Receiving a high school diploma is an important right of passage for teens and just because your teen needs to attend a school for troubled teens, there is no need for them to not receive a high school diploma.

How A School For Troubled Teens Can Offer Diplomas

Depending on which state the school for troubled teens is located, a school for troubled teens is required to provide an accredited educational program. Liahona Academy took this mandate and went further, hiring a high ratio of teachers to students, along with a cadre of certified tutors to offer individualized help to our students.

Thanks to our fully accredited academic program, we can not only offer your troubled teen a way to repair his grades, receive a high school diploma, but also become college-ready as they graduate out of our program.

High School Diplomas Mean More To Teens

Some parents have not been sure why it is important for troubled teens to receive a high school diploma. There are several factors which make a high school diploma important to teenagers:

• Fit in with peers - Most troubled teens don't want to be stand out negatively from their peers, and lacking a high school diploma is definitely a negative way to stand out. Also, even if a troubled teen earns a G.E.D., there can be a social stigma attached to it as a G.E.D. is considered a lesser substitute for a high school diploma.
• More secure future - A high school diploma will help your troubled teen become more acceptable to future employers and colleges. Many of these institutions are wary of accepting G.E.D. holders, as it can sometimes signify that the holder was unable to muster the required discipline to finish a high school diploma.
• Confidence booster - Receiving a high school diploma is a concrete milestone a troubled teen can use to help positively boost their confidence. With this positive milestone reached, it will be easier for a troubled teen to hang onto the positive lessons they learned while attending a school for troubled teens.

Choose An Accredited School For Your Troubled Teen

While all schools for troubled teens will offer some kind of academic program, many will only prepare your troubled teen to take and pass the G.E.D. If you want to find out if the school for troubled teens that you are interested in offers a high school diploma via an accredited educational program, you can:

• Contact the school in question
• Visit the school
• Check out their accreditation online

You can contact Liahona Academy's enrollment counselors today to find out more about our accredited academic program and other services we offer to our students.

Communication is critical as your son ages. They have to know they can come to you with anything and that you will be there to listen. But reaching that point, especially during a time when they tend to be so secretive and even hostile, can be so difficult.

When your son is troubled that battle can feel all the more impossible. How can you get them to speak to you when just being in the same room seems to lead to a fight?

Unfortunately, there are no magic tricks to help you do it. But there are some ways you can better communicate with your teenage son, even when you feel like you are at the end of your rope.

1. Keep Your Cool - The simplest tip but sometimes the hardest to implement, keeping calm in the face of their anger is crucial. Remember that you can’t control your child’s attitude, you can only control yours. If you keep your head cool as things are heating up then there will be nowhere for that fire to spread. You may find your son calming down.
2. Recognize Distress - Distress can come in many forms. Your son could shout, throw things, cry or even shut down completely. People respond to anxiety and emotional upset in so many ways and because they are young they don’t always know how to process and express it in a healthy way. Even if they look angry, they may not be feeling that particular emotion.
3. Don’t Say You Understand - You probably do, understand. That doesn’t mean your son believes you. Or that you completely get where they are coming from. Your son is from a new generation with his own set of struggles, some of which you may have never faced. Telling your son you have heard and faced it all before can come off as you minimizing their difficulties. That may make them less likely to share with you.
4. Encourage Them To Tell You Everything - Context is important. If they start a story somewhere in the middle you might not have the information needed to understand what your son is facing. Encourage him to share where all of it started and the surrounding details that might make it easier to get the full picture.
5. Listen When They Open Up - You might not think listening to your son talk about his favorite video game or the funny thing their friend said. But those little interactions are the relationship builders that foster a bridge of communication between you. No matter what they are saying, always listen and be engaged.

Find out more at Liahona Academy.

When looking for the right school for your troubled teens, it is important to carefully consider what kind of environment would best help your teenager flourish. One of the biggest environmental decision you will make for your troubled teen is if you will send them to a co-ed school for troubled teens or a gender-specific school. There are pros and cons attached to each decision, but you will need to weigh them against your own teen's needs to make the right decision for your teen.

Pros And Cons Of Co-Ed Schools For Troubled Teens

The majority of teenagers attend co-ed public schools. This can make it hard to see what makes co-ed schools for troubled teens any different than regular schools. But there are distinct pros and cons to attending a co-ed school for troubled teens that is not present at a regular public school.

The pros of a co-ed school for troubled teens:

• Mirrors real-world environment - Your teen will likely have to deal with members of the opposite sex all their life. A co-ed school will keep them from pretending that this isn't the reality.
• Can cooperate with one another - A co-ed school can foster a more cooperative environment, as the students may not feel the same level of competitiveness with their own gender.
• Learn to develop healthy relationships - Any friendships which start at a school for troubled teens will be carefully monitored so that the students can develop a healthy friendship.

The cons of a co-ed school for troubled teens:

• Potentially distracting - Instead of focusing on academics and therapy, troubled teens may try to distract themselves from their problems by trying to establish a relationship with a member of the opposite-sex at a co-ed school for troubled teens.
• Can be difficult to be open - Group therapy is an important aspect of schools for troubled teens. Many teens find it difficult to be open about personal troubles when members of the opposite-sex are present.
• Possibly exacerbate problems - If your troubled teen was already struggling with issues connected to the opposite-sex, then an environment with similarly struggling troubled teens of the opposite-sex can encourage the teen's issues to grow.

