A new program at Wiscasset Middle High School this fall will help students from across the area build skills to see them through their school careers and through life.

According to director and social worker Abigail Lourie, the Sheepscot Regional Education Program will work with young people who have multiple challenges, including mental health and behavioral challenges, that often lead to educational issues.

“Most stem from early trauma in their lives,” she said. “These traumas are known as adverse childhood experiences ACEs, and may include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, substance abuse in the home, homelessness, witnessing violence, bullying, and a variety of other issues.” She said the underlying issues can cause a sort of toxic stress that never goes away, and leads to physical changes in the brain, often causing problems with learning. This also associated with “acting out” behaviors, Lourie said.

In adolescents, ACEs from early childhood are often associated with issues such as teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses, she said.

According to information Lourie provided, studies have shown having people around who can show the child that problems can be solved and basic needs can be met, and who can build attachment and social relationships with the child and help him or her build social and emotional skills, is of paramount importance. If the parents are unable to do this, the school can be a haven for such children, with teachers and other caregivers modeling this “resilient” behavior, Lourie said.

The young person learns more in the program than what can be gained in books. “We work with students who are too anxious to go to school, because their experiences at school might have not been positive in the past,” Lourie said. “A young person in an ordinary classroom who acts out is sent to the principal’s office, his parents might be called, he might get detention or some other punishment, and a whole lot of attention is paid to the situation. That approach works for most kids, because they don’t want negative attention. For a student like one of ours, who is seeking any adult attention, positive or negative, that’s exactly the wrong approach. So we ignore most provocative behavior and reward positive behavior.”

For example, she said, if a student turns over a desk in frustration, he can be given a break and then asked to right the desk and put all the papers and books back where they were.

“Dealing with a minor crisis like this without spiraling out of control is the first step to resilience,” Lourie said. “The process moves from ‘I am having a bad moment’ to ‘I got back into control of my emotions’ to ‘I fixed the issue’ without also feeling like a failure for losing it for a minute. We all ‘lose it’ from time to time, maybe not in the same way, but we get back in control. That’s what they need to learn, too, because their past experience is that losing it means that they’re a failure.”

The program has been operating in Bath for the last year and will move to Wiscasset in the fall. At WMHS, the classroom will have its own door and, except for bathroom use, will be self-contained, with a few higher functioning students being permitted to attend classes such as music, physical education, or art with other students.  The program will start small. Right now, there are only five students, although enrollment will be open throughout the summer, with a maximum of 12 students for the fall. There will be a teacher and an educational technician III, as well as Lourie. Laurie will conduct assessments and work with students to help solve functional issues.

In addition to the Individualized Education Program every special needs student has, students in Lourie’s program also will have a Positive Behavior Support Plan teachers will follow when intervening in situations. The plans will be analyzed and updated weekly.

Day treatment such as Sheepscot Regional Education Program offers is not for most special needs students. Wiscasset’s school department has four levels of special education: The resource room level provides mostly academic support, with a few supports for behaviors interfering with ordinary learning. The Aspirations program is slightly more restrictive, according to information Lourie provided. It serves students who have academic supports, moderate behavioral issues that are not harmful but may be disruptive and interfere with learning, and moderate emotional issues. Sheepscot Regional Education Program serves students with high behavioral needs and high emotional issues. A fourth level involves out-of-district placement when a student’s behavior is dangerous to himself or others and when the student actively seeks conflict. In these cases, the school would likely recommend a residential placement.

Students in the SREP move toward short term goals such as managing their own behavior or using respectful words, and long term goals such as moving to a less restrictive school program or obtaining the high school equivalency certificate for special education.

They follow three basic rules – be safe, be respectful, and be responsible. Within those rules, there are specific behavioral skill sets, according to information Lourie provided. Internalizing the skill sets earns the student “buoy bucks” that can be exchanged for items and activities in the school store.

In addition to the school setting, some students also require home-based services. Often students experience conflict with parents or siblings and peers, and parents can get support, learning to manage the teen’s behavior. Some students have even more serious issues, including undiagnosed or untreated mental or physical health problems, having been thrown out or having left the family home, or being homeless with the family. In addition to support from the school, there are state programs the family can be referred to, including MaineCare-funded Targeted Case Management.

“What success looks like for our students ranges from staying out of jail to being able to hold a job to full participation in higher education,” Lourie said. “Some of them have developmental challenges; others’ issues are more emotional and behavioral. In any case, it’s probably not what most parents’ idea of ‘success’ would be for their own children, but every child deserves a chance to be the best they can be.”