Schools Tailor Programs to Meet Needs of Students

By BONNIE V. WINSTON

For parents whose children have special needs, knowing where to look for a school to help their child can be a daunting task. But in the greater Richmond area, options abound.

The strength of each school is in providing education tailored to the needs of the student.

Some schools work with students with specific types of problems, such as autism or emotional disorders, while others cater to a broad range of needs.

The schools are situated in an array of settings – urban settings, suburban locales and others with expansive, multi-acre campuses complete with multiple buildings or cottages and a plethora of outdoor activities.

While most schools are small compared with public education, their sizes vary. Some special needs schools have almost one-on-one instruction for students, while others have class sizes of 10 or more. Each school touts its ability to get to know the student and to learn his or her particular needs.

While some schools try to streamline students back into traditional public school classrooms, many are licensed and accredited by the state to award high school diplomas.

All have a range of specialists either on hand or on call to work with students beyond normal requirements.

Below are profiles on a few of the area schools that offer the special teaching services:

An alternative day school, Elk Hill – Varina, situated on 25 acres in eastern Henrico County, provides education for students mainly with emotional and learning disabilities. It also is an intermediate step for students transitioning from residential or court placements back to public school.

Some students expelled or on long-term suspension from Henrico County Public Schools attend Elk Hill – Varina, while students from Richmond Public Schools are placed there because of truancy problems.

About 25 students attend the small, coed school, which is a branch of Elk Hill Farm, an alternative education and treatment program located on a 300-acre estate in Goochland County.

“Our goal is to help students return to public school, if that’s what they want,” said Wade Puryear, director of education.

To aid the process, behavior specialists and counselors conduct individual and group counseling for a variety of problems. “Sometimes they are sounding boards and can help the students through other life difficulties,” Puryear said.

Because the goal is to return to public school, the set-up at Elk Hill – Varina mirrors public schools. Students change classes and have extra-curricular activities, including mock-election challenges, dress-up days and teams that mirror student activity groups.

Operating in Henrico since 1999, Elk Hill-Varina accepts students from the greater metropolitan area, including Goochland and Petersburg.

Started on its current site in 1834 by nuns, St. Joseph’s Villa Dooley School’s educational program has evolved into the nonsectarian, nonprofit Dooley School which is made up of seven academies helping 190 students with a variety of special needs.

“We embrace the most difficult and the most challenging students,” said Steven R. Skinner, director of public relations for St. Joseph’s Villa. “Our academies fill the gaps in services in the Richmond area. We also have academies where there are limited or no services.

“For each child, we try to discover how we can best take them to the next level,” Skinner said. The next level may mean a return to public school, or it may mean progressing to a more stable academic and behavioral level.

Five of the seven academies are conducted on the villa’s 82-acre campus at Brook and Parham roads, where historic cottages and tall shady trees dot the landscape.

A sixth academy is located in Chesterfield County, while a seventh is in Saluda.

Brook Road Academy – Geared toward students in grades 6 through 12 who are not successful in their current schools and are at risk of not graduating from high school. Individualized instruction is given in a curriculum based on the Virginia Standards of Learning.

Lakeside Academy – Geared toward students in elementary through high school who are diagnosed with developmental disabilities.

Marshall Street Academy – For middle and high school students diagnosed with emotional disturbances and learning disabilities.

Parham Road Academy – Geared toward students from preschool through high school who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Metro Academy – Alternative education for middle and high school students who have been suspended or expelled from public schools, are returning from a state learning center, or who reside in St. Joseph’s Villa emergency shelter. Most of the students in this academy return to regular public schools or to other academic or vocational schools.

Cherokee Road Academy, located in Chesterfield County – Geared toward elementary through high school students with autism, emotional disorders, learning disabilities and other disabilities.

Bayside Academy, located in Saluda – Geared toward elementary through high school students diagnosed with emotional disturbances and learning disabilities.

Northstar Academy, located off Parham Road in western Henrico County, caters to students with a broad spectrum of learning problems. Although a day school, its 90 students come from as far as Spotsylvania, Farmville, Dinwiddie, New Kent and Charles City counties. Classrooms are located in a main building, with smaller class spaces in train cars that formerly housed a restaurant.

Students have learning disabilities or other health-impaired disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder or are developmentally delayed.

Instruction is geared to the student’s individual need, said Dr. Patricia West, head of school.

“There’s a lot of creativity in how teachers present lessons. It’s not just oral or written,” she said.

For example, a student who is “disgraphic,” or unable to organize material to write a report, may be asked to present an oral report or draw a poster, rather than to submit a written report, she said.

Older students also attend 20-minute sessions daily on social skills and goals, which include how to make eye contact and to have age-appropriate conversation.

“We also have a part-time school psychologist who works with students on realistic outcomes and expectations,” West said.

“Each student receives the education that makes him or her successful. That may be preparing them for work, preparing them for college or preparing them for work and then for college.”

The small, nurturing environment contributes to student success, she said.

Spiritos School, opened in Summer 2002 by a veteran occupational therapist trained in applied behavior analysis, focuses on helping students ages 2 to 7 with autism spectrum disorder.

“We specialize in early intervention – before they develop behaviors” that are difficult to manage and unlearn, said founder and director Janet Lachowsky.

Located in Midlothian near Watkins Elementary School, the school was begun with a 3-year-old child and the aid of experts who flew in from across the country. With Lachowsky’s help, and guidance from the experts, the child advanced in 16 months from being completely non-verbal, she said, to speaking sentences.

The program currently has nine students and operates year round.

“We carefully contrive a world where they are reinforced by the things around them,” Lachowsky said.

The program employs a progression of food reinforcement to toy reinforcement to get children to learn and to use basic language skills.

“We get youngsters to the point that they can talk with other children,” Lachowsky said. Once at that point, the children are integrated into a nearby preschool, where one of Spiritos’ 11 staff members will “shadow” the child to bolster the lessons and transition.

Already, two students at Spiritos have “graduated” to typical school settings, she said.

Situated on a 450-acre farm in Keswick outside Charlottesville, Oakland School is an alternative school designed for students with a variety of learning disabilities, but without serious behavior problems.

“These are the kids who have slipped through the cracks in regular public schools,” said director Carol Smieciuch. “Their IQ may show they are normal or gifted, but they have trouble getting their thoughts down on paper. They can’t function in regular classrooms.”

Part residential and part day school, Oakland attracts half its students from various regions of Virginia and the other half mostly from the eastern United States. It was started in 1950 as a summer camp and then turned into a year-round school in 1967. Its forte is intense academics with a focus on the basics – reading, written language, math and study skills.

“We don’t succumb to trends,” Smieciuch said. “We believe in the basics that are tried and true. We have changed the lives of our students.”

About 80 students are in Oakland’s winter school, while the numbers swell during the summer camp. Summer camp is a combination of the same intense academics as winter school, coupled with swimming, horseback riding and tennis.

The campus has a full-size gym and soccer field.

Each student has one-to-one instruction with a reading teacher, while math and English classes have between seven and nine students. If classes are larger, then teaching assistants are assigned to help.

“Most of the students go back to regular classrooms,” Smieciuch said. Others go on to college or to work as chefs or in all sorts of artistic fields, she said.

MEMO: SPECIAL SECTION: PRIVATE SCHOOLS

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