Wediko Children's Services
Encyclopedia
Wediko Children's Services is a non-profit organization which provides therapeutic and educational services to children with serious emotional and behavioral problems and their families. It was founded in 1934.
, anxiety disorder
, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), reactive attachment disorder
(RAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Asperger’s syndrome, and nonverbal learning disorder
(NLVD).
, New Hampshire
, and Massachusetts
. The program was suspended at the beginning of World War II
and was reorganized in 1948. Wediko moved to the present 450 acres (182.1 ha) campus in Windsor, New Hampshire
, in 1954. In 1980 Wediko established its School-Based Services working with students, teachers, and school personnel in schools in Boston and surrounding communities. In 1990 the Wediko School was started as a year-round residential program.
. The environment is structured to provide a predictable, consistent, and normalizing atmosphere. Building on each child’s strengths and relying on a safety net created by staff, children are encouraged to take risks, make mistakes, and meet challenges they have historically associated with failure. Wediko clinicians work with families to identify and address family issues and to make plans to support each child’s summer accomplishments at home and in school.
Before the summer program begins, the staff at Wediko receive background information on each child from their parents/guardians, therapists, and teachers. This information provides the groundwork to devise a customized plan for each child based on his or her specific needs in terms of their emotional, social, and academic pursuits. As cited in her book, “Behind the One-Way Mirror,” Fishman describes how one clinician went through this process, and came up with a treatment plan for a child who felt unsafe and often coerced. Fishman (1995) noted that “the words safe and unsafe, like appropriate and inappropriate, are Wediko-speak: while adult observers may soon tire of them, for the kids they are easy to understand and comfortable to use.” The clinicians identify and target the children’s strengths and weaknesses, and devise a therapeutic treatment plan to work on improving both. The entire process that Wediko staff and children go through over the course of the summer program has been the subject of many psychological researchers, such as Katharine Davis Fishman.
Along with daily therapy and structured activities, the children participating in the Wediko Summer Program receive educational services for a few hours each day at “Think City,” the scholastic portion of the program. As Fishman noted, “the point of Think City is Wediko’s understanding that competence in school is fundamental to children’s mental health; teachers aim to have the children think about school as a place where they can do well.”
The Wediko Summer Program aims to help improve the quality of life for each child and their family based upon their individual situations. This means not only working with the children in the New Hampshire setting, but also working with the families in family therapy sessions. As Harry Parad, longtime Wediko clinicians and current Executive Director explained to Fishman (1995), ‘if we’re not working with the family, any progress the child makes during the summer, the child has to figure out how to incorporate into the family and that isn’t realistic.’ For Wediko, working with both children and families is essential to the success of their program.
have contracted with Wediko to run a therapeutic summer school program for special education students. Wediko also offers training seminars and workshops on topics such as positive behavior interventions and supports, trauma-sensitive schools, and whole-school improvement.
A central theme of the research is that children's behaviors, and more broadly their personalities, cannot be understood without attention to the interpersonal contexts in which they are embedded. Research at Wediko beginning in the late 1980s led investigators to advance a “contextual” model of traits that conceptualizes personality as patterns of ‘if...then’ links between social contexts and children’s responses to them.
, Newsweek
, The Atlantic, The APA Monitor, and Brown University
’s Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter.
and a Day of Appreciation from the City of Boston. The National Institute of Health has recently awarded Audrey Zakriski, Professor of Psychology at Connecticut College
, $184,900 to facilitate data collection on at-risk youth during Wediko’s 45-day Summer Program.
About Wediko
Wediko provides residential treatment, consultation, and school-based therapeutic services to children and families struggling with complex psychiatric profiles and disruptive behavior. Wediko treats children with disorders that include, but are not limited to, depression, bipolar disorderBipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
, anxiety disorder
Anxiety disorder
Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal and pathological fear and anxiety. Conditions now considered anxiety disorders only came under the aegis of psychiatry at the end of the 19th century. Gelder, Mayou & Geddes explains that anxiety disorders are...
, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder. It is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.ADHD is the most commonly studied and...
(ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), reactive attachment disorder
Reactive attachment disorder
Reactive attachment disorder is described in clinical literature as a severe and relatively uncommon disorder that can affect children. RAD is characterized by markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate ways of relating socially in most contexts...
(RAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Asperger’s syndrome, and nonverbal learning disorder
Nonverbal learning disorder
A nonverbal learning disorder or nonverbal learning disability is a condition characterized by a significant discrepancy between higher verbal and lower motor, visuo-spatial, and social skills on an IQ test...
(NLVD).
History
Wediko is the oldest therapeutic summer camp for children struggling with emotional, social, and behavioral disabilites. The Wediko Summer Program was started in 1934 by Dr. Robert A. Young. The initial goal was to provide a “fresh air” experience for children from the city whose behavior negated other summer options. For the next five years, the program ran at any site available for rental in MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The program was suspended at the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was reorganized in 1948. Wediko moved to the present 450 acres (182.1 ha) campus in Windsor, New Hampshire
Windsor, New Hampshire
Windsor is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 224 at the 2010 census. It is the location of the Wediko Children's Services Summer Program and of , a summer adventure and travel camp founded in 1961.- History :...
