The Help Group

PLEASE READ!
As a former student at this school, I’ve always wanted to write a review about it, but never had the courage to do so. That alone is a reason why this school is so terrible. I was a student at Village Glen for over 10 years and not a day goes by where I don’t have any horrible memories of that place. Unilocal doesn’t give me enough space to post all of the reasons, but I’ll list a few of the major reasons why you should find another school to send your child:
1. Students Accommodating Other Students: Because classrooms are so understaffed, higher-​functioning students are often given the task of helping the lower functioning students with their work and behavioral problems. Higher functioning students who can be bothered and distracted by the presence of certain noises are told to ignore the perseverations of lower functioning students who often have the habit of mumbling, making strange noises, lip-​smacking, tapping, etc. This isn’t fair to the higher functioning students at all. They need as much accommodation as the students they’re told to put up with.
2. Non-​Mentally Disabled Students: There have been several occasions when I was bullied by students who obviously had no mental disabilities whatsoever and actually excelled at manipulating other students. The Help Group will take any opportunity it can to enroll students, mentally-​disabled or not, just so the organization is paid more money, which puts your child at risk to bullying and even rape, both of which have occurred at this school. Yes, even when students were raped, it took weeks before either of the rapists were expelled from the school.
3. Teachers: The teachers are there to simply babysit. Many of them are lazy, uneducated, or have their own diagnosis to deal with. Many of the teachers I had took advantage of the fact that the students are labeled with autism and dismissed our misunderstandings as sheer stupidity, basically claiming that, as teachers, their methods were flawless. The few teachers who were highly educated obviously had no experience with dealing with autism, and often took out their anger and poor teaching skills on the students. Many of the teachers also leave their jobs in pursuit of another teaching position mid-​semester, which causes a huge dent in the students’ education because it takes weeks to find a replacement. Teachers usually leave because they’re bound by too much red tape, unable to accommodate students in ways they know work but the school won’t let them put into practice, or because they’re fed up with the autistic population and leave without notice.
4. Constant Lack of School Supplies: This school never had enough money to buy lined paper, plain paper, printer ink, pencils, or any other basic school supplies for students to use. Parents always had to supply enough of those materials for an entire classroom all on their own. Not a single cent of what the school earns at its fundraisers went towards supplies.
5. Physical Abuse: I’ve seen students who become so overwhelmed in a certain environment or situation that they don’t know how to react so they either resort to screaming or hiding. In either case, the student is taken out of whatever environment they’re in and removed by force. There is little to no communication in terms of calming the student down or trying to figure out what upset them in the first place. What little communication there is can be described as threatening and condescending. There are specific staff members «trained» to deal with such situations by grabbing the student’s arms and carrying them out of the environment and trapping them within a small padded room (and by padded I mean covered with rough carpet material) about the size of a cubicle. There is nothing else in the room except for one glaringly bright overhead lamp. The student is held captive in this room until a guardian is contacted and can pick up the child which can take hours. If the guardian is unable to come to school, the child is held hostage overnight, or on extremely rare occasions is driven home after school by staff members. If the student cannot be taken to the padded room and they try to move away from the staff members monitoring them, they are quickly restrained and pinned down to the floor and scolded for their bad behavior whenever they struggled, screamed, cried, etc.
If you have any questions or want more information about this school, please message me if you or someone you know is considering sending their child to this school! This institution could ruin your child’s life!

This place seems to have everything under control. They have programs for all ages. They have a school, classes early head start, after school program and outpatient services. I just enrolled my daughter to the stepping stone program. It seem like a good program. They teach kids about sharing, fine motor skills, dealing with there feelings and tanturms. The teacher and staff are friendly and really well prepared. They have so much experience with kids .
Im trying my hardest to enroll my second child here. In there school. They do need a referral and an iep. To enroll to the school .
If your child has any disabilities of learn or social. You should consider this facility. They have therpist and psychiatrist etc. Everything your child will need to feel better.

HORRIBLE!!! My child’s class did not have a certified teacher for three quarters of the year. When they finally got one, a month later she said she still did not have a copy of my child’s IEP. They did not pay attention to the IEP and the requirements at all. They also have a «refocus room» that we always thought was like a little class room. In fact, it is a room with 4 padded little booths/​cells that smell like urine! Ask to see them before you send your child there. Also, they have «inerventionists» who scratched and bruised our child. No creative or innovative approaches to dealing with children on the spectrum here. Poorly administered and unresponsive educational experience for your child. If you do send your child here be sure you stay involved and closely monitor what is going on there!!! Talk to your child and listen to what he/​she says!!! The school will hide behind confidentiality!!!
NOTE THIS REVIEW IS FOR VILLAGE GLEN IN SHERMAN OAKS! MY CHILD WAS IN THE 8TH GRADE!

