning, leadership development, career planning, field trips, and technology integration, as well as additional educational activities and resources that we integrate to support student learning.
Our goal is to provide every student with the education and support they need. We work closely with the counseling departments of their previous schools to fill in any gaps in their current educational path.
A DEDICATED TEAM OF SPECIALISTS
At Turning Winds, it’s the people who make the difference. Over two decades, we’ve built a dedicated team of some of the world’s finest academic and therapeutic professionals, all of whom share the same goal: to help teens re-engage meaningfully with their lives, families, and futures.
Our mission is to rescue teens in crisis, renew their belief in their potential, reunite them with their families, and put them on a sustainable path to success. Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380. If your call isn’t answered personally, one of us will get back to you as soon as possible.
