Questions about HLA

[LMJ630]

Good morning,
I hope you all had a good long weekend!

The other forum on which I posted seems to have gotten a bit long, so I thought I would start a new one.  Again, I'm looking for information about HLA.  Other people have posted questions that apparently have not been answered.  I have a few of my own.

The HLA website states, "most of our students struggle with issues of Oppositional Defiant Disorder."  From what I have heard, this is not even a recognized diagnosis anymore.  Do they have on-site professionals who evaluate and diagnose every child?  Or do they just rely on the psychological profile that they are supposed to receive from the parents?  What are the qualifications of these professionals, and of the consulting psychiatrist who visits weekly?

HLA seems to offer a lot of group counseling.  Does anyone know the qualifications of the counselors?  The website claims that they all have Masters degrees or higher, are clinically trained, and receive weekly supervision by Doctoral and licensed staff.

Does anyone know who developed the "elements of life" and on what they are based?

The website claims that all teachers hold degrees from the Bachelor to Doctorate level, and are state certified.  Can this be confirmed?  Are the special education teachers certified as such, and do they work with the parents and professionals who have diagnosed the learning disability to form an appropriate academic program?

"All of your child's incoming and outgoing mail will be read for appropriateness and content."  Does this include e-mail?  If so, how is a child supposed to report abuses?  If this school is like others I have heard about, the people monitoring the mail will not allow derogatory information about the school to go out.

"Our students are not court-ordered to HLA and do not include violent or severely disturbed children."  True?

I'm sorry this post is so long.  I am also sorry if these questions have been answered in other forums.  As I said, I haven't had time to scroll through the numerous posts.  If anyone can help me out with these questions, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks! :smile:

[Antigen]

Here's the best set of answers I've seen to some of those questions.

http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... =20#165362

There's a "watch topic" feature to this forum. If you register a username w/ a valid email, you can have notification sent whenever someone makes a new post to a topic of interest to you. You don't have to make the email public or ever post or otherwise use the username. I, my husband and the geeks at my hosting provider and your ISP would be the only ones who would know, and we all have far more incentive to honor your privacy than not to.

Faith is the commitment of one's consciousness to beliefs for which one has no sensory evidence or rational proof. A mystic is a man who treats his feelings as tools of cognition. Faith is the equation of feeling with knowledge.
--Ayn Rand, Russian-born author

[RobertBruce]

I can tell you when I was there that there was no evaluation of any kind upon arrival to HLA. I doubt things have changed.

They state in their literature they need a recommendation from a psychologist, however they will accept in lieu of that a recommendation from simply an educational consultant. Someone who gets paid to refer kids to the schools.

I believe ODD is a real disorder, however kids there are not tested for it, it is just assumed as they walk in the door. The couselors there usually have a MA or less. However there is no evaluation period, every child is simply thrown into a peer group. There at least at my time was no consulting psychatrist who visited weekly.

The supervison they recieve is not what you think. All the peer group counselors get together and break confidentiality to talk about each inmate, nothing more.

The elements of life are based on some new age Indian nonsense that is forced on all the kids.

I do not know about the certification of the teachers.

Yes all mail in and out is screened, and no the child has no means of reporting abuses.

Yes there are court ordered students there despite what they might claim now. In my experience most who were came from very violent backrounds and not drug addictions like most of the others.

Hope this helps.

[Troll Control]

On 2006-01-17 06:31:00, LMJ630 wrote:

"Good morning,

I hope you all had a good long weekend!



The other forum on which I posted seems to have gotten a bit long, so I thought I would start a new one.  Again, I'm looking for information about HLA.  Other people have posted questions that apparently have not been answered.  I have a few of my own.



The HLA website states, "most of our students struggle with issues of Oppositional Defiant Disorder."  From what I have heard, this is not even a recognized diagnosis anymore.  Do they have on-site professionals who evaluate and diagnose every child?  Or do they just rely on the psychological profile that they are supposed to receive from the parents?  What are the qualifications of these professionals, and of the consulting psychiatrist who visits weekly?



HLA seems to offer a lot of group counseling.  Does anyone know the qualifications of the counselors?  The website claims that they all have Masters degrees or higher, are clinically trained, and receive weekly supervision by Doctoral and licensed staff.



Does anyone know who developed the "elements of life" and on what they are based?



