SUCCESS STORIES
Three boys, aged 16 but still in the 8th grade, had been labeled “emotionally disturbed”and were spending their school days in isolation due to disruptive behavior in the classroom. All three boys were legally deaf.
When the faculty of their school was informed, suddenly everything made sense. The boys weren’t refusing instructions —they weren’t hearing them. They weren’t intending to disrupt the classroom — they just weren’t aware that they were speaking or acting at inappropriate times because they couldn’t hear what was happening. Worse yet, these boys didn’t know they couldn’t hear. They just knew they were always in trouble, but they didn’t know why.
All three boys received interventions for their deafness. Two received hearing aids, and the other received a cochlear implant. They are now close to being on level for their age, and were saved from an eventuality that is unthinkable.
SUCCESS STORIES
HEAL’s clinical psychologist was invited into a school to assist teachers with de-escalation techniques regarding a group of 7th grade girls whose behavior was routinely combative and disruptive to their classrooms.
The school needed to remove the interruption to other students’ learning and also expressed concern for the girl’s futures. This initial visit led to ongoing small group work with five of these girls and ultimately to self-discovery and healthy strides forward for every one of them. The group work covered anger management skills, emotional regulation, relationship skills, trust and honesty in relationships, and self-esteem. All five participants graduated from high school, and at least two of them went on to attend college.
The girls’ own words best convey the impacts of the group:
“Without group this year, I would have been in fights and I would have been expelled from school. Because last year I had so many fights and I really didn’t care about nobody and what happened to nobody but myself ‘cause I really didn’t understand that then I was hurting other people, I was really hurting myself and my family; and I got a better attitude than what I had last year ‘cause I used to try to fight everybody, I didn't care who it was. I realized that I’m in 8th grade now and I shouldn’t be in all that mess.”
— Student from this group, 14 years old
“Without the group would be like, I probably wouldn’t be here right now because without the group I was trying to commit suicide and stuff like that and with the group I was like I’m not going to do that ‘cause people here care and love me. If group wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be here.”
— Student from this group, 14 years old