Help abounds at LeMoyne School
Mobile Mental Health program offers chance for students to get their educational priorities in line
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
By PENELOPE McCLENNY
Staff Reporter
When Amy Conway hears about one of her former students excelling in their new school, she feels a special sort of pride.
Conway, assistant coordinator for the LeMoyne School at Mobile Mental Health, knows those accomplishments are hard-won. The school, which serves students from kindergarten to 12th grade, provides special education and therapy to children struggling with behavioral and attention problems and other mental illness.
Staffed with special education teachers from the Mobile County Public School System, LeMoyne provides academic instruction but makes mental health the priority. Over the years, this system has crafted powerful success stories, Conway said.
"We have had students before that have actively hallucinated and been delusional and then we get reports that when they returned back to their public schools, they make higher grades, they have friends," Conway said.
Records indicate LeMoyne has been in operation since 1992, but school officials said it likely was open before then. LeMoyne usually begins the school year with about 20 students, Conway says, but is typically filled to its capacity of 40 by the holiday break.
Students are referred to the school by either a teacher or therapist in the school system or by a private therapist. The shortest stay is usually six months, with some students attending LeMoyne for two or three years, Conway said.
"It varies according to each child, and it's just up to the amount of progress they make here," she said.
For one Blount High School student, LeMoyne provided the tools she needed for a successful return to public school. Tasha, who asked that her last name not be used, attended school at LeMoyne for 2½ years during middle and high school. At the beginning of this school year, she made the transition into Blount as a sophomore.
"It helped me get through the last bit of middle school and the first part of high school, and those were probably my worst years," Tasha said.
The most helpful part of the school, Tasha said, was "being able to talk to somebody at any part of the day."
At LeMoyne, academics fill just half of the six-hour school day, Conway said. While students participate in academic instruction and all of the standardized tests administered in the public school system, they also spend time in group therapy, individual therapy and activity therapy.
"Once the child gets here, our primary focus is behavior and their mental illness," Conway said. "Before we can really begin to focus solely on the academic part, we have to get the behaviors in check first because it's the behaviors that are keeping them from learning."
For Tasha and many of the students at LeMoyne, that includes not accepting "no;" failure to follow instructions from adults; and aggressiveness toward peers.
Using the skills she learned at LeMoyne, Tasha has improved her grades since enrolling at Blount, made new friends and plans on beginning an acting class next year.
Her transition back into the regular school environment has been nearly as exciting for her family, said her mother, Jan, who asked that her last name not be used at her daughter's request.
"She always wanted to be in regular high school, and we always wanted her to be in high school because it's one of the greatest times in your life," Jan said.
Now, when Jan notices a child who has behavior problems, she said, she wishes they would contact Mobile Mental Health and LeMoyne to find out about the program.
"I want the public to know that you've gotta have some tough love to send your child off to this school," Jan said. "It hurts, you feel guilty, but it helps, and it is not a stigma to be embarrassed by."
Those who overcome that anxiety, Tasha and her family said, will find the results are worth it.
"I went from being really mean to my family," Tasha said, "to being probably one of the best kids my mom could probably ask for."
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