The same advantage a comprehensive team of clinicians provides also applies when providing relevant education. Rather than trying to teach a wide range of students with varying abilities in the same classroom, the relatively large student population at Island View allows each student to be placed in classes that are subject and grade specific with students of similar abilities. The classes are then taught by certified, full time Island View teachers. There are many compelling reasons to believe that this individual tailoring with like peers holds distinct advantages for reintegrating a student into mainstream classes upon discharge. While some researchers postulate that more contrast between home and treatment settings correlates with more initial changes in the child, the maintenance effect of this changed behavior is much shorter lived compared to change achieved in a more normalized setting like that at Island View.
Since formalized education occupies the majority of an adolescent’s time, Island View believes that a robust classroom experience significantly contributes to the healing process. Frequently, the deterioration of academic performance is a tell tale sign of the onset of emotional problems. Conversely, improved school performance in a residential setting often signals the improvement of emotional health.However, such improvements are mitigated upon program completion if the school setting at the place of treatment does not resemble a normalized classroom environment.
In addition to operating a “real” school, the genius of Island View’s educational program is that each teacher is an intricate member of the multi-disciplinary treatment team. As such, they are in constant contact with the primary therapist, the child care staff and other relevant staff members.Teachers participate in two or more hours of group therapy per week, where they contribute, observe, clarify and transfer vital information to and from other faculty members via formal faculty meetings and daily interactions. A teacher at Island View has similar input into a student’s level advancement as other staff. In that sense, the school is not a separate department but a fully integrated component of the entire program.What happens in school does not stay in school, and what happens in milieu, therapy and recreation activities is not kept from our educators.