By Cris Italia
But for more than three years now, parents of students in Oceanside schools have been able to rest easy. They have seen a steady rise in their child's productivity. With overwhelming dedication to a revamped special education program, parents have had no problem leaving their children in the hands of experienced special education teachers and therapist at Oceanside Schools 5 and 6.
"We have a responsibility to give appropriate services to children in Oceanside," said Director of Oceanside's special education program Ilene Brandon. "We try to serve our district as well as we possibly can."
The Oceanside school district decided a few years ago to expand on their special education program, putting an emphasis on developmental disabilities.
"We have seen Autism growing not only in this district, but also nationwide," Brandon said.
The program at School 5 is about three years old now, while the School 6 Kindergarten program is in its first year.
"I'm excited and happy that we can do this for people in Oceanside," said Dr. Herb Brown, Superintendent of Oceanside Schools. "This program gives the students many opportunities and they can meet other students from Oceanside . . . It's scary to think that before this they had to get on a bus at five years of age and do this at another school."
Both programs cater to the each child's individual needs, and although students in the program are mostly diagnosed with autism, they all have similar goals. Each student receives several hours a week in speech, physical, behavior, and occupational therapy. Eventually as the student becomes more and more comfortable with his or her surroundings, the child is slowly integrated into a general education class.
"Students in general ed classes normally are very receptive to a new student, and are supportive," Brandon said. She added that students making the partial move to a general ed environment are accompanied by a behavioral therapist, who is on hand at all times. In the hallways children are constantly acknowledging their classmates, and although they realize some are in "special" class, they are never treated any differently.
In Maryellen McShane's kindergarten class, song is used in many cases to teach the curriculum. She also uses classroom aids hung around the room to engage the students. In one exercise McShane asks her students to name a pattern of shapes on the wall, she even gives the option to her students to pick a hard shape or an easy shape. One students yells, "I want the hard shapes." Immediately he points out the shape on the wall is a rhombus, followed by a hexagon. The whole class follows, and excels with the exercise.
"We love working with these kids, they are fantastic," said McShane, who is in her first year with the program. "More than anything I learn from them and that's very rewarding."
The addition of the School 6 kindergarten program came from the success of the School 5 program, and an overwhelming amount of support from both the superintendent and the school board.
"Without the support of the board of education and the administration, we would never be able to have these programs," Brandon said.
Heathyr Sheehan, a special education teacher at School 5 said the class of seven- to 10-year-olds follow a second grade level, which just shows the type of success the students have had over the last three years.
"We've had so much success with these students, and I know them so well, so that if anything goes wrong I know exactly what to do to gain their attention," Sheehan said.
Brandon said he is sure the programs are a step in the right direction for all the children participating in them.
"For these students there is a great likely hood that they will gain long term acceptance," Brandon said. "That's what we want to accomplish, we want them to feel as normal as they possibly can."