The website claims that all teachers hold degrees from the Bachelor to Doctorate level, and are state certified.  Can this be confirmed?  Are the special education teachers certified as such, and do they work with the parents and professionals who have diagnosed the learning disability to form an appropriate academic program?



"All of your child's incoming and outgoing mail will be read for appropriateness and content."  Does this include e-mail?  If so, how is a child supposed to report abuses?  If this school is like others I have heard about, the people monitoring the mail will not allow derogatory information about the school to go out.



"Our students are not court-ordered to HLA and do not include violent or severely disturbed children."  True?



I'm sorry this post is so long.  I am also sorry if these questions have been answered in other forums.  As I said, I haven't had time to scroll through the numerous posts.  If anyone can help me out with these questions, I'd really appreciate it.



Thanks! :smile: "

These are good questions.  I couldn't help but notice HLA Truth and her cronies didn't even take a shot at answering any of them.  What a surprise.  :roll:

[Antigen]

"

On 2006-01-17 06:31:00, LMJ630 wrote:

The HLA website states, "most of our students struggle with issues of Oppositional Defiant Disorder." From what I have heard, this is not even a recognized diagnosis anymore.

Just noticed this. I don't think that's 100% accurate. As I understand it, the psyche community still holds that ODD is a legit dx, but has been badly misunderstood and far too broadly applied. According to the manual (what's it called, DJ?) ODD may be indicated if the person is constantly pissing off and getting pissed off at all authority figures. According to the schoolpeople and the troubled parent industry, ODD is proven if the kid gets pissed off at any authority figure.

My opinion, and that of some others (how few or many, I don't know), is that it really is a bogus dx. A kid who's pissed at his parents my have assholes for parents. A kid who's pissed at the school system may have slipped through the cracks and educated himself just enough to understand how messed up the whole thing is. A kid who's pissed at the cops, same thing, maybe he just knows how they operate. Most kids who tend to get pissed off and stay that way tend to do so prior to developing the skills and competence to deal effectively with those issues that would, frankly, piss off anyone of good character and reasonable dignity.

But I'm not a shrink, far less among the cadre who get to write the definitions. So it's just my 'pinion.
 

When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.
--Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, author, and inventor

[Troll Control]

As I understand it, the psyche community still holds that ODD is a legit dx, but has been badly misunderstood and far too broadly applied. According to the manual (what's it called, DJ?)

It's called the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).

The problem with "ODD" is that it is used as a "catch-all" by places like HLA to apply a dx to a kid who really has no psychiatric disorder at all.  

If they fight with their parents, defy school authority, beat up their little brothers, etc., they are LABELED (not diagnosed, as HLA does no psychological testing whatsoever, but rather issues a "diagnosis" based on the parents' description of junior's behavior) "ODD" so that there is a "reason" for the parents to shell out the $7000.00 per month.

It's just a label applied to kids to justify extracting huge sums of money from the desperate parents.

[HLA Truth]

On 2006-02-02 05:48:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:

"

As I understand it, the psyche community still holds that ODD is a legit dx, but has been badly misunderstood and far too broadly applied. According to the manual (what's it called, DJ?)

It's called the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).



The problem with "ODD" is that it is used as a "catch-all" by places like HLA to apply a dx to a kid who really has no psychiatric disorder at all.  



If they fight with their parents, defy school authority, beat up their little brothers, etc., they are LABELED (not diagnosed, as HLA does no psychological testing whatsoever, but rather issues a "diagnosis" based on the parents' description of junior's behavior) "ODD" so that there is a "reason" for the parents to shell out the $7000.00 per month.



It's just a label applied to kids to justify extracting huge sums of money from the desperate parents.
"

Actually, HLA does an extensive ammount of testing now.  They have a full time tester who has a Doctorate in Psychology (from an APA accredited universtity).  I admit that they did not have a testing program established when you were employed at HLA over 10 years ago.

[Troll Control]

On 2006-02-02 06:04:00, HLA Truth wrote:

"

On 2006-02-02 05:48:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:


"

As I understand it, the psyche community still holds that ODD is a legit dx, but has been badly misunderstood and far too broadly applied. According to the manual (what's it called, DJ?)

It's called the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).





The problem with "ODD" is that it is used as a "catch-all" by places like HLA to apply a dx to a kid who really has no psychiatric disorder at all.  





