ChanceLight® is the nation’s leading provider of behavioral health, therapy and education solutions for children and young adults. We change the direction of children’s lives by offering them the opportunity to create successful, independent futures.
ChanceLight serves nearly 19,000 students and clients each year at more than 125 locations in more than 20 states across its three divisions: ChanceLight Education includes Spectrum Center Schools and Programs, which partners with more than 100 school districts to operate schools and programs for students with special needs; and Ombudsman Educational Services, an alternative education program which partners with more than 100 school districts to serve at-risk students.
ChanceLight autism services serves children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, pediatric developmental delays and physical challenges. ChanceLight Therapy offers physical, occupational and speech therapy services for infants, toddlers, children and young adults who have complex medical and developmental needs.
ChanceLight is partnering with the District to operate the district’s Behavioral Supports Program. This new behavior supports program will provide students with emotional behavioral disorders in grades K-12 with life-changing education and therapy.
After a thorough analysis of its current behavior supports program, the Muscogee County School District decided partnering with an Educational Company (ChanceLight) would provide access to resources that could help meet students’ diverse individual needs through staffing, services, and supports.
One in five students show signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder in a given year, yet nearly 80% of those students who need mental health services do not receive them. Students with behavioral skill deficits need mental health therapeutic services from qualified therapists, specialized instruction to learn social and emotional skills and a safe environment. This program will provide all these services, plus more.
ChanceLight is uniquely qualified because we integrate Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services with mental health supports. ABA focuses on improving specific behaviors such as social skills, behavior reduction, and academics, as well as adaptive learning skills and independent functioning. ABA is effective for children and adolescents with emotional/behavioral disorders and it has been shown that consistent ABA can significantly improve behaviors and social skills in the classroom, at home and in the community.
The ChanceLight program will be in five elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools and will include 15 total classrooms (5 Therapeutic Day School Classrooms/10 Collaborative Classrooms).
A Therapeutic Day School classroom provides services for students who struggle in a standard academic setting and who may have fallen behind due to emotional, behavioral, or social skill challenges. In addition to core academic instruction, a Therapeutic Day School classroom offers individual and group counseling, behavior supports, social skills instruction, and academic assistance per a students Individualized Education Program (IEP) in a separate setting.
In a Collaborative Classroom, ChanceLight provides the classroom special education teachers, instructional aides, and student services personnel and implements the behavioral and educational programs in a general school setting. This ensures students receive the services they require per their IEPs but in a setting that allows for interaction with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate.
The Behavioral Supports Program will provide academic and therapeutic services for approximately 140 Muscogee County School District students. Additionally, ChanceLight will be partnering with the District to provide professional development and technical assistance to teachers and staff across the entire behavior supports continuum.
The ChanceLight partnership will provide life-changing academic and mental health supports for students whose IEP team has determined they require intensive academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports. The majority of the students in the program will be identified with an emotional/behavioral disorder per their IEPs. Students with emotional/behavioral disorders often have co-occurring diagnoses such as:
- Bipolar Disorder
- Attention Deficit Disorder & Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Intermittent Explosive Disorder
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Personality Disorder
- Reactive Attachment Disorder
- Victims of Abuse/Neglect
This is the first program of its kind in the state of Georgia. ChanceLight plans to expand the program within Georgia and to other states. The goal is for the program to become a national model.
