Behavior modification facility

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A behavior modification facility (or Youth Residential Program) is a private, residential educational institution to which parents send adolescents who are perceived as displaying asocial behavior, in an attempt to alter their conduct. A number of such facilities are operated in the United States. Others operate in Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica, but are run primarily for the children of U.S. residents. The most notable organizations operating such programs is the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP) operating facilities such as Tranquility Bay and the Spring Creek Lodge Academy and Aspen Education Group.

The behavior modification methodologies used vary, but a combination of positive and negative reinforcement is typically used. Positive reinforcement mechanisms include points, rewards and signs of status, while negative reinforcement may include time-outs, point deductions, reversal of status, prolonged stays at a facility, physical restraint, or even corporal punishment.

[edit] References

• US State Dept. page on offshore BMFs
• The International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC), an organization working against behavior modification facilities
• TeenLiberty.org, a site which cites many complaints of BMFs
• "Exploitation in the Name of 'Specialty Schooling' by Allison Pinto, Ph.D., Robert M. Friedman, Ph.D. and Monica Epstein, Ph.D., Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, American Psychological Association: Children, Youth and Families News, Summer 2005, retrieved June 28, 2006
• ASTART The Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment (A START)
• National Youth Rights Association forum on BMFs