DART Program
Developmental Adolescent Residential Treatment
This residential program serves adolescents whose neurodevelopmental disorders are complicated by serious emotional and behavioral problems. Our goal is to reunite children with their families by reducing the severity and frequency of mental health and behavioral problems, teaching new skills to help them function in the community, improving their relationships with others, and increasing their desire to succeed in their homes, schools, and community.
Our specialists are experts in:
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders
- Intellectual Disability
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Genetic and Metabolic Disorders
- Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Learning Disabilities
- Multiple/Complex Disabilities
The DART Program’s “whole person” philosophy places the individual's value as a person at the core of everything we do. Helping adolescents achieve the best possible quality of life is our top priority. We focus on teaching and on helping them to change, rather than simply to “manage”, behaviors. Our emphasis on unique abilities, not disabilities, empowers them to assume control of their lives and reach their greatest potential.
Licensed as a secure Child Caring Institution, DART serves boys and girls between the ages of eight and eighteen.
Each resident receives a thorough evaluation that our staff use as a guide to develop treatment approaches. The evaluation helps us understand how the resident is functioning neurodevelopmentally, psychologically, cognitively, socially, and behaviorally. It gives insight into a person’s psychiatric condition, learning, motivation, attention, communication skills, personality, and adaptive behavior. This thorough assessment enables us to address mental health and behavioral issues based on each individual’s unique abilities, needs, and challenges.
DART’s residential environment is designed to be therapeutic. In addition to providing the safety and structure these adolescents need, Resident Advocates work intensively with them in all aspects of their daily routines to teach new skills, promote more effective coping, improve interpersonal functioning, and increase their understanding of emotions and behavior. Kentwood Public Schools provides special education services on site. Residents live in private rooms with 24-hour supervision and receive regular medical and dental services.