Copyright 2000 The Hartford Courant Company
THE
HARTFORD COURANT
May 4, 2000 Thursday, STATEWIDE
SECTION: MANCHESTER EXTRA; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 621 words
HEADLINE:
DEALING WITH CHILD MANAGEMENT DYSFUNCTION
BYLINE:
ANN-MARIE ADAMS; Courant Staff Writer
DATELINE:
MANCHESTER --
BODY:
Many children today get too
much protection and too little control, said Brien O'Callaghan, a Bethel
licensed family psychologist and certified marriage and family therapist.
"Labeling children with ability problems -- diagnoses such a learning
disabilities and attention deficit disorder -- when the real
problem is child management dysfunction only adds to the level of frustration
and ineffectiveness for the school administrators," he said. Administrators in
40 school districts in Connecticut agree with O' Callaghan's theory.
These school districts, including Manchester, use O'Callaghan's
Home/School Collaboration Model. Manchester, which piloted the program three
years ago, was recently listed in the state's Resource Directory of Educational
Programs and Practices. The directory, published by the state Department of
Education, promotes exemplary practices by Connecticut's
educators.
At a recent school board meeting, Martha Hartranft, director
of special education and pupil services, lauded the at-risk and
early intervention program, saying it's an "excellent program."
"It's a
good involvement of the parents, and it ties in with the board [of
education's] parent involvement policy," Hartranft said.
Hartranft said she had no statistics to show how well the program works.
Instead she used an anecdote, saying she has seen a remarkable improvement in
one disruptive student since the program has been implemented. She declined to
give more details to protect the student's identity.
The program focuses
on parent involvement. It is used with regular and special
education students, she said.
As one aspect of the
program, students with behavioral or academic problems are sent home with a
report card that shows how well they behaved in class that day. Another aspect
focuses on parenting skills, especially discipline issues.
In Newington, school principal Amzie Brown in a recent interview said
the strategy has had a dramatic impact on behavior. Major
discipline problems and suspensions have been virtually
eliminated by holding students accountable each day for their behavior.
While it may be doing well in Newington, administrators in other
districts said O'Callaghan's method are intrusive, rigid and impractical, said
Patricia Doyle, coordinator of pupil services in Danbury.
Supposedly
different strokes for different folks, as in Manchester where the program is
used with parents who are willing to commit to it, said School Superintendent
Alan Beitman.
"This is not a program for every parent and every child,"
Beitman said.
The program is in two schools full time, Robertson
Elementary School and Bennet Middle School. It serves at least 15 students, he
said.
And there's no additional cost to the district except when a
licensed psychologist meets with students, families, teachers and support staff,
he said. O'Callaghan is the psychologist whose fee is about $200 when he sees a
student, Beitman said. He sees five students, Hartranft said.
"It's not
a big, big program because it has to be the right match. The parents have to
work with us," Beitman said. "It's a sensitive management [maneuvering] to get
the family, including the aunt, uncle cousins, teachers, social workers
together.
"We pick those we think will be successful. There're some we
know that wouldn't work," he said.
For Manchester, Beitman said, the
question becomes: Does the district involve many participants in the program and
do a mediocre job or does the district involve few participants and do the job
well.
"I'd rather go slowly," he said. "[The program] will expand,
expand slowly because we want the reputation to drive it; we want parents to see
it work and then approach us."
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