| Schools,
Programs, & Visit Reports - Jun, 1991 Issue
|
Tyler Ranch
(509) 327-6900
Spokane, WA
Founder: Jon Tyler
Lon Woodbury's Visit: May 20, 1991
"One of the major problems
facing new staff is understanding the control issue" Founder and Director
Jon Tyler told me. "New and young staff especially, tend to "allow the
boys to draw them into a power struggle over who is in control. The
result is, instead of handling the issue at hand, the issue can escalate
into a confrontation where the boy takes control. When this happens,
everybody loses."
Tyler Ranch has been in existence
for 14 years, and in that time Jon Tyler has emphasized evolving a structure
where the boys rapidly learn the behavior that is expected of them,
and the consequences of negative behavior. He also has worked at removing
the tendency for staff to merely react to behavior. An example Jon gave
was when a boy is told to go to his room to cool off and slams the door
on his way. The staff probably should resist the impulse to go after
the boy for slamming the door. This keeps the focus on the original
behavior, and does not allow the student to change the issue to just,
"the door slipped."
Jon Tyler works with boys
as young as eight years old (and up to 18 year olds), and likes about
15 boys to keep the feeling of a home and family environment. They live
in three homes in the suburbs of Spokane. They originally were more
country when Jon started, but Spokane grew up around them. The homes
are clean, well picked up, and comfortable. The boys take on much of
the responsibility for keeping the homes clean.
The boys are on a daily point
system, needing a certain number of points each day to earn the opportunity
of fun trips, playing Nintendo games, or watching VCR movies. Monitoring
of the point system by staff seems to focus on helping them succeed,
and de-emphasizes a judgment attitude.
Most of the beds at this time
are filled by state agencies, but the Ranch's reputation with the state
is such that Jon can pick and choose those children that seem workable.
The result is he avoids the hazard of having to accept boys that are
"hard," or "tough," or "incorrigible." Some of his beds are private-pay,
and Jon is at the stage where he would like to expand his private pay
business and reduce or transition out of the state-pay business. Because
Tyler Ranch is small, they feel they "are able to effectively customize
programs to fit the specific needs of youth in a structured but family
and supportive setting." Their focus is to intervene "where values,
responsibility, cooperation and enhanced self-concept result."
Jon claims a "long history of exceptional success with teens."
Copyright
© 1991, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
