Many students "step down" from wilderness programs or residential treatment center's (RTC) to therapeutic boarding schools. Less treatment-oriented than the RTC, and far more academic than wilderness, these schools provide students the chance for your child to get caught up with their studies while at the same time demonstrating they've acquired the social skills, personal insight and behavioral self-control to return home, or to graduate and go on to college.

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Students often attend for up to 12 months; many stay longer because they want continued access to the school's academic and counseling supports, or to get their transcripts back in synch with their home schools. It also is possible to graduate from a therapeutic boarding school, many of which are fully accredited.

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Reduced structure and increased family work also differentiate these schools from RTC's. While each student will continue to attend groups and also have an individual therapist or licensed counselor at the school, they will be allowed to return home for vacations and breaks and to have more frequent family visits. Some schools also offer team sports and community service activities.

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The hardest part of selecting the "right" therapeutic boarding school is determining the rate and trajectory of prosocial emotional/behavioral development balanced by the student's growing academic and learning needs. The best of these schools have impressive college placement records.

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