If they fight with their parents, defy school authority, beat up their little brothers, etc., they are LABELED (not diagnosed, as HLA does no psychological testing whatsoever, but rather issues a "diagnosis" based on the parents' description of junior's behavior) "ODD" so that there is a "reason" for the parents to shell out the $7000.00 per month.





It's just a label applied to kids to justify extracting huge sums of money from the desperate parents.

"

Actually, HLA does an extensive ammount of testing now.  They have a full time tester who has a Doctorate in Psychology (from an APA accredited universtity).  I admit that they did not have a testing program established when you were employed at HLA over 10 years ago."

Really now?  Why is it that every single kid who has been incarcerated there says they were never tested by anyone at any time?

What is the doctor's name?  What university?  How long has he worked there?  Or, is this just a figment of your imagination?

[Troll Control]

Admissions Procedures:
The students enrolled at Hidden Lake Academy are categorized as having Oppositional Defiant Disorder. This has been previously diagnosed by a psychiatrist or psychologist or the criteria for this diagnosis must have been met, as determined by a counselor or consultant.

HLA "Truth," this is exerpted from your employer's website.  It clearly states that a previous diagnosis by a mental health professional OR the opinion of a counselor or Ed Con is sufficient "diagnosis" of ODD.

Can you explain how a counselor's or Ed Con's opinion, in the absence of a pych test battery, can be considered a valid diagnosis of ODD?

I also didn't see anything about an in-house doctor performing any testing.

My question:  Which source is lying, your website or you?  False marketing or false statements?

You and your employer have just about ZERO credibility.  It seems your business and program are both run by the "smoke and mirrors" plan.

[Troll Control]

While you're here, can you please address the points in this post.  

Post URL: http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=0#169620

I see you avoided them altogether once more.

[HLA Truth]

On 2006-02-02 07:50:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:

"

Admissions Procedures:

The students enrolled at Hidden Lake Academy are categorized as having Oppositional Defiant Disorder. This has been previously diagnosed by a psychiatrist or psychologist or the criteria for this diagnosis must have been met, as determined by a counselor or consultant.

HLA "Truth," this is exerpted from your employer's website.  It clearly states that a previous diagnosis by a mental health professional OR the opinion of a counselor or Ed Con is sufficient "diagnosis" of ODD.



Can you explain how a counselor's or Ed Con's opinion, in the absence of a pych test battery, can be considered a valid diagnosis of ODD?



I also didn't see anything about an in-house doctor performing any testing.



My question:  Which source is lying, your website or you?  False marketing or false statements?



You and your employer have just about ZERO credibility.  It seems your business and program are both run by the "smoke and mirrors" plan.
"

Dr. Brad Carpenter is his name.  He is on the website.  All he does is testing.  

A lot of Ed Cons do testing or have it done by other professionals who are qualified to do it.

[Troll Control]

How about when HLA relies on the opinion of a counselor for diagnosis?  The website clearly states that this is acceptable.  It also jives with the experiences of many people in that they were told upon a very limited interview, not after testing, that their kid was ODD.  In your opinion, this is responsible and professional?

Are you saying that the Ed Cons that refer to HLA are possessed of advanced clinical credentials?  I know of many who are not.  Yet, you say it is acceptable for an Ed Con to diagnose a patient?  How is that?

[Troll Control]

Dr. Brad Carpenter is his name. He is on the website. All he does is testing.

Well, this is not quite true.  He is employed elsewhere on a full-time basis.  Since he has another full time job, when is he available for testing at HLA?

Does he test every patient?  

Are there patients who have never been tested?

[Troll Control]

On 2006-02-02 08:02:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:

"While you're here, can you please address the points in this post.  



Post URL: http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=0#169620



I see you avoided them altogether once more.
"

You missed these important questions again, "Truth."  Maybe you can get around to answering at some point?  Are you purposefully avoiding answering, or are you just overlooking the half dozen posts asking you to answer?

[HLA Truth]

On 2006-02-02 08:42:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:

"

Dr. Brad Carpenter is his name. He is on the website. All he does is testing.

Well, this is not quite true.  He is employed elsewhere on a full-time basis.  Since he has another full time job, when is he available for testing at HLA?



Does he test every patient?  



Are there patients who have never been tested?


"

Where else is he employed?

No. He does not test every student.

BTW...What test would you perform to determine if a student is ODD?