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May 1, 2008 • Vol. XXXI • No. 36
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Page| Thirteen Schools Honored for Innovations in Special Education |
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Thirteen New Jersey schools will be recognized for creative special education programming through the seventh annual Innovations in Special Education program next month. Representatives of the 13 schools will accept awards during a May 16 event in Somerset County, held in conjunction with Special Education Week in New Jersey (May 11-17). NJSBA and ASAH…Serving the private special education community since 1974 have sponsored Special Education Week since 1985. Special Education Week recognizes the achievements of the state’s 235,000 special education students and the contributions of their parents and teachers. The May 16 event, at The Midland School in North Branch, will also include fun and learning activities for some 1,000 special education students. Schools honored through the 2008 Innovations in Special Education Program include –
Judges representing NJSBA, ASAH, and the New Jersey Department of Education chose the 13 programs from among 73 entries. They based their selections on innovation, effectiveness, parental or community involvement, and evaluation strategies. “The recognized programs demonstrate the hard work, creativity and leadership of New Jersey’s schools in preparing children with special needs for fulfilling and productive lives,” said Kevin E. Ciak, NJSBA president. Said Philip M. Gartlan, ASAH president, “I am proud of the innovative approaches being used by New Jersey’s public and private schools, often in cooperation with each other, to inspire our children to achieve.” New Jersey’s public schools and private schools for the disabled serve approximately 235,000 special education students. Innovations in Special Education 2008 Bergenfield Public School District (Bergen County), ‘Not Far From Par’ Golf Program Middle school and high school students with autism are taught the game of golf in a four-week-long summer program. Because golf is an individual activity with repetitive rituals and a rich tradition of social etiquette, it has proved to be an effective way to “connect” with adolescents who have autism. Staff members reported progress for each student in motor skills, in ability to focus and retain information and in communication with peers and staff. The 2007 pilot program was funded with a grant from the United States Golf Association, which has provided additional funding that enabled the program to more than double the number of participating students this year. Contact: Dr. Michael Kuchar, superintendent, (201) 385-8202; mkuchar@bergenfield.org.
Bergen County Special Services School District, The Venture Program The Venture Program addresses the complex needs of students in grades 5 through 12 who have recently been discharged from a psychiatric hospital or are currently exhibiting serious psychiatric symptoms. The program provides each student with a multidisciplinary team consisting of a teacher, paraprofessional, a licensed clinical social worker, a crisis counselor, a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, a learning disability teacher/consultant and a case manager. Venture offers an academic departmentalized program that is aligned with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and which supports participation in state and district-wide testing. A full array of psychiatric services, as well as medication management and monitoring, are available. In addition, the program provides crisis counseling, art therapy, recreational therapy, psychotherapy, and bereavement and loss counseling, along with family support. The program consists of a 220-day school year, which provides students with the continued support needed to foster retention, achievement and success. Comprehensive plans support transition to a new school or to adult life. Contact: Dr. Seema Lodhi, principal, (201) 343-6000, ext. 4560; seelod@bergen.org.
