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 At age 11, Andy had given up on school. Classmates teased and bullied him. At home, he verbally and physically fought with his siblings. He was withdrawn and angry most of the time. He had a feeling of hopelessness about his future; and to him, aggression against himself and others was the answer.
Andy lives in rural Southwest Iowa with his father and three siblings. As a farmer, his father works long days. Andy has not seen his mother in three years. She sought help for methamphetamine addiction but was unsuccessful in achieving recovery. Andy’s parents divorced, and his mother disappeared from his life.
Andy became increasingly depressed and lonely, which made him vulnerable to inappropriate attention from others. He was sexually abused by acquaintances. Peers at school found out about the abuse and teased him. His anger increased, and he began to have explosive outbursts. He became increasingly dangerous and disruptive. When he was not out of control at school, his depression caused him to fall asleep. His academic progress stopped, and his local school could no longer serve him. They referred him to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with a bi-polar disorder and intermittent explosive disorder. He was placed on psychotropic medications and sedative injections.
Andy’s school district referred him to the Heartland Family Service Therapeutic School. When Andy arrived, he became combative and assaultive, and he was unable to stay in the classroom. He was evaluated by a child psychiatrist, and with help from the Therapeutic School’s consulting psychologist, he was placed on a behavior modification system that provided him with hourly feedback on his behavior. He learned appropriate peer and adult social skills. He began individual therapy with one of the Therapeutic School’s social workers to deal with the violation of the sexual abuse and the grief and abandonment issues resulting from losing his mother. He learned to once again value positive attention and avoid negative attention. The social worker helped Andy, his father and siblings to identify and meet Andy’s needs at home and improve positive family communication. Through daily parent partnership notes, Andy’s father became more interested in the details of his son’s school day, and learned how to follow through with privileges and consequences.
Gradually the depression lifted, and Andy became more involved at the Therapeutic School. He took pride in developing his reading and math abilities. His social engagement with peers and adults became warm and positive. Gradually and successfully, he returned to his neighborhood school with stronger resilience. Andy is once again hopeful and positive about himself and the future.
(Note: Please understand that our client’s stories are deeply personal. The names and photos have been changed to protect their identity.)
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