Bertha Abess Children’s Center, Inc.


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While the rest of the country started talking only recently about the importance of comprehensive services for children with emotional or behavioral disorders, The Bertha Abess Children’s Center, Inc. (BACC) has been providing these services since 1962. This nonprofit, charitable corporation has a cooperative agreement with Florida’s Dade and Monroe County Schools, the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Services, the University of Miami School of Medicine, the Public Health Trust, and the Multiagency Service Network for Severely Emotionally Disturbed Students (SEDNET). BACC provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary day treatment services to about 600 children and youth, ages 3 through 21, in 14 locations in the Florida counties.

What does BACC do?

The BACC program serves students in each grade level to ensure a consistent educational system, and so behaviors and academic progress will be reinforced as the students grow older. The program places a heavy emphasis on building students’ self esteem through social praise and encouragement; and the program reinforces positive behavior through a "token economy" in which students can use earned tokens to choose their own reinforcements, such as treats or desired activities.

The pre-school program combines developmentally appropriate interventions with behavioral approaches. The academic and social curriculum is age-appropriate for all students, and the instructional methods are based on principles of applied behavioral analysis. For example, the instructional materials, such as housekeeping toys, block art, and computers, encourage students to explore and manipulate their environment to learn how to make choices about their behavior. In addition, both the pre-school and elementary schools offer activities to improve language, such as storytelling, sharing, and acting. These activities not only focus on language development, but also help build social skills and emotional bonds important to mental health.

Outcomes

Bertha Abess’ comprehensive approach to serving children with emotional or behavioral problems has resulted in impressive outcomes for Dade and Monroe counties. For example, during the 1996-1997 school year, the program had an average of 86 percent of students in attendance. Furthermore, the Bertha Abess program had an average of less than 2 percent of students suspended. These statistics include inner-city schools with over 90 percent minority students and inner-city schools with specialized programs for students with conduct disorders. The data, including some attendance rates as high as 92 percent, and several schools with zero suspension rates, are very impressive, as compared to the national norm for the SED/EH population.

In addition, the BACC program has significantly better attendance and suspension rates than the rest of the state of Florida. In 1996-1997, Florida’s rates for student absence for more than 21 days were as high as 9.3 percent for K-5 students, 16.3 percent for students in grades 6-8, and 19.1 percent for students in grades 9-12. Moreover, the Florida’s 1996-1997 rate for in-school suspensions was 10.88 percent and 11.32 percent for out-of-school suspensions.

Furthermore, while over 50 percent of BACC students have an IQ below 75, the program participants averaged over one school year’s growth (10 months) in all academic areas, except social studies (7 months). Using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, program participants also experienced marked decreases in internalized and externalized problems.

Transition rates are equally impressive. In 1996-1997, data show that of students leaving the program, 64 percent went to less restrictive settings, 3 percent graduated, 20 percent moved, while only 8 percent went to more restrictive settings. Finally, in a survey of parents, 98 percent rated the students as improving in school behavior, 85 percent rated students as improving in home behavior, and 83 percent rated students as improving in academic skills.

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