Children’s Therapy Center, Cerebral Palsy Center of Bergen County, The Ballet Program Children with multiple disabilities, ages 3 to 8, take part in a ballet class that is structured to be of therapeutic benefit. Lynn Barral, a physical therapist with a degree in dance, tailored classic ballet moves, such as “plies” and “tendus,” to the children’s abilities. Additional goals involve improving the children’s abilities to focus, attend to the activity, and remain calm. The Ballet Program places emphasis on helping teaching assistants, nurses and therapists to balance the need to facilitate the children’s efforts while providing as much opportunity for independent movement as possible. The program culminates in a Dance Recital. Contact: Lynn Barral, assistant director, physical therapist, (201) 797-7440, ext. 224; lbarral@thechildrenstherapycenter.org
CPC Behavioral Healthcare High Point School (Monmouth County), High Point Inn At CPC Behavioral Healthcare High Point School, a special education receiving private school that serves more than 150 students from ages 12 to 21, students help prepare all of the school lunches. The activity gives the students the opportunity to work in a restaurant-style kitchen and to prepare the entire lunch menu according to federal nutritional guidelines. The High Point Inn is a pre-vocational program that helps determine if students are ready to transition to their home schools or to attend vocational training programs. Many students in the program are able to locate and maintain jobs in the food industry outside of school when they graduate. Contact: Wilma Pfeffer, principal, (732) 591-1750, ext. 3227; wpfeffer@cpcbhc.org
ECLC of New Jersey (Morris County), PAIRS Program The acronym PAIRS stands for Partners in Afterschool Inclusive Recreation for Special Needs and is designed to bring together disabled and non-disabled students, enriching both groups. ECLC of New Jersey, a state-approved private school for children with severe disabilities, formed a partnership with Millburn High School. The Millburn High students conduct a weekly evening basketball clinic for ECLC students, ages 12 to 21. The sessions last six weeks and are held in the fall and the spring. For the first 60 minutes, there is basketball skill/drill and practice. The last 30 minutes are devoted to interaction among all students with refreshments and activities, such as bingo and dancing. Contact: Bruce Litinger, executive director, (973) 635-1705 ext. 113; blitinger@eclcofnj.org
Lakeview School, Cerebral Palsy Association of Middlesex County, ‘With Differences Aside’ Community Schools Program The goal of the Lakeview School’s Community Schools program is to provide ongoing interaction between its students with disabilities and students without disabilities in nearby schools. The program targets Lakeview students between the ages of 5 and 21 and general education public school students from Metuchen’s Campbell Elementary School, Edgar Middle School and Metuchen High School, the Gables Elementary School in Neptune Township, the Chittick Elementary School in East Brunswick and Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s Terrill Middle School. The general education students receive training in the needs and abilities of disabled students. Activities that the special and general education students participate in together include adapted bell choir, music, art and physical education, as well as bowling. Contact: Lynn Sikorski, principal, (732) 549-5580; lynn.sikorski@cpamc.org
Lenape Regional High School District (Burlington County), Bookends, Buddies and Broadened Horizons As part of the school’s Asperger Syndrome (AS) program, students, ages 14 to 17, participate in several activities to improve their social and academic skills. The school day is “bookend-ed” with morning and afternoon support sessions for students that include social skills workshops and academic assistance. The Buddies Club is an after-school social skills club that meets once a week and helps students with AS overcome social skills challenges by forming and maintaining new friendships among group members and with their peers in the larger student body. Members of a sister club of regular education students, Students Together for Autism Research (STAR), meet with the Buddies Club members every other week to help them practice conversation, maintain eye contact and adjust tone of voice. The AS students also receive individual assistance from a special education teacher and a paraprofessional. Contact: Margaret Martin, assistant principal, Cherokee High School, (856) 983-5140, ext. 2394; mmartin@lrhsd.org.