, in 1954. In 1980 Wediko established its School-Based Services working with students, teachers, and school personnel in schools in Boston and surrounding communities. In 1990 the Wediko School was started as a year-round residential program.
Wediko Summer Program
The Wediko Summer Program is a 45-day residential treatment program for boys and girls, ages 7 to 18, struggling with emotional, behavioral, and learning barriers. The Summer Program is located on a 450-acre waterfront campus in Windsor, New HampshireWindsor, New Hampshire
Windsor is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 224 at the 2010 census. It is the location of the Wediko Children's Services Summer Program and of , a summer adventure and travel camp founded in 1961.- History :...
. The environment is structured to provide a predictable, consistent, and normalizing atmosphere. Building on each child’s strengths and relying on a safety net created by staff, children are encouraged to take risks, make mistakes, and meet challenges they have historically associated with failure. Wediko clinicians work with families to identify and address family issues and to make plans to support each child’s summer accomplishments at home and in school.
Before the summer program begins, the staff at Wediko receive background information on each child from their parents/guardians, therapists, and teachers. This information provides the groundwork to devise a customized plan for each child based on his or her specific needs in terms of their emotional, social, and academic pursuits. As cited in her book, “Behind the One-Way Mirror,” Fishman describes how one clinician went through this process, and came up with a treatment plan for a child who felt unsafe and often coerced. Fishman (1995) noted that “the words safe and unsafe, like appropriate and inappropriate, are Wediko-speak: while adult observers may soon tire of them, for the kids they are easy to understand and comfortable to use.” The clinicians identify and target the children’s strengths and weaknesses, and devise a therapeutic treatment plan to work on improving both. The entire process that Wediko staff and children go through over the course of the summer program has been the subject of many psychological researchers, such as Katharine Davis Fishman.
Along with daily therapy and structured activities, the children participating in the Wediko Summer Program receive educational services for a few hours each day at “Think City,” the scholastic portion of the program. As Fishman noted, “the point of Think City is Wediko’s understanding that competence in school is fundamental to children’s mental health; teachers aim to have the children think about school as a place where they can do well.”
The Wediko Summer Program aims to help improve the quality of life for each child and their family based upon their individual situations. This means not only working with the children in the New Hampshire setting, but also working with the families in family therapy sessions. As Harry Parad, longtime Wediko clinicians and current Executive Director explained to Fishman (1995), ‘if we’re not working with the family, any progress the child makes during the summer, the child has to figure out how to incorporate into the family and that isn’t realistic.’ For Wediko, working with both children and families is essential to the success of their program.
School-Based Services
Wediko School-Based Services works with children, their families, and their schools in over 21 schools located in six cities. Wediko clinicians provide therapy (individual, family, and group) in schools and in a small outpatient clinic. Collaborating with families, schools, and other service providers, clinicians are able to assist children in all the important contexts in their lives. Since 1997, Boston Public SchoolsBoston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.-Leadership:The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the Boston School Committee, a seven-member school board appointed by the Mayor after approval by a nominating committee of specified...
have contracted with Wediko to run a therapeutic summer school program for special education students. Wediko also offers training seminars and workshops on topics such as positive behavior interventions and supports, trauma-sensitive schools, and whole-school improvement.
Wediko School
The Wediko School is a year-round residential program which provides therapeutic and educational services to boys, ages 6 to 21, with complex psychiatric, behavioral, and learning issues. The Wediko School is located on the same campus as the Wediko Summer Program in Windsor, New Hampshire.Publications
A varying range of publications, dissertations, and presentations have been based on studies at Wediko, reaching researchers in personality, developmental, and clinical psychology, as well as practitioners in school and mental health settings. Publications have been reprinted in the Year Book of Psychiatry and Applied Mental Health (2003), The Reference Guide to Counseling Children and Adolescents: Prevention, treatment, outcomes (2000), and American Psychological Association journals including the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.A central theme of the research is that children's behaviors, and more broadly their personalities, cannot be understood without attention to the interpersonal contexts in which they are embedded. Research at Wediko beginning in the late 1980s led investigators to advance a “contextual” model of traits that conceptualizes personality as patterns of ‘if...then’ links between social contexts and children’s responses to them.
In the news
The work of Wediko has been featured in Time magazineTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, The Atlantic, The APA Monitor, and Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
’s Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter.
Awards
Wediko has received numerous awards, including a 60 Year Service Award from the Massachusetts House of RepresentativesMassachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...
and a Day of Appreciation from the City of Boston. The National Institute of Health has recently awarded Audrey Zakriski, Professor of Psychology at Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
, $184,900 to facilitate data collection on at-risk youth during Wediko’s 45-day Summer Program.