Dear rigb2105,
Sorry for the late response to your message. These posts go to an email account I only check irregularly. Sorry ...
We did not find *any* wilderness programs that were willing to take kids with type 1 diabetes who were not on an insulin pump. (My son uses Lantus and humalog). We found a counselor at a wilderness program who was himself a type 1 diabetic and he used to take adolescents boys with type 1 DM on his wildnerness programs. However, since he now works exclusively with teen girls, he no longer takes boys on wilderness programs. Most wilderness programs were concerned about the health risks for kids with type and they were also probably concerned about liability issues (though they didn't say that.)
We identified 2 excellent therapeutic boarding schools that take teens with type 1 diabetes: the Montana Academy and the High Frontier, in Fort Davis, TX. Both are excellent programs. The Montana Academy is described in the book, An Unchanged Mind, by the co-founder, John McKinnon. The philosophy driving the High Frontier (positive peer culture) is described in the book, Positive Peer Culture, by Vorrath and Brendtro.
I must admit that I was quite skeptical about the effectiveness of therapeutic boarding schools, particularly in light of the highly negative publicity generated by abusive teen programs (as is described in Maia Salavitz's book, Help at Any Cost) and the hucksterism found on the internet by some of the programs (such as the 1-800 numbers for parents of "troubled teens" plastered on the internet). I was further troubled by the lack of research documenting effectiveness (with the exception of a study financed by the ASPEN group, the for-profit organization that owns a chain of therapeutic boarding schools).
Our son is in a therapeutic school now and he is doing *much* better. We're grateful that he seems to have stopped his rapid downward spiral. It was a rocky ride, particularly at first, but he is doing much better now. Making sure that his diabetes is being followed and managed appropriately has been quite a challenge, though.
I would recommend the following:
1. Consider one of the two schools I mentioned above. One thing that you should check into is who your son's counselor or therapist will be. Sometimes, the effectiveness of a school is highly dependent on the specific persons your child will interact with.
2. Consider working with an educational consultant. We worked with someone in our area but you could find someone near you who is a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association: http://www.educationalconsulting.org/
I also spoke on the phone to Andy Erkis from Erkis Consulting and he was very good. ( http://erkisconsulting.com/
3. Consider purchasing the book, "Teens in Crisis: How the industry serving struggling teens helps and hurts our kids" by Frederic Reamer. It is an excellent book and presents a very balanced perspective on helping teens who have significant problems.
4. If you do look at a specific program/school, make sure that you ask lots of detailed questions about how and when they train their staff on diabetes. Ask about how many diabetics they have had recently and how they have handled that kid's diabetes.
5. I would be happy to discuss this in further detail with you off this chat board, but I don't know how to do that. I don't feel comfortable posting my email address on here.
Good luck.
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