Boyertown Schools Bolster Support for Autistic

By Michelle Park, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Feb. 4–Five years after Stacey L. Minotto and other parents urged the Boyertown School District to create an autistic support classroom, the district has done it.

Minotto, for one, is thrilled.

The Douglass Township resident has a 3-year-old son, Frankie, who is showing signs of autism, and a 10-year-old son, Anthony, who has been diagnosed with the disorder.

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction.

"The earlier and the more help that they get, the better off these kids are," said Minotto, 36.

Boyertown’s Autistic Support Program began in September.

Administrators created the program because an increasing number of autism diagnoses showed there was need, said Robert L. Scoboria, assistant superintendent for student and administrative services.

The Boyertown district is not the first in Berks County to offer an autistic support classroom. At least one other — the Daniel Boone School District — also does.

Boyertown’s program is open to children in kindergarten through second grade. It helps students develop social and language skills, Scoboria said.

For example, children can practice social interactions and learn, among other things, to respond when asked to play.

More than that, Minotto said, the program provides children a safe place where they can benefit from intervention and not be judged.

She hopes the effort will lead to increased awareness among teachers and staff who work with autistic children.

"I think it’s a race against time," she said. "When somebody knows about it … they know what to expect. They know how to push them."

Boyertown’s autistic support program serves eight students who have disorders within the autism spectrum, Scoboria said.

The district has 53 students with such disorders in kindergarten through 12th grade. Most are served by a learning-support program, and some are transported to other schools.

The autistic support program is in a Washington Elementary School classroom staffed by a teacher, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and three paraprofessionals.

Students from the district’s other six elementary schools are bused there. The students spend most of their school days in their traditional classrooms.

The program’s educational costs, including teacher salaries, are covered by $200,000 in federal funding, Scoboria said. That amount does not cover transportation or building costs.

Sending children to private placements would cost more, he added.

"We live in an inclusive world, so we hope our schools prepare our students to work with people of different needs," he said.

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