CALO is is a program that FamilyLight ^sm holds in very high regard. We are currently placing abbreviated reviews on as many high quality schools and programs as possible, in response to the utilization pattern we see on this website.  We want to indicate our confidence in as many good programs as possible, planning to return with more detail later.  

Guest reviews are invited.

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While many schools and programs advertise that they accept residents with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), CALO is the ONLY residential program we are currently aware of seeking private clients which admits teens beyond the age of 14, and has actually studied and responded to the literature on the topic of treatment of children and teens with RAD and/or features of RAD.  In designing the program, the founders studied the most successful programs working with RAD and features of RAD in younger children, and heard input from some of the leading national experts.

While there is still respectful professional disagreement about the best treatment approaches for RAD, CALO has attempted to develop a program that conforms on all points where there is consensus, and to take bold, well reasoned steps where there is not yet consensus.  Because of the need to address issues of trauma with all RAD children, CALO is also appropriate where trauma has been a factor. 

In examining he CALO program, two things stand out as particularly unusual:  The Canine Program and the very unusual physical plant.

At this writing,  CALO has approximately thirty golden retrievers that are the heart and soul of he Canine Program. Some of these are pictured on the CALO Website. The purpose of the Canine program is best explained on a page of CALO's website. We emphasize two things: 

First, all CALO residents participate in the benefits of the Canine program by experiencing the affection of the Golden Retrievers, and training them and caring for them, and being cared for by the dogs, which contribute to emotional stabilization.  However, many of the CALO residents actually go through the process of applying to foster a dog, simulating the process a foster parent goes through in becoming a foster parent.  When the application is accepted, the resident becomes the person primarily responsible for caring for and training that dog.  Some of those will take the additional step of adopting the dog, which means that it is theirs and goes home with the resident upon graduation from the program. 

Second, the dogs qualify as service animals.  They have a job to do:  contribute to the emotional regulation of the residents. For this reason, a dog might accompany a resident home on a vacation.  A child being given the privilege of fostering or adopting a dog is not a pre-requisite for having one of the CALO service dogs to accompany on a home visit.  Because the dogs are service animals, they may ride in the cabin with the child on airplanes and other public conveyances. 

The physical plant is notable for its setting and for its building design.  It is an atrium style building, abutting Lake of the Ozarks, with a wooded area on its own land -- surrounded by a resort community.  The atrium area in the building has a ceiling higher than in a typical gymnasium, although not as high as in a typical atrium hotel.   Offices, bedrooms,  and other special use rooms (food service, for example) open onto the atrium on two floors.  Additional offices are in the basement.  The building seems almost perfectly designed for the purpose of the facility. The large atrium area provides a superb activity area for both active teenage boys and golden retrievers. 

Like all schools and programs, CALO is not for everyone.  CALO is well conceived and well run, but only for a particular population.  Parents should look not just at the quality of this excellent program but also consider whether it fits their particular needs.  CALO has greater flexibility than we would have expected in the range of children they will accept. They appear to us to be willing to accept most children in their stated age range with a severe history of trauma and/or basic trust for adult supervision and/or unresolved adoption issues, provided the parents (or parenting figures) accept full participation in the family portion of the program.   It seems to us that they are more precise about that than the specific clinical issues of the child.

We believe that CALO is the clear treatment resource of choice for teens needing residential placement who have severe issues of basic trust with adults in parenting or other supervisory roles and have severe behavioral disregulation as a result.   We do not mean to imply that CALO would knowingly accept any child for whom they are not appropriate, but for teens who do not show that specific characteristic, although they are admissible at CALO, there may be other equally appropriate treatment venues.  We do not know of other appropriate venues in this country in the age group CALO serves when the presenting issue is severe behavioral disregulation, where the cause of that is what appears to be almost a phobia about accepting parental control as a result of severe emotional trauma. 

As of the date this is prepared (January 8, 2011), we have great confidence in the accuracy of the information on the CALO website and the program descriptions offered by admission head, Nicole Fuglsang.   We encourage our readers to trust the descriptions and representations from CALO itself. 

While you wait for us to present a more complete review, please look around this website.  Look at our Guidelines -- a fairly comprehensive statement of what we believe quality is all about.  If you come to a search and planning process with limited experience, this is an opportunity for you to find some principles to measure schools and programs against.  

Official web site of CALO

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Feedback is invited. We will publish feedback in good taste, consistent with our standards.  Email FamilyLightResponse@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: No  program review, no matter how positive, is a blanket endorsement. No criticism is a blanket condemnation.  When we express our level of confidence in a school or program, that is our subjective opinion with which others might reasonably disagree.  When we assert something as fact, we have done our best to be accurate, but we cannot guarantee that all of our information is accurate and up to date. When we address compliance with our guidelines, you need to remember that these are only OUR guidelines -- not guidelines from an official source.  We have also set the bar very high, and do not expect any school or program to be in total compliance.  It is not appropriate to draw a conclusion of impropriety (or even failure to live up to conventional wisdom) from our lack of confidence in a school or program or from less than perfect conformity to our guidelines.  Some will say we expect too much. Readers are responsible for verifying accuracy of information supplied here prior to acting upon it. We are not responsible for inaccuracies.

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Last updated 1-8-11