T3/SSP is a Special Education program for students with significant mental and behavioral health challenges that embraces the philosophy of an inclusion-based structure. There are some populations of students who benefit from a substantially separate program design (i.e. students with significant neurodevelopmental challenges); however, students with mental health challenges do not benefit from a base educational model featuring exclusion from the general student population. In particular, mental health symptoms in youth may present as higher impact compared to peers at baseline, with acute symptoms presenting more episodically. As such, in the context of chronic needs, there is variance in how debilitating a student’s challenges may be, and thus variance regarding academic impact. In addition, mental health challenges do not inherently correspond with cognitive dysfunction, though there may be comorbidities. This means that many students struggling with mental health symptoms do not have barriers understanding grade level academic content or generating adequate academic products. Rather, they have difficulties with the academic context, such as academic pressures, social and relational demands at school, emotional regulation, etc. In contrast, there are students who struggle both with mental health challenges and other challenges, such as learning needs or executive dysfunction. 

The T3/SSP Program design acknowledges the unique needs of this student population by providing a therapeutic wrapping around a student’s inclusive educational experience. Students maintain a regular daily schedule, just like their peers, and also have designated support times within which they receive therapeutic support, specialized instruction, and support related to academic development. The physical space and T3/SSP staff operate as a ‘home base’ for students, and each student has a customized experience based both on their general, global needs as well as their present needs. As such, the program design accounts for variance in students’ symptom presentations and the corresponding variance in educational impact.

Elementary level T3/SSP students have a documented history of chronic, intensive mental health symptoms that have required in-school support and typically outpatient support or other family supports in the community. Students’ symptoms contribute to a reduction in functional engagement within relationships and in situations. Students may struggle with sensitivity to emotional activation, poor emotional calibration, escape/avoidance behavior, or other behavioral challenges. Students in T3/SSP have cognitive/intellectual and expressive/receptive language functioning that is within normal limits for their age. Students who present with conduct issues and socially maladjusted behavior are not a suitable fit for the program.

T3/SSP students’ symptoms have affected them chronically, over an elongated period of time (i.e. typically several years of significant dysfunction), as well as across environments (i.e. home, school, and in the community). Students must be receiving Special Education with an IEP that includes goal areas related to emotional/behavioral functioning and Grid C services to address these needs. There should be evidence of a primary Emotional Impairment, or for early elementary students, data trending in this direction as they age. Students in T3/SSP do not have a primary Special Education eligibility under Autism in which emotional dysregulation is secondary to neurodevelopmental challenges characteristic of Autism.

Middle school level T3 and SSP students have a documented history of chronic, intensive mental health symptoms, such as debilitating mood disorders. Often, T3 and SSP students have required crisis or emergency evaluation followed by admittance into a higher level of clinical care. Students’ symptoms contribute to a reduction in functional engagement within relationships and in situations. Students may struggle with sensitivity to emotional activation, poor emotional calibration, escape/avoidance behavior, and/or disinhibited behavior. Students in T3 and SSP have cognitive/intellectual and expressive/receptive language functioning that is within normal limits for their age. The T3 branch of the middle level program addresses the needs of students with internalizing mental health symptoms. The SSP branch of the program addresses students who present with externalized behavioral challenges rooted in mental health needs. Students who present with conduct issues, socially maladjusted behavior, truancy in the absence of documented chronic mental health issues, and/or substance use/abuse challenges are not a suitable fit for the T3 and SSP program branches.

T3 and SSP students’ symptoms have affected them chronically, over an elongated period of time (i.e. several years of significant dysfunction), as well as across environments (i.e. home, school, and in the community). T3 and SSP students must be receiving Special Education for an Emotional Impairment with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) featuring one or more goals related to emotional functioning. While students may have other Special Education needs, their Emotional Impairment should be considered their primary disability or equivalent in impact to other disabilities.  Students in T3 and SSP do not have a primary Special Education eligibility under Autism in which emotional dysregulation is secondary to neurodevelopmental challenges.

High school level T3 students have a documented history of chronic, intensive mental health symptoms, such as debilitating mood disorders. Often, T3 students have required crisis or emergency evaluation followed by admittance into a higher level of clinical care. Students’ symptoms are primarily internalizing, contributing to a reduction in functional engagement within relationships and in situations. Students may struggle with sensitivity to emotional activation, poor emotional calibration, escape/avoidance behavior, and/or disinhibited behavior, primarily verbal. Students who present with intensive externalizing behavior, conduct issues, socially maladjusted behavior, truancy in the absence of documented chronic mental health issues, and/or substance use/abuse challenges are not a suitable fit for the Andover HS T3 Program. Students in T3 have cognitive/intellectual and expressive/receptive language functioning that is within normal limits for their age. 

Students’ symptoms have affected them chronically, over an elongated period of time (i.e. several years of significant dysfunction), as well as across environments (i.e. home, school, and in the community). T3 students must be receiving Special Education for an Emotional Disability with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) featuring one or more goals related to emotional functioning. While students may have other Special Education needs, their Emotional Disability should be considered their primary disability or equivalent in impact to other disabilities. Students in T3 do not have a primary Special Education eligibility under Autism in which emotional dysregulation is secondary to neurodevelopmental challenges.