I was diagnosed with aspbergers syndrom when i was 17, back in 2000, the help group really understood my needs and frustrations and helped me greatly, i look back and have very fond memories of going to village glenn bridgeport and i miss alot of the people there including friends i made, and i can definitely suggest going to highschool here !! Thank u all who helped me u know who u are.

Let me begin by stating that Unilocal is typically a place for people to post all of their dislikes in hopes of being heard because they want everyone to know their feelings. Hence, there are only a few reviews for THG.
Secondly, if your child truly has Autism and is not on the «Spectrum,» or as Jenny McCarthy would put it (can be cured by a change in diet — LOL), maybe your child doesn’t belong here. All of their campuses cater to various levels of a child’s function. You will have to do some footwork and investigate which you believe is best. K-​12 That’s a broad spectrum for many years! Show me a comparable program.
Let me qualify my position. My son is 22 years old and he actually has TRUE AUTISM (non-​verbal & low-​functioning) and is not on the «Spectrum.» In other words, he can’t read, write, or drive a car or work for that matter, nor will he have a family of his own one day). So if in fact your child is a «Spectrum Child,» maybe your child doesn’t belong in such an intense, highly organized and structured program of experts. Oh I forgot to mention, my son has been attending THG for 10 years so I assume I am qualified to give a pretty significant Unilocal review of THG that comes with facts and tenure vs. those that are an emotional mess because of their child’s diagnosis.
Employee Turnover? Really? Did I just read that there is too much turnover? My son’s principal of Sunrise has been there almost 20 years, his teacher (s) and aides probably 10 years including the speech therapist (s). FURTHERMORE, I would like to see the Unilocaler that is complaining about «turnover.» Maybe that person should have the job of a teacher, director, principal or therapist of special education!!!
It really blows my mind when I read Unilocal reviews that literally have no facts whatsoever instead its complete bashing because someone is angry. Go find a program that is PERFECT for your child instead of complaining about a program that doesn’t work for your child. These children/​young adults are all extremely different!
Imagine the job these people have day in and day out!!! What they get paid is their business and if they choose to work there, that is their choice and passion! No need to post it on Unilocal about them being underpaid, you don’t know!
Lastly, as for PRIVATE SCHOOL! THG is a Private School! Who cares if it is funded by Pasadena Unified, Los Angeles Unified, or Oak Park Unified — whatever Unified! Go look at the public school system special ed program!!! Prove to everyone a Public Education is better! Again, THG may not be for your child so place your child in a public program and hope for the best! And, if you are getting funded by a public school district, you should be grateful!
In closing, the school administration doesn’t need to be on your side! This isn’t a boxing match! That is not their JOB. Their job is to support «what is in the best interest of EACH and EVERY individual child.»
To all the spineless parents of children with Autism, welcome to the Journey, this plane ride isn’t landing anytime soon! It’s time for you all to be strong for your children and embrace the people that give advice and incorporate it into what you believe is crucial to your child and the outcome of the two should be amazing.
Stop the blame game.
Save your money and leave your lawyers at the office. Step up and do «whats in the best interest of your child.»
22 Years Old Comes Quickly! Then what? None of these people will be on your side. You will really have a battle then.
THG and their entire staff including their top executives have done an amazing job and they truly love their clients (our children). The are not adding buildings and expanding their campus because they don’t know what their doing. They are raising money each and every day to better their program for all of the future children being born into the world of Autism.
Good luck!

they should be shut down. they look the other way when you get into fights and eat you personal food. the staff also sleep during night shift or watch porn and movies. they just don’t care. on top of that they keep getting more violent clients in order to get more money. this place is a terrible residential living facility.

My son has been attending school here for approximately 6 years now. I am surprised at the two horrible reviews. This school is an amazing school and has been a great helping him succeed academically, socially and acquiring the skills he needs to hone in the real world. The staff are great and they work hard to make sure the children here are well educated and in a positive environment.

staff is very underpaid. there’s a lot of turnover. not enough stability

I have a four year old that attends the preschool at the Culver City Campus. Like the previous reviewer I am also surprised that the school only has 5 reviews, tire shops have more reviews than that.
When i first found out about this program during an internet search i thought i found a miracle school that incompases all the services my son needs all under one roof, i quickly came to find out that this school was very very short of a miracle.
The first problem i have is with transparancy. Which preschool private or public wants you to make an appointment to visit your childs class room? They are toddlers for crying out loud!
During orientation they inform parents about fees if you were to fund your kid out of pocket. For that amount I would expect to see teachers with better credentials, the turn over on teachers and assistants is rediculous! Speech therapist is a SLIPPA not a speech pathologist. Like the other parent mentioned, no 1:1 speech nor OT although it’s in your IEP.
Toddlers are bunched up in groups of 10 (ages 3 – 5 ½), they only give kids a 30 min nap. It’s not the cleanest classroom, my kid has come home with skid marks on his underwear a few times, they mix up the kids utencils all the time and at the end of the school year they sent home another kids clothes. They pride themselves of 3:1 or less ratio but they have many no show staff and they send staff to other classrooms to cover for other teachers. Organization is less than desirable. As much funding as they get from the government they could do a much better job of hiring qualified staff and create a better school enviornment.

