Our School______________________

Students attend classes that encourage their success in curricula consistent with Maryland State Department of Education requirements. The School is also a caring community where students learn to develop healthy relationships with teachers, therapists, and other professional staff and one another while participating in a therapeutic milieu. The School is 10 miles south of Frederick, Maryland, located in Jefferson, Maryland. Fully accredited, the School provides services to both residential and day students. It includes a full size gymnasium, library/media center, art center, an environmental studies classroom and greenhouse, and a wood shop. In addition, the facility has dining, recreation and health service areas. The beautiful rural location offers many opportunities for outdoor recreation and nature studies, and an outdoor classroom/group meeting area widely used in suitable weather. The main campus school program currently accommodates over 100 children a day. Fifty students are residents of our psychiatric Residential Treatment Center and 50-60 are day students (males and females, ages 12-18). The disabilities served are students with primary – emotional disturbance, behavior disorders and secondary – learning, developmental and post traumatic stress disorders.

Each year, approximately 12 students ages 15-18 with significant mental health and behavioral difficulties have the opportunity to learn life skills and occupational skills to support their ability to perform daily living skills and job skills necessary to obtain employment. The goal of the program is to prepare students to learn about housing, employment and educational options to support their move to young adulthood.

Our Treatment Model________________

Based on the seminal work of Nicholas Hobbs, “The Troubled and Troubling Child,” we have developed an ecological or systems theory model at Jefferson School that maintains that emotional or behavioral disturbance is not just something within a child, but represents an ongoing transactional process involving a child and people important in his or her life. In that regard, we see emotional/behavioral disturbance as a symptom of a malfunctioning human ecosystem. It is through a systems model of care and compassion that the needs of the child are best addressed.

Jefferson School Community-Based Programs_______

Preference will be given to children from the counties in the Central and Western Maryland region. The School will accept referrals from all Maryland jurisdictions and adjacent states for residential placement. Referrals for residential placements are generally made by Local Coordinating Councils and day student placements by Local Education Agencies. Referrals should be addressed to the Admissions Coordinator.

Jefferson School Community-Based Programs

The Jefferson School at Finan Center, located in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland on the grounds of the Thomas B. Finan Center. Special education and clinical services are provided in a Type I day school program for up to 35 male and female students, ages 12 – 21 in grades 6-12. The program is designed to address the needs of students with a primary diagnosis code of emotional disturbance. ...Learn more

The Forbush School at Westminster, located in Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland is a private, separate nonpublic school accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education. The school has two programs at this school for students who have the following primary disabilities: emotional disturbance or autism. Each of the programs provide individualized special education based on the Maryland State Curriculum and the student’s IEP, as well as positive behavioral intervention and supports (PBIS). Both programs provide related services, including speech and language and occupational therapy, to students in both programs.

In terms of the two programs at the school, the program for children who have a primary disability of emotional disturbance is for children who are ages 6 to 14 and in grades one to eight. This program provides for the educational, therapeutic, and behavioral intervention for these students. Psychiatric services are also provided in this program. Second, there is a program for children who have a primary disability of autism who are ages 5 to 14 years. This behavior-based program provides educational services, as well as sensory integration, self care, life skills, and social services...Learn more

 

Psychiatric Residential Treatment Center___________

Six Distinct Residential Treatment Programs Serve 53 children:

Howell House: Youth program for females, ages 12-14
Burke House: Adolescent program for females, ages 14-18
Lagemann House: Youth program for males, ages 12-14
Luetkemeyer House: Adolescent program for males, ages 14-18
Shenandoah House / Potomac House: R.I.V.E.R.S. program for males, ages 12 -18

Specialized Programs________________

Student Theatre Arts for Growth and Empowerment Program The Jefferson School Expressive Arts Program (S.T.A.G.E.) has developed an extension to our students’ individual and group therapies. It also serves to weave the school community together in times of transition, changes and loss through activities of symbolic unity. The Program is eight years strong in its use of traditional drama and music instruction and the parallel process of increasing tolerance, insight and ability to focus one’s efforts towards a common goal. The S.T.A.G.E. Program has grown to include PLAYBACK THEATRE which incorporates “theatre of life” improvisation to aide expression and support of the complexities of our students’ lives. The Expressive Arts program remains strong in its use of Storytelling as art and therapy, therapeutic dance, and yearly Broadway productions. This year the program will grow to include photography, mind body integration therapies, meditation skills, and community art. These right brain modalities can play a critical avenue to communication and skill building in a population of sensitive and often very artistic children. ...Learn more

Equine Assisted Therapy Program Equine assisted therapy is an emerging field with a strong clinical foundation in which horses are used as a tool for emotional growth and learning. The program is a collaborative effort between a licensed therapist and a horse professional. The focus of the program is not riding or horsemanship. It involves setting up ground activities with the horses which will require the client or group to apply certain skills. The program goal is to lead residents toward healthy assertiveness, creative thinking and problem-solving skills. ...Learn more

Occupational Therapy and Life Skills Program In addition to school-based physical education, The Jefferson School offers an opportunity for residential students to participate in more challenging activities related to outdoor adventure, survival, and enjoyment. Based within our Occupational Therapy Department, this program is designed to take advantage of an innovative occupational therapy student internship program to develop and facilitate both resident and staff participation. The original program was funded in part by an ambitious grant initiative and remaining funds from that grant are being used to upgrade and expand available resources at both Jefferson and its sister facility, the Mann Residential Treatment Center in Towson. ...Learn more

The Jefferson School R.I.V.E.R.S. Program Description

Recognizing
Internalizing
Verbalizing
Empathizing
Respecting
Socialization

While engaged in the treatment provided through the R.I.V.E.R.S. Program at The Jefferson School, a program for youth with sexual offending behaviors, it is deemed important for residents to be able to discuss any sexual abuse that may have happened in their life. A Clinical Milieu Manager/Therapist, Psychiatrist, Nurse, Residential Counselors, and peers are made available to help in dealing with sexual abuse from both perspectives; being abused and/or sexually offending others. ...Learn more