What is Day Treatment?

Day Treatment is the name of the service provided to children whose behaviors are severe enough that it is making it difficult for them to function in a typical academic setting in their community school.

The service is provided in a separate classroom or building, is designed to be temporary and is structured to improve the child’s behavioral and coping skills so that they can return to their community school within eighteen months. Day Treatment can be provided to students identified as Exceptional Children (EC), but this is not a requirement; however, since EC students often have extra funding, many of the school’s referrals are for EC students.

A Day Treatment program is an alternative to other limited intervention options, options that are often costly and less therapeutic. Day Treatment can take the place of the following limited options that a school currently has:

• In-school and Out-of-School Suspensions
• Constantly monitoring the child with 1:1 workers or teacher assistants provided by the school
• Hospital/homebound schooling
• Sitting in a principal’s office or counselor’s office for hours at a time

Day Treatment services are focused on achieving functional gains and on reintegrating the child back into the school. The outcomes and therapeutic or rehabilitation goals of this service are defined in individual treatment goals outlined in the Person-Centered Plan with the help of the Child and Family Team. The Child and Family Team are those persons relevant to the child’s successful achievement of service goals including, but not limited to, family members, mentors, and school staff.

Day Treatment is designed to reduce symptoms and improve functional skills. Functional skills shall include, but are not limited to:

• Functioning in a mainstream educational setting
• Maintaining residence with a family or community based non-institutional setting (foster home, therapeutic home, residential treatment, etc.)
• Maintaining appropriate role functioning in community settings.

A Caring Alternative and the school work together to optimize academic performances of each student referred to the program. However, both the agency and school have different functions.

A state-sanctioned assessment must be done to ensure the referral is appropriate for Day Treatment services. A Caring Alternative would be happy to perform the necessary assessment piece for admission into the Day Treatment program.