Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Aspen Education Group
My son at Aspen Ranch
TheWho:
--- Quote --- If untrue, why does Aspen not file suit?
--- End quote ---
I always found this statement interesting. To try to assume the statement “that just because no one is suing me than I must be telling the truth”. This just isn’t true. I could walk around saying that McDonalds uses Horse meat in their hamburgers all day long and I would not get sued. I Could stand on a street corner and holdup a sign to the same effect and maybe get away with it too... but as soon as I start affecting local or regional sales figures then the police will start to move me along and harass me.... but still no law suit.. why?
Because a lawsuit isn’t a decision of passion it is based on the bottom line. If I cause the local McDonalds to lose $5,000 in sales and it will cost them $10,000 to silence me then it wont happen. Once you tip the scales where your actions are costing them more money then it costs to sue you then (and only then) will you be served.
So dont believe that these people are telling the truth because they haven’t been sued. It could be that they are not having an effect... (or big enough effect) who knows?
Anonymous:
I went to Aspen and it was great! Before I went I was disrespectful and did a lot of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. But when I got home my parents loved me and I have been sober since my fifteenth birthday. I wear my first 30 day chip around my neck as a reminder to how lucky I am.
NIGEL:
I will tell you what I know about the list. These are the items I know about:
3) The kids are not allowed to use the bathroom or shower without a staff being present with them.
The kids have privacy in the bathrooms, but they can't lock the doors.
5) Staff monitors their phone calls and if they say they want to come home or say anything negative the call is terminated and the child is told they will have to stay in the program longer.
On the phone calls there is a therapist on the call. The therapist did say that we weren't going to spend the whole phone call with pleas to come home, but rather work on things.
7) If they break a rule they are required to wear an orange jump suit.
The kids wear an orange vest when they are deemed "at risk of running." When I visited, I saw a young man with one on (they look like the vest that people wear when they are working on the side of the road).
10) The therapists have no degrees.
I know that the therapists that are dealing with my son do have their degrees. I met his main therapist and she seemed very professional and also very nice. She has been good on the phone calls and my son hasn't complained about her.
The other items either don't take place, or haven't happened since my son has been there. I am positive that my son will tell me what goes on and he won't be brainwashed.
TheWho:
--- Quote from: "Ursus" ---This is a very sneaky piece of obfuscation if there ever is one. The poster did, indeed, carefully craft the wording in some (but not all!) of these statements in an attempt to convey reasonable conjecture. The obsession with the orange jumpsuits, however, gives it away.
Obviously, if every single kid were subjected to the above, as some of the statements imply, whichever program they were describing would not last long (but longer than one might imagine, believe it or not).
The key here is understanding how compliance with the program is fostered, coerced, "encouraged," driven home (insert whatever verb you wish). All of the above listed "concerns" have happened to varying degree in one program or another, to one or a number of kids, at some time or another, just not generally to all or to all at the same time. [I'm not sure about the 14 restraints per day claim, however (I seem to remember having read about 6/day from someone at PV), and the sitting in a metal chair for "18 hours straight with no bathroom break" is a bit long (though I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it may have happened from time to time at Straight, Inc. or KIDS).]
Most of the above has happened, more or less, in WWASPs programs. Some of the aforementioned statements have happened with Aspen programs, as well as several other programs.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I think that is an interesting point. Many of the posts here are misleading. If a poster comes on to fornits and starts asking if sending their child to Aspen Ranch is a good idea or if the place is safe we get posting like the 300 lb staff member who sat on a kid or a picture of the Hobbit isolation room or stories of kids having to carry rocks around all day or denied food. Yes, these may have happened at one point or another in isolated cases, but they don’t apply to the here and now and they don’t apply to Aspen Ranch. They occurred in another time and another place.
Lets look at it another way. It is like asking a neighbor if the local public school is any good and they start showing you photos and articles of a teacher who had sex with a student from another part of the country and defending her position by saying all public schools are alike. Would this be a valid argument for not sending your child to public school? I wouldn’t think so but it seems to be more accepted here on fornits as a position or bases for argument.
I think it is good to clarify that not all programs are alike and you cannot take an incident from one program and apply it to another. Each place is independent and run differently.
Anonymous:
--- Quote from: "NIGEL" ---I will tell you what I know about the list. These are the items I know about:
3) The kids are not allowed to use the bathroom or shower without a staff being present with them.
The kids have privacy in the bathrooms, but they can't lock the doors.
5) Staff monitors their phone calls and if they say they want to come home or say anything negative the call is terminated and the child is told they will have to stay in the program longer.
On the phone calls there is a therapist on the call. The therapist did say that we weren't going to spend the whole phone call with pleas to come home, but rather work on things.
7) If they break a rule they are required to wear an orange jump suit.
The kids wear an orange vest when they are deemed "at risk of running." When I visited, I saw a young man with one on (they look like the vest that people wear when they are working on the side of the road).
10) The therapists have no degrees.
I know that the therapists that are dealing with my son do have their degrees. I met his main therapist and she seemed very professional and also very nice. She has been good on the phone calls and my son hasn't complained about her.
The other items either don't take place, or haven't happened since my son has been there. I am positive that my son will tell me what goes on and he won't be brainwashed.
--- End quote ---
Nigel. Those questions were written by the same guests pretending to be Aspen Ranch parents. His aim is to encourage you in your decision to keep your son there through deception and to make the rest of us look like crazy liars by imitating us and making wild exaggerated accusations (so you'll stop listening to *any* concerns, however valid). How do I know this? Because he has a very distinctive writing style and in his arrogance he can't help but sign his posts with certain distinguishing characteristics such as his signature mention of Orange Jumpsuits (as Ursus pointed out). There are valid concerns about the Aspen program you have placed your child in but almost none of them were in that list of questions. He's also a fan of responding to his own posts. As Psy suggested, read up on Sockpuppeteering, Astroturfing, and Fraudiences.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version