The Midland School (Somerset County), The Health Heroes Nutrition Program Children with special needs are at increased risk for nutrition-related problems because of physical problems, motor limitations, sensory challenges and medical issues. But studies show that students who are provided with a nutritional education program show greater improvement in overall dietary behavior than those who are not. The Healthy Heroes program is designed for students ages 5 to 21 and includes monthly themes that create school-wide awareness through banners, bulletin boards, recipes and activity banks, as well as a tasting program that provides increased opportunities to try a variety of healthy foods. The “Healthy Hero Patrol” provides reinforcement of healthy eating habits using students and staff to take pictures and create a photo record of students “caught” eating healthy lunches and snacks. Contact: Suzy Frank, occupational therapist, (908) 722-8222; frank@midlandschool.org
The Midland School (Somerset County), Midlands Helping Hands Housekeepers The Midland School serves 245 students, ages 5 to 21, who are multiply disabled with cognitive impairments, communication impairments and other disabilities. Students, age 18 and older, sample jobs in the community. One of these job training experiences is the Midlands Helping Hands. The Somerset County Office on Aging identifies senior citizens who need assistance, typically housekeeping and cleaning services that seniors are no longer able to do by themselves. The team of one staff member and two students provides services such as vacuuming, dusting, cleaning floors and washing dishes. Students benefit by learning to perform these services, an activity that can later translate into jobs as they transition from school to work. The senior citizens benefit by receiving much needed housekeeping services that, in some cases, allow elderly clients to remain in their homes, rather than moving to assisted living or nursing home situations. Contact: Jane Wilkie, supervisor, (908) 722-8222; wilkie@midlandschool.org
New Road School of Parlin (Middlesex County), We Remember the Jewish Children of the Bialystok Ghetto The New Road School, a private special education school for students with multiple disabilities, initiated a joint project with the Klasa 1a School in Bialystok, Poland, which is a Polish public school that integrates disabled children into regular classrooms. The project honors the Polish Jewish children from the Bialystok Ghetto who were put on a train, taken to Auschwitz, and killed on Erev Yom Kippur in 1943. The purpose of the program is to imagine the lives of these children. Students select the names of actual children who were victims, conjure up a one-page individual life story about their child, and make an oral presentation. By coordinating this project with a Polish school, students enjoy the experience of collaborating with students from another country and work towards a common goal of remembering the lives of the children of the Bialystok Ghetto. Contact: Phyllis Pollak, social skills coordinator, (732) 238-7700; phypollak@yahoo.com
Pemberton Township School District (Burlington County), Celebrating Awareness The goal of Celebrating Awareness is to encourage non-disabled children to accept their peers with disabilities. Students in the district’s nine elementary schools have the opportunity to “try on” a disability and experience what it feels like to be disabled. Through one activity, students learn what it is like to have visual disabilities by donning goggles or cellophane-covered glasses and trying to complete an assignment, such as a dot-to-dot or color by number. To simulate fine motor skill problems, students button a shirt normally and then try to do the same thing while wearing a pair of mittens. To test gross motor skills, students sit in a wheelchair and maneuver around the classroom building. The students experience these activities in their special subject classes, such as art, music and physical education. Contact: Charlotte Dixon, special education supervisor, (609) 893-8141; cdixon@pemb.org
Raritan Valley Academy, Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission, Social Norms Campaign The Social Norms Campaign aims to prevent substance abuse and bullying among its special education population in grades 6-12 and ages 10 to 19. The social norms approach is based on the concept that an individual’s behavior is influenced by what he or she believes others are doing and that these beliefs are often incorrect. The campaign involves information gathered from confidential student surveys, which show that students believe that their peers use more tobacco, alcohol and other drugs than is actually the case. The program makes an effort to break these misconceptions through accurate messages communicated monthly and reinforced through various activities. “In an average week, the majority of Raritan Valley Academy 9th -12th grade students do NOT consume any alcohol” is a typical message. Activities and contests are held throughout the year to promote these monthly messages. Students who can recite the monthly social norm message become eligible for prizes, which include items such as Sony portable Playstations, iPods, CD players and gift cards from various retailers. The program is funded through a grant from Rowan University. Contact: Tia La Piana, principal, (732) 777-9860; tlapiaa@mresc.k12.nj.us
Mount Olive Public Schools (Morris County), Madame Killen’s Wax Museum This innovative program was designed for a self-contained special education class encompassing grades 3 to 5. Inspired by a class trip to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York City, students chose a famous American they wanted to research and dress as. They created a display, and, as visitors came through the “wax museum,” the students delivered a speech they had written about their subject. Contact: Karen Killen, Tinc Road School, (973) 927-2203; kkillen@mtoliveboe.org The New Jersey School Boards Association, a federation of district boards of education, advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education. ASAH...serving the private special education community since 1974 is a professional organization of private schools and agencies in New Jersey that provide highly specialized services to more than 10,000 children and adults with special needs. |
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