Our Students

Boys are accepted between the ages of ten and fifteen at the time of enrollment, and come to Keswick School from all over the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world. Students who are accepted have a variety of learning, emotional, and behavioral challenges, and may be supported with medication management.

Our boys are average to superior intellectually, but come with complex challenges including learning difficulties, social difficulties, mood disorders, executive functioning problems, cognitive processing issues, and self-regulation problems. Many of our students struggle with anxiety, fear, and frustration, which may manifest in the form of manipulation, poor relationships, opposition, inconsistency, social isolation, obsessions, or disorganized and poorly-regulated behaviors.

Student diagnoses may include:

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Anxiety Disorder
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Depression
• Mood Disorder
• Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
• Bipolar Disorder
• Learning Disability
• Nonverbal Learning Disability
• Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder – Level 1/High functioning
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder
• Attachment Issues
• Sensory Integration Disorder

Applicants must have adequate cognitive abilities and perceptual stability to make use of our interventions. At some level, applicants must be able to build relationships, and implement strategies in order to access the program support. Our students move with the group and can follow group instruction.

Our students tend to be less sophisticated and less streetwise than typical adolescents and pre-adolescents. Therefore, we do not accept applicants with histories of legal involvement or conduct-disordered behaviors. We do not work with children who demonstrate patterns of physical aggression, sexual behaviors, or elopement.