The Aseltine Program is about change. Exploring new ways of overcoming their obstacles and conflicts requires basic changes in the way students with
learning disabilities and emotional disturbances view themselves in the world. We understand that change requires risk; that risk requires openness; that openness requires trust; that trust requires the sense of safety and security that comes from supportive community; that challenge without community can be threatening, and that supportive community without challenge can be stagnating and promote dependency.
The Aseltine Program works creatively and effectively with our students to provide them with the necessary tools to understand and resolve their conflicts in an appropriate, thoughtful, and productive manner. Staff understand, validate, and support students’ attempts at mastering the complex challenges they face. We understand that facing up to the demands of life is not an easy task – at any age.
Every day, staff challenge students to identify, understand, and overcome their various conflicts with people, with circumstances, and within themselves. Conflict can be difficult and disturbing; at Aseltine, it can also be a catalyst for creativity and an opportunity for students to imagine, consider, experiment, and demonstrate mastery of new and productive behaviors that enable them to overcome the barriers that have limited their success to date.
We believe all students have it within themselves to respond to life’s most difficult circumstances in a thoughtful, self-disciplined, and responsible manner. Every aspect of the Aseltine Program is grounded in reinforcing and strengthening students’ conflict resolution skills. By engaging the students as thinkers, problem-solvers, and partners in their learning process, Aseltine students master the tools necessary to develop themselves into self-aware, confident, responsible young people prepared for life.
Through the creative process of conflict resolution, students develop personal and social coping skills, communication skills, and problem-solving skills; they become empowered students who partner with staff to overcome their obstacles to success in school – and in life.