The Swansea Wood School, a campus of the Meadowridge Schools, is a Chapter 766 approved and EEC licensed residential school for 25 emotionally disturbed, developmentally delayed, behaviorally-challenging adolescent boys and girls who could not be served in other settings. The Wood School employs a cognitive behavioral model that uses a system of positive incentives to help the students establish coping behaviors and overcome maladaptive expressions. Students range in functioning from mild to moderate cognitive impairment. They learn the skills of daily living and work, and receive a full school day of academic and practical instruction, five days a week, twelve months a year. Leisure activities, sports, and outings as well as on-campus activities help to develop appropriate social behavior. Swansea Wood School enjoys high ratios of staff to students, including teachers, nurses, clinicians, counselors, recreation staff, and our Medical Director, a board-certified psychiatrist. On site nursing coverage, 16 hours daily, 7 days a week, supports students with psychiatric diagnoses and conditions such as brittle diabetes, requiring intensive monitoring and support. Students, who would otherwise remain in hospital levels of care, can enjoy the benefits of a warm, home-like private school setting.

Interaction with family and community is an important rehabilitative component of every resident's treatment plan. The 766 approved campus serves as an important resource for allowing the adolescent who had not "fit in" and who has severe emotional and mild intellectual deficits to acquire the social successes, self-control and skills needed for joyful community life.

The therapeutic approach is cognitive behavioral and includes Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), individual, group, and family therapy. The Wood School has adapted DBT to the cognitively limited student, by simplifying and clarifying the verbal approach and creating more concrete steps leading to changes in thought and behavior. The staff has lectured on this unique application at national conferences and it is now actively employed in Rhode Island in our Integrated Clinical Services Program. It is very effective in helping the cognitively limited individual to use DBT as his/her primary rehabilitative tool.

Adolescent boys and girls from throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states attend the Wood School, an Approved 766 School, licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. The length of stay is approximately 18 months. Students transitioning to local geographic communities can be supported through Swansea Wood School aftercare services, including clinical and visiting resources; training and consultation to the next site or to the family; emergency on-call and respite services.

Swansea Wood School Contact Information

Swansea Wood School
789 Stevens Road
Swansea, MA 02777
Phone: (508) 672-6560
Fax: (508) 672-6595

Stephanie Ward, M.Ed., Director
Edgardo C. Angeles, M.D., Medical Director
Maribeth Balzano-August, LCSW, Director of Admissions

woodschool@ jri.org