Life Skills Support/Dual Diagnosis

Life Skills Support/Dual Diagnosis

 

Purpose:

A comprehensive study was conducted in the spring of 2001 which clearly indicated a “gap” or need for Partial Hospitalization or alternate group-oriented programs. Having a Life Skills (Dual Diagnosis) Program in a center-based setting would result in an improved behavioral health outcome as well as improved ability to transfer students along a Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) continuum of services as student needs would dictate.

Rationale:

Typically students diagnosed with combination of intellectual disability and serious emotional disturbance have not been adequately served in existing educational placements. They rotate between Learning Support, Life Skills Support, Autistic Support, and Emotional Support classes with minimal improvement in academic or behavioral skills. Often a Therapeutic Support Specialist-TSS- is assigned hours in the school and/or home settings. Partial Hospitalization programs are marginally successful because the counseling intervention is usually designed for higher cognitive level of functioning. One of the remaining “solutions” is to place the students in a residential facility. Residential facilities take the students out of their communities and away from their families. Thus the goals of the Dual Diagnosis Programs are:

• To provide highly structured milieu within an integrated school setting with an emphasis on assessment and treatment of behavioral factors that have a negative impact on the student’s progress in normal daily life activities.

• To implement a social skills/vocational/daily living skills and leisure skills curriculum within the Life Skills (Dual Diagnosis) Program that effectively supports a dual diagnosed student transitioning back into a lesser restrictive setting or prevents the student from having to be placed in a residential setting outside of the community.

• To further develop the student’s ability to internally manage his/her social skills and behavior as opposed to needing constant external controls.

• To promote good decision-making skills and positive social and daily living skills.

Eligibility:

The Student:

1. Must have co-occurring DSM-IV diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder as well as mild to moderate intellectual disability.
2. Must have documented evidence of inability to succeed in an age-and ability appropriate classroom related to challenges arising from the psychiatric disorder.
3. Must have current Evaluation Report, IEP, FBA-PBSP and NOREP recommending a change to this level of service.

Exit Criteria:

Student will exit the Life Skills Dual Diagnosis Program after demonstrating

a consistent level of success as identified by the educational team. Evaluation will

be an ongoing process to monitor the success of students and the program.

Progress monitoring of current programming:

• Achievement
• Social skills/behavior
• Vocational

Assessment tools would include pre and post social skills surveys completed by students and staff.

Academic assessments with pre and post data are used to evaluate academic success i.e. Brigance, CBA, skills checklist or other assessments deemed appropriate by team members.

The student leaving the Life Skills Dual Diagnosis Program will transition to a Least Restrictive Educational Placement that the team deems appropriate to meet the student’s needs. The placement may be at a step down in a center-based, vocational classroom or a Life Skills Classroom in a public school setting.