Two more installments of the series on children’s mental health have appeared in the KC Star. The series is specifically about Marcus, a 6 year old with a plethora of diagnoses after his name. Yesterday’s installment opens with Marcus recently placed at Spofford, an RTC here in the KC metro area. On average, slightly less than 50 kids between the ages of 4 and 12 are housed at Spofford, because of mental and emotional problems so severe they cannot live at home. “When they end up here,” says Joe Beck, director of therapy services, “it means all the other traditional stuff has failed.”


Marcus’s housemates at this particular time include:

• A 6 year old boy who once tried to strangle his sister, leapt from a moving car, and watched his mother stab his heroine addicted father in the chest

• A 5 year old brother and sister who between them have bulimia, enuresis, suicidal ideations and marathon tantrums

• A horrifically abused preschooler, who punches himself, pulls out his hair and begs to be beaten.

Many of you folks who are reading this blog know these kids… you live with these kids. I have heard these stories before. I have had the kids in my home who pull out their teeth, gouge holes in their flesh, and wet themselves well into double digit ages. But thank heavens for this information going out to the average John Q. Public. Do you think they can grasp what they are reading?


Marcus’s therapy consists of traditional cognitive behavioral therapy. It is based on the premise that…

"…life is perception, and thinking makes it so. If children can change the way they perceive their lives and problems (cognition) they can change the way they react to it (behavior)."

I have often heard it said, “Children act the way they act because they think the way they think.” (I believe that is a Liz Randolph-ism…)


More coming… Don't miss the part about the school...

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