Pros And Cons Of Gender-Specific Schools For Troubled Teens

Same-sex private schools are far less common than co-ed schools. However, this does not mean that they do not have their own excellent merits.

The pros of a gender-specific school for troubled teens:

• Gender-specific learning - It has been often stated that girls and boys have different learning styles. Often, public schooling is focused more on one type of learning modality. When in a gender-specific school, educators can employ gender-specific learning styles.
• Re-learn appropriate behaviors - For troubled teens who have been acting inappropriately with the opposite-sex, attending a gender-specific school for troubled teens can help the teens learn what is appropriate when it comes to the opposite-sex without the temptation to act out.
• Focused therapeutic approaches - While there are exceptions, for the most part, boys respond differently than girls to various therapeutic approaches. So, a gender-specific school for troubled teens can focus on a certain set of therapeutic strategies without spending time on ones which may be less effective.

The cons of a gender-specific school for troubled teens:

• May take more time to transition back - After attending a gender-specific school, it can be hard for some teens to transition back into a regular public school.
• Not as many gender-specific options - While schools for troubled teens have more gender-specific options than other schools, if you want to transition your child from a gender-specific school for troubled teens to another private, gender-specific school, you may not have many in-state options.

Liahona Academy is a private school for troubled teen boys. Along with a robust academic program, your troubled son will work with top-notch therapists who specialize in working with troubled teens. If you would like to know more about our program, feel free to contact us today.

We often see failing grades as a symptom of a bigger problem and it is. But it is more than that. For your teen, bad academic performance begins with wider problems and creates significant stress and anxiety. That continues the feedback loop and exacerbates the problems they were having to begin with.

Then there are the other implications that come along with that struggle. They may find themselves at odds with you or with school administration. Their once flourishing hobbies or extracurriculars could be under threat. A whole host of new problems may be weighing them down.

What can be done? Therapeutic boarding schools may be one option worth looking into.

What Is a Therapeutic Boarding School?

This is a private institution that is part school, part therapeutic environment. They use a balanced approach between tutoring your child to get them back up to speed with their peers and with an intensive therapy program to get to the root cause of their problems.

Smaller class sizes, one on one attention and customized learning plans make this an ideal solution for teenagers who have been falling behind or even flunking out. All staff are professionally trained to work with troubled youth to help them overcome their issues and cope with their emotional difficulties.

Can My Child Regain School Credit?

Yes! Academic progress is a primary concern for the staff at a therapeutic boarding school. These institutions are fully accredited and monitored by the US Board of Education. All time spent at a therapeutic boarding school goes towards the credits a child needs to eventually graduate.

In many cases, this also means recovering lost credits due to truancy, failing grades or learning disabilities. With a customized program provided to each student, they will be able to create the syllabus they need to get back to where they need to be. They may even come out ahead of the pack!

What Other Benefits Does a Therapeutic Boarding School provide?

A therapeutic boarding school gives your child the opportunity to connect with peers who are also struggling with the same problems they are. These may be substance abuse, mental illness, trauma, learning disabilities and a number of other issues that could be impeding their ability to continue in a traditional educational environment.

At the same time, they will learn as a group how to control intense emotions, address how they are feeling and develop strategies for moving forward. It is a fantastic service that has helped many families overcome obstacles.

Find out more at Liahona Academy.

Seeing the expressions of anger in our teenage sons can be heartbreaking and sometimes terrifying. As they get older they become harder to control and a teenager with a rage problem can cause a lot of strife and damage in a home. Managing those triggers can feel like an impossible feat, especially if you feel you have tried everything before.

What can you do? It might be time for some intensive behavioral modification.

What Is Behavioral Modification?

Behavioral modification is a style of therapy that works by giving the patient the tools they need to make real time changes to their behavior. Most of this has to do with recognizing and learning to control emotions that can be overwhelming for the person who is suffering from anger triggers.

Through mindfulness your son will be asked to learn the signs of rising anger. Then he will be given methods to help him manage them. This can be a long process and requires a lot of time and work. But it is a worthwhile endeavour that can completely change your son’s life and his ability to cope through stressful or challenging times.

How Does Behavioral Modification Work?

Behavioral modification, especially for anger triggers, is about replacing negative behaviors with more healthy, positive ones. Most techniques use positive reinforcement to encourage these behaviors, which has been found to be more effective than negative reinforcement, something your child has likely faced through punishments for their acting out in the past.

Using this treatment technique, your son will be forced to address not only what he is feeling in moments of rage, but recognize the source of it. By facing discomfort and acknowledging its source, it takes away the power of the amount and gives them more control.

Where Can My Son Learn Behavioral Modification?

Many programs offer this form of treatment as a part of the process of healing for troubled teens. You can find therapists who specialize in the process, or enroll your student in a program dedicated to it.

Therapeutic boarding schools and residential treatment centers both provide this service for most of their patients/students, making them a more desirable option than those that focus more on medication.

Your Son Can Learn To Control His Temper

You may feel helpless in the face of your son’s rage but he can learn to control himself. Behavioral modification and therapeutic options exist to give him both insight and power over the difficult things he is feeling.

Learn more at Liahona Academy.