"As a parent of a student from Judge Rotenberg Center, I consider myself lucky. During the years I dealt with my son I was consumed by the everyday desperation of having to manage his disability. His impulsive behaviors were taking a toll on my emotional stability. I felt that I was going to loose my mind. He became the central point in everything I did in my life.

Finding services for him was very difficult because of the severity of his disability. I wrecked my head looking for programs that will provide a relief for me. Due to his behavioral disorder he presented a risk for accommodation in services and the only option I was given was foster care. Every day I thought about my problem and I cried.

While years passed my son got older and stronger. It was getting harder to manage him. He became physically abusive and I could barely control his behavior. I was faced with a situation where I had to place him somewhere or I will wind up in the hospital with a nerves break down and eventually he will placed him with the Administration of Children Services.

My son was twelve years old when I took him to the emergency room. There he was referred for outpatient services but later admitted to the hospital for a short period of time to be evaluated for medication after he had an emotional outburst inside a Mc Donald restaurant and where he had to be restrained by the police.

After that admission he was released and sent home with medication. It was not long, when I had to go back to the emergency room again with him, because neither school nor I could manage his behavior even with medication.

The scariest part that I was worry about happened. The hospital call the Administration of Children Services when I refused to take him back home. While in ACS custody, my son suffered mental and physical abuse. All my fears became a reality. ACS placed him in several group homes where he was physically abused by others and also developed self-abusive behaviors that may have been attributed to the separation from home. I pleaded with the hospital to re-admit him and they did. When he was brought to the emergency room with multiple lacerations to his body they kept him. They were appalled of what had happened to him. They call the state central registry and reported that he had been neglected by the Administration for Children Services. He was admitted to the hospital to cure him. Right after that, ACS released my son back to my custody. While he was in the hospital I struggle with the Committee of the Board of Education to find placement for him.

I visited several private schools in New York, but none accepted him because of his explosive unpredictable behavioral disorder. It was a concern for the Hospital Administration the time that my son had remained in the clinic and they began to discuss his discharge.

Consequently, I received a letter from Albany stating that Medicaid will no longer pay his hospitalization. The hospital administration was anxious to release him to any facility that would take him and they were ready to transfer him to an all-adult facility that I did not agreed with. That day I called the police. I had a lawyer working with my sons’ ACS neglect case; she called the hospital administration to come up with an agreement with the Board of Education to find a more proper placement for my son.

Facing a situation where there were no services available for him within the city was the worst nightmare I ever had. I pleaded with the Board of Education to let me take him out of State, for services.

They decided to Okay the placement. I visited a school in Philadelphia that was recommended by the physicians. He was accepted in spite that they would not pick up children from hospitals. He was transferred there where he remained for two years. During that time he was on medication, but they were constantly calling me to attend meetings to discuss his medication change because they were concern that he was not responding to it. Even with medication he was not able to be in the classroom with other children because he was still having aggressive outburst. For at least six months he was not allowed to leave his residence. A decision came to have services terminated. They were not meeting the Board Education Standards of education. I was back in the situation I started. The Board of Education and the school suggestion was hospitalization. There were other tentative schools but I was getting negative information about them. The school administrator suggested considering BRI (now called JRC) but he was skeptical about the methods use for discipline. Every one felt that he was better off in a facility that uses non-aversive treatment. Although I did not comfortable with everything I heard, I decided to visit the JRC.

During that visit I realized that JRC school population was similar to my son characteristic of his disability. I was impressed by the structure of the school curriculum. Some of the questions that I feared in my mind about my son behavior were answered. And the most impressive of thing of all was, that they would not medicate him to control his behavior.

One of the very important facts about JRC was that there was a plan to manage his behavior. And this is very important because his education would not be possible without this implementation. I went home with a hope in my heart.

I called the Board of Education and I told them that I was satisfied with the program at JRC and that I wanted to bring him there. Their response was negative. They stated that they would pay any other school except that one. I argued that he was already in the best school there it was, according to doctors recommendations, and they failed to control his behavior and my son needed a different approach of services. Their answer was that before they come up with a decision, I would have to visit a few other schools that were highly recommended.

I did my homework. Right afterward someone called me from Albany. They were interested in changing my mind about my son’s placement. And if I was confused about my son’s future before this time I was petrified. At this point I was going thru a situation were I felt all-alone in this world. There I was looking to save my son existence and I had no support from anyone but my own judgment. While I was scare to make a decision I pray to God that I will make the make the right choice. It came to me that I should evaluate the situation my son was in. This was my response to that gentleman. I went to visit all the schools recommended by the Board of Education and my impression is that my son needs a change. All those programs have similar structure to the one school he has been now for two years and they have not been able to manage him. If I bring him into the same situation, I will be facing this nightmare again in six months. I think that I would like to give my son and myself an opportunity to try a different behavioral system approach. This person had no answer for me but to go ahead with placement.

My son was brought to JRC in 1995. He was turning 16. My son began treatment there and every time I came to visit him I felt impressed to see that all the behavioral disorders he had, were being treated, including the termination of his previous medications. The process was slow but consistent. Every time my son showed signs of aggression, there will be intervention before it escalated. I became very hopeful of JRC. I began to feel relieved. Within six month my son started to respond to all this procedures and I was able to visit him.

By the time he was seventeen, we were celebrating his birthday in school and it was televised in channel 41 for the Hispanic community on a special program called "Primer Impacto". This program invited me to tell my story. Since, I have been in court for the GED treatment and for restraining mechanism used for his behavior management. I’ll tell you, it all has been worthy. After a few applications of the skin shock therapy, he has responded very well. His aggressive impulses decreased to a point that he needed no more applications for a couple of years. This gave me the opportunity to share more time with him. We have been going out for dinner, shopping and in several occasions for an overnight stay.

Only God knows how much I suffered and you would have to be in my situation to know that the true victory in my heart is, that my son was finally living like a human being in a less restrictive setting. And knowing what could have been of him, I will have to say that JRC is given my son a new life."

Elizabeth Rivera
November 16, 2000

If you would like to speak to Ms. Rivera about her son's experience with the GED, you may contact the Judge Rotenberg Center at (781) 828-2202.

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