I am a parent of a child with autism who has been attending at the Help Group for 5 years now. My kid started here since preschool. This is a non-​profit private school but please do not let the word «private-​school» fool you. Keep in mind even though it is a private school but 90% (or even more) of the students at this school are from LAUSD and funded by the LAUSD, so in reality this school is run by the school district.
The director of the school, teachers, therapist will not be on your side when it comes to IEP meeting, they will do whatever the school district said and do not CARE about your child’s interest. They will not hesitate to dis-​qualify or reduce the services of your kids even when they know the school district assessment is not accurate or reflect your kids status. The reason for that was Because at the end of the day, who funded for the school, LAUSD… Do not think that because of «private school» then the teachers or therapist will look out your child interest.
Many parents including myself have to hire an attorney to come to IEP meeting fighting for their kids services with the LAUSD and the Director of the school, teacher and therapists to get the services for my kids. Even when the district agree with the services at the end but the school and therapist will try refuse to provide it in order to save money and resources for the Help Group, this happened to my child personally.
The model of this school is collaborated model. This means they do not do a 1:1 services with your child such as speech or OT, they will come in class and work in group of 5 – 6 kids at the same time for 30 – 45 minutes, one time per week. My child has speech delayed and OT issues, it does not matter if the IEP said your child will get 60 minutes per week, it does not mean they will work with your child 1:1 for 60 minutes per week as stated in the IEP but rather in group 5 – 6 for 30 – 45 minutes.(keep that in mind) I do not see how my child can be benefit to work in group of 5 – 6 other kids with speech delay. It’s suppose to be Individualized Education Program (IEP), this is not really the definition of Individualized, isn’t it. I wanted to repeat again, EVEN your child IEP said «full out» method 1:1 and the school say that they will do it, but I highly doubt that they will do it. (In fact, I know that they do not it it).
My suggestion is to take all that into consideration when you decided to send your child to the Help Group. No one will fight for our child except you!!! Overall, this is an average school, they are all very friendly. But if you have any issues and wanted the director step in and help you, good luck with that, most likely your issues and problems will go nowhere and most of the time they will be ignored, This happen to many families at this school and parents are pretty upset about this. Nice and beautiful campus but they had become too big and do not really cares much about students. Find some smaller school but they will pay much closer attention to your kid than the Help Group.
My kid will not be attending this school next year.

My son is in his 3^rd year at the Help Group. He is classified as moderate to severely autistic. I stumbled upon this Unilocal page and was really surprised that not many parents have written. Positive or negative — we need to be out loud about what works and doesn’t work for our ASD kids so that other parents coming into this diagnosis after us will have some of their research done!
We love going to the Help Group and feel extremely privileged to be able to go here. We have been fortunate with great teachers. It is just like any school in the sense that some teachers are better than others BUT most are in the better category. Things that I like about the Help Group? All of the staff know all of the kids. No matter whose class you are in– the other teachers and even the folks working in back offices all know the kids names, etc. Also, we have always had a small class size and I feel totally safe knowing that someone is always within eyesight of my son at all times. We get detailed reports from the teacher every day in a communication book which is really amazing and helps facilitate communication with our sons teacher. I disagree with a previous post that said «if you have a child with significant behavior «they dont want your child» My son kicked and screamed most of the day every day for a few MONTHS when he started. I thought we would get kicked out. I was sure they would give up. But they didn’t. They pulled out all of the stops and did everything they could to make it work and it finally did. Now when teachers see him in the halls they have to smile because they can remember when my son was not so calmly enjoying school!
I don’t love the parking/​pick up situation (tiny parking spaces) but not enough to lose a star over. The people that will be looking at the Help Group for their kids are likely not going to choose their school because of parking anyways!
We feel fortunate to have found a perfect place for our child. We feel very supported at the Help Group and recommend it to anyone looking with an ASD child.

I’m a parent and my child (w/​autism) attended Help Group. Some of the people on staff were terrific, and some were not. It all comes down to the teacher and the aides in the classroom, really. If you have a child with significant behavioral issues, as I do, they do not want your child. It probably won’t work out. I would recommend looking elsewhere, which is what we did, and our son is at Villa Esperanza in Pasadena, which is a much more structured program and was a better fit for him.

The Help Group is a wonderful school!!! I go to the Help Group and I enjoy every single day being there, because all of the staff are friendly!!!

Children’s of Heaven…
The Help group is a unique educational and therapeutic with different school programs that addresses the educational needs of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities.