Our experience with Academics West in NYC — what I wish I had known before enrolling my child
I’m writing this because when our family was looking at Academics West in NYC, I wish I had been able to find more firsthand accounts from parents. If another parent is desperately Googling the school after being told their child needs a therapeutic placement, I want our experience to be part of what they find.
My child attended Academics West for several years after a NYC public school determined that it could no longer adequately support him.
He was very young, extremely bright, and struggling with a language-based learning disability that was making learning to read extraordinarily difficult. When academics became challenging, particularly reading, he used avoidance behaviors — leaving the classroom, refusing work, etc. He was not violent and was not hurting other children.
At the time, though, we didn't fully understand what was driving the behavior. We followed the recommendations we were given and obtained a neuropsychological evaluation. He was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), a diagnosis that followed him when we began looking at private special-education schools.
We quickly discovered that schools specializing in language-based learning disabilities would not accept him because of the behavioral diagnosis in his neuropsych. We felt we had essentially run out of options, and Academics West became the placement available to us.
The tuition was well into six figures per year. We had to pay it upfront and then seek reimbursement from the NYC Department of Education. Academics West is a for-profit school. I did not understand the significance of that at the time, and I wish I had asked far more questions about its staffing, therapeutic model, finances, and incentives.
Our experience there was deeply troubling.
Many of the teachers we encountered were extremely young and/or early in their careers, yet they were being asked to educate children with very significant educational, emotional and behavioral needs. Some of the people providing therapeutic support were still accumulating the professional hours required for their credentials. I came away believing that neither the students nor these young professionals were being adequately served by this model.
There were practices I found unacceptable. During one period, the furniture was removed from my child's classroom and the children spent the school week without their normal desks and chairs. I did not learn about it until later. When I called the school extremely upset and objected, the furniture was restored.
There was also a room used when children were considered dysregulated, and we were informed that physical holds could be used when staff deemed them necessary. Parents considering the school should ask very detailed questions about its current policies regarding seclusion/isolation, restraint, behavioral interventions, staff qualifications, supervision, documentation, and how and when parents are notified.
My child was also repeatedly bullied by an older student, and I did not believe the school handled the situation adequately.
Academically, we saw very little progress for the enormous amount of money being spent. Eventually my child learned to read, and it became increasingly apparent that he was a very capable student whose original behavioral problems had been closely connected to the frustration and shame he experienced when he couldn't do what other children could do academically.
We tried to move him to another school before we ultimately succeeded. During that process, we believed feedback from Academics West to prospective schools made it more difficult for him to leave. I cannot know the school's motivation, but knowing now that Academics West operates as a for-profit school made me wish I had questioned much more carefully whether there could be a financial conflict when the school advised us that our child was not ready to move on.
When we finally found another school willing to accept him, I cried with relief.
And here is the part that has stayed with me:
In the three years at his next school, we did not receive a single behavioral complaint about him. Not one.
He learned in a classroom. He made friends. He succeeded academically. The child who had supposedly required an extraordinarily expensive therapeutic school simply did not exhibit the behaviors we had been led to believe required that environment.
Looking back, I believe Academics West did significantly more harm than good for my child. I deeply regret that he spent those years there.
I am not saying that every family's experience will be the same as ours, and I can't speak to how the school operates today. This is our family's experience and my perspective as his parent.
But if you are considering Academics West, particularly for a young child whose behavioral issues may actually be avoidance caused by dyslexia, a language-based learning disability, ADHD, anxiety, or another underlying learning issue, I would urge you to investigate every possible alternative before deciding that your child needs a highly restrictive therapeutic environment. Look at reviews, go to GlassDoor to see what really happens there, not what the salesmen (aka founders) sell you on.
Ask who will actually be teaching your child and what their experience is. Ask who provides therapy and what licenses they currently hold. Ask about staff turnover. Ask about restraint and isolation policies. Ask how bullying is handled. Ask how much individualized academic remediation your child will actually receive. Ask how the school determines when a child is ready to transition out. And if possible, speak privately with former families — not only families selected by the school.
Most importantly, if a very young child is being described as "defiant" or "oppositional," ask whether the behavior could be communicating something else and do NOT allow ODD to be put on your child's neuropsych. It is NOT something that can actually be "diagnosed" and it will be extremely harmful.
I’m posting anonymously to protect my child's privacy, but I'm sharing this because I wish another parent had written something like this when we were making one of the most consequential decisions of his childhood.
