Posts Tagged ‘therapy’

“Lap Dance Therapy” & other psychobabble used for “Special Ed” – practices called harmful & damaging to kids

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Maia Szalavitz
The Huffington Post
November 4, 2009

Are lap dances an effective therapy for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or drug addiction? It doesn’t seem like a question that should require a serious answer — but a state investigation of Oregon’s Mount Bachelor Academy (MBA) has substantiated allegations made by students and staff that such “therapy” was part of the school’s “emotional growth” curriculum and forced an emergency shutdown of the campus.

Just this June, the Supreme Court had decided in favor of a couple who sued for payment of MBA’s tuition to treat their son’s ADHD and marijuana problem. The Court determined that parents of disabled children do have the right to seek such taxpayer support from a school district, even if they haven’t tried public special education first.

While the decision didn’t specify whether MBA itself was appropriate, some districts across the country are already reimbursing parents for its current $76,000 annual tuition, despite decades of allegations of similarly inappropriate and unproven practices.

Read entire article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/school-using-lap-dances-t_b_345477.html

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The growing trend to make Internet addiction a mental disorder (just another excuse to put kids on drugs)

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Bonnie Miller Rubin
Chicago Tribune
September 9, 2009

Though the nation’s first residential treatment center for Internet addiction opened this summer near Seattle, local experts say they’ve been treating the problem for some time.

“In the last few years, I’m hearing from more parents who are very concerned,” said Jeanette Spires, a Lake Forest-based educational consultant who matches troubled teens with the right therapeutic setting. “Their kids have stopped going to school … because they are just obsessed.”

The center, called reSTART, opened in July and is designed specifically for people who can’t kick their cyber-habit — be it Facebook, video poker or “World of Warcraft.” The cost? $14,000 for 45 days.

While the American Psychiatric Association has yet to recognize the preoccupation as a separate disorder, mental health professionals usually treat it under the broader umbrella of impulse control disorders.

Read entire article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-talk-internet-addictionsep09,0,7078258.story

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