This is a letter from Brian Avery, a former student at JRC who had the GED as part of his program while he was a student at JRC, 1998-2004. Brian posted this letter on the Boston Globe website as one of the comments on the March 9, 2010 OpEd article by Larry Harmon. Brian's letter is perhaps the most important of all the comments that appeared on the Globe website.
My name is Brian Avery and I was a student at JRC from September 1998 to January 2004. Prior to me entering JRC at age 12, I was in and out of several psychiatric hospitals and failed in two alternative educational settings.
My behavioral problems really began to escalate when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was on several medications including Tegretol, Haldol, Ritalin, Risperdal, Depekote, Prozac and Paxil. At age 10, my behavior become dangerously out of control. While in school, I would climb on furniture, climb under furniture, mouth off at the teacher, run out of the classroom and would have to be chased down by school staff. I would disrespect authority figures, yell, swear, exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviors in school. I would even try to stab myself with a pencil. I would become physically aggressive with my teachers and would have to be confined in a small padded room. In December of 1996 I was moved from a co-ed class with a 10:2 student/teacher ratio to another elementary school a few towns over and placed in a all male class with a 6:2 student/teacher ratio. That changed delivered little improvement in my behavior and academic progress. At home, I spent most of my time sleeping or being a couch potato, a debilitating side effect of all the medication I was taking. During the time that I was awake, I would disrespect my parents, be aggressive towards my parents and siblings, throw tantrums, destroy property, and would spend hours on end crying. In November of 1996, I spend three weeks in a psychiatric hospital. In February of 1998, and also in May of that year, I spent another three weeks in a psychiatric hospital. After my third hospitalization, my parents and school district finally came to the conclusion that I needed to be placed in a residential school. After visiting numerous schools in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, my parents chose JRC.
In September of 1998, I was placed at JRC. Within three months of being at JRC, I was taken off all of my medication. My first few months at JRC were very depressing. For the first month or so of being at JRC, my behavior was much more under control that it had been for a very long time. However, once I became acclimated to the program, my behavior began to deteriorate. I would once again display the same inappropriate behaviors that I did in public school. I would be frequently restrained and placed in a small room. JRC would employ an elaborate scheme of behavior contracts and punishments (not the temporary skin shock). Such contracts included earning a small snack and 10 minutes of free time for going an hour without exhibiting inappropriate behaviors, earning a preferred breakfast for completing my morning routine without incident, being able to order take out for going a full day without displaying inappropriate behavior, being able to attend the weekly BBQ and go on field trips for going a week without displaying inappropriate behavior, and so on. Punishments that JRC would employ involve me spending the day in a small room with a staff person whom I was forbidden from socializing with, going to bed at 7pm, having to do schoolwork or chores on the weekend without being able to socialize with my housemates. Other punishments included being deprived of foods that were rewards. For example, if everyone else were having pizza, I would be served peanut butter and jelly. I would also be put through a ball task, which involved me needing to place 250 foam balls, one at a time, into a trash can while wearing mitts, a task that is very unpleasant. Although I would have occasional bouts of progress (staying on contract for two months at one point), I made no sustainable progress in 1998 through most of 1999. In the fall of 1999, JRC and my parents had decided that it was time to give the GED a try. I reluctantly agreed to the GED and decided not to fight JRC’s attempt to place me on the device. I figured that although unpleasant, the GED would deter me from displaying behaviors that would result in me being restrained and losing out on the rewards that came with the program.
In December of 1999, I was placed on the GED. For the first month or so that I was on the GED, I displayed few inappropriate behaviors, however, once I became acclimated to the fact that I was on the device and was aware of what the GED felt like, I would start displaying lots of more minor behaviors that were not treated with the GED. Once on the GED, instances of me acting out became fewer and more far in between. Although when my contract was broken, I would display lots of inappropriate behaviors, but I would be selective as to not exhibit GED behaviors, although I would occasionally slip up and receive a GED application. By the spring of 2001, it had been several months since my previous major behavioral incident. JRC then began to rapidly fade me off the GED (although the fading process started nearly a year prior, bouts of behavioral episodes impeded the fading process). In July of 2001, I was completely faded from the GED and was moved into a less restrictive residence (apartment), with a student/staff ratio of 4:1. In the apartment, I enjoyed many privileges, such as grocery shopping, going on weekly field trips to the movies, to the arcade, YMCA, local parks etc. I even attended a few sporting events, including the Providence Bruins, Harlem Globetrotters, and even a Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park. I was also given independence to move about the residence and school unsupervised. All of these were privileges I could not even dream of prior to being placed on the GED. From September 2001-September 2002, I would have a few bouts of behavioral incidents and was placed on and off the GED. However, in October of 2002, I was faded from the GED for good. In the fall of 2002, I attended a culinary class at Blue Hills Technical school, and in November I worked in the computer department as an in school job. Also, I began preparing for the New York Regents exams, and in 2003 I began taking the Regents exams. In the fall of 2003, it became clear to JRC, my parents, and school district that I had accomplished all I could while at JRC and in January 2004 I was transitioned back to public school in New York and mainstreamed. I moved to Florida in August of 2004 and graduated from high school with honors in May 2005. Since then, I took and passed a couple of college courses and had a few jobs, including a seasonal position working for a bank as a data capture specialist, a job that I obtained because of my quick typing skills that I acquired while at JRC. Currently (as of March 2010) I am employed at a call center working as an IT assistant and data entry clerk. I’m very active with my church and currently head up some of the functions within the church. Although I have lived independently since leaving JRC, I currently live with my parents, which I don’t mind all that much because that makes it much easier financially on both them and I.
About the GED, it saved my life. There are lots of opponents to this controversial, yet potentially life-saving treatment, and understandably so. For someone who has never had the kind of problems I had nor has dealt with anyone who has my kind of problems, when hearing about the GED for the first time, it is only natural to cry torture. However, in reality, being on the GED is a much nicer alternative than being warehoused in a hospital, incarcerated, or being doped up on psychotropic drugs to the point of oblivion. A brief 2-second shock to the surface of the skin sure beats out spending my days restrained and drugged up on drugs and not making any academic progress. I did not like being on the GED when I felt like acting up because it prevented me from being able to do so. But in the end, I’m thankful for the GED because of the enormous progress I made with it and have continued to make once I no longer needed it.
Some people may wind up spending the majority of their life at JRC while being able to enjoy the benefits and privileges the program has while others, like myself, are able to go on to live an independent life. The bottom line is, if those who opposed the GED had their way, I would currently be locked up and heavily medicate at a hospital or in jail or possibly even dead. So for those who have set out to ban the GED please don’t.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Brian Avery
