Hope Creek Academy

Education for the rest of us

Hope Creek Academy (formerly Just Right Academy) Inc. is a nonprofit private elementary and secondary school geared to children who need structure, consistency, positive reinforcement, more movement, reduced stress, both remediation and challenge along with a multi-sensory way of learning.

The Academy is located in Durham, North Carolina at 4723 Erwin Road.

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Behavior is Communication

April 19, 2017 By Linda McDonough

Early on in JRA’s history, we sadly had to conclude that one of our older students had mental health issues that we weren’t equipped to handle, and he needed long term hospitalization. Because we had done a good job of shielding our younger students from this teen’s problems, they didn’t understand why he was leaving. One child, a third grader, had an especially hard time and his behavior became out of control. We talked about it as a staff, and we realized he was afraid HE was going to be kicked out too and planned to speed up the process. After all, this teen hadn’t done anything so bad that HE could see. So one morning after circle time, a parent volunteer took all the other kids into another room while the whole staff remained behind with P.

 
He was sure he knew what was coming, and he visibly steeled himself to hear the bad news. But he was wrong. The staff stood with him in a circle. I started by saying that we knew he was worried about being expelled, but he was not going to be. Each staff person took a minute to tell P. how much we cared about him, what special thing we each liked about him, and why we were so glad he was at JRA. He stood there with tears streaming down his face as he listened avidly and then hugged us all before running out of the room to hide for a bit. While he still had occasional behaviors after that, on the whole, the change was immediate and dramatic. Behavior is communication.

On my newsfeed today has been the story of a ten-year-old with autism who was arrested and jailed for assault. All of us who work at JRA get so frustrated when we hear stories like that. A child who is hitting and kicking is usually a child in great distress, and it’s incumbent upon the adults who work with him to figure out why. No child gets up in the morning and determines to make as many people miserable as is humanly possible; in fact it takes great bravery to face the world anew each day when one has failed so miserably the day before.

Behavior is communication and we work hard to figure out what a child is telling us. I wish we could take even more kids who need our help. That is why we are asking for YOUR help. Your donations can help us apply that philosophy to even more kids. Thanks to those who have been so generous.

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Filed Under: General Tagged With: 101 Club, anxiety, how you can help, intense children

Recent Blog Posts

  • Parent Information Sessions Cancelled March 19, 2020
  • Parent Information Session February 19, 2020
  • We have a new name! July 4, 2017
  • It’s almost camp time! April 27, 2017
  • Behavior is Communication April 19, 2017

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    • Calendar
    • Honoring Our Donors
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  • FAQs
    • Summer Camps
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Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS.
Hope Creek Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, or sexual orientation to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, or sexual orientation in administration of its educational and admissions policies, scholarship programs, and other school-administered programs.

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