Special Education in South Brunswick

When it comes to educating students with the greatest need, the South Brunswick School District has worked to prepare kids with disabilities to succeed from preschool into adulthood.  The district's special education program begins in the Preschool Disabled program and runs all the way through job training skills that last beyond the end of high school.

"We make every effort to help these students deal with their disabilities and learn," said Superintendent Gary McCartney.  "We have a group of teachers, support staff and administration who are dedicated and committed to working with these young people and to help them compensate for their disabilities."

Students in the Preschool Disabled program are taught by a certified special education teacher and assisted by paraprofessionals. The program provides speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy, when needed. 

This program is based upon a developmentally appropriate curriculum, according to Director of Student Services Raphael Morales. Children in the program are actively involved in exploring their environment through hands-on learning and interaction with peers. 

"All the research out there says that intervention that's more frequent throughout their schooling, in all likelihood, helps students to better compensate for their disabilities," Morales said.  "Our array of programs and services are designed to work with kids beyond the individual grade levels and into their adulthood.  Our goal is to determine where they're going to be as an adult, based on their disability, and how can we best prepare them."

Morales said the concept of peer modeling is vital throughout the education of kids with special needs to help prepare them for life outside of school.

"A lot of learning happens through observation and exploring and that only happens successfully by working with students who have no disabilities, to pick up traits like how to be socially appropriate and how to follow directions."

As students advance through the program, the hope is that they'll be able to adjust comfortably to the higher grade levels.

"We identify all of the readiness skills they should have and try to make the elementary school experience more successful," Morales said.  "We want them to make a smooth transition into school, which can be the most difficult part."

With more severely disable students, there are some cases where the kids needd to travel out of district for special instruction.  But Dr. McCartney said the goal of the administration and staff is to work with the students in the schools of South Brunswick to allow them a better chance to succeed in a comfortable environment.

"One of the issues that I think is difficult for youngsters is when they're taken out of their home environment and transported to a place where they don't have a peer group," he said.  "One of the things we're focused on is to provide programming to the broadest extent possible for a whole range of disabilities, to allow as many of these youngsters to remain in South Brunswick as possible.  They already have enough issues to contend with than our regular education students, so it compounds it if we're not able to accommodate them in their home district."

Throughout the schooling of a child with special needs, the staff works to identify how the student will transition into adulthood so they can be better prepared to find independence and fulfillment.  

"Some kids with special needs are going to move on to college, but for some of them, without deep vocational training they will not be successful," Morales said.  "That's why we teach life skills and vocational skills to help them transition into their adult life."

The high school's transition program places students in inclusion classes, as well as support classes.  The classes help provide the students with interviewing skills and job skills to help them find employment.  The more severely disabled students are involved in structured learning environments that take them out into the community to learn job skills and to help them communicate.

"With the more severely disabled population, if they can be employed then we try to help them find employment, whether it be working at Stop&Shop or other places like that," said Special Education Transition Coordinator Ana Quinones. "We want to get them experience in the working world so they can make that transition smoothly after they leave school. When we bring them out into the community on jobs, we're doing more than teaching them employable skills, they're also being educated in a functional way.  

"A lot of our goals go across content areas that use language, math and social studies.  So even though they may be spending a day in the community, they're still getting an education in a different way."

Quinones said the ultimate goal is to develop their working and social skills to the point that more severely disabled students are able to establish a level of independence that goes a long way to help build self-esteem.

"We hope they can become part of the community and feel accepted," she said. "Being able to communicate is a big thing for our kids.  To  be able to do things like going to a bank teller or going to the market and asking where something is. We want the kids to be able to do things, so we bring them out into the community and teach them and in turn the community helps them reach that goal to be independent and successful."

With last week being Special Education Week, Dr. McCartney wished to praise the efforts of the numerous special education teachers in South Brunswick for the exemplary work they do on a daily basis with the students who have special needs.

"I salute the efforts of our staff because it's extremely hard work and it requires a great deal of compassion and a deep level of empathy," he said.  "I think we're fortunate to have a staff of educators that understands the commitment needed and are so dedicated to these kids."

Local business and volunteers are needed to help provide students with special needs the chance to learn in a workplace environment.  If you're a business owner and would like to assist, contact Ana Quinones at 732-329-4044 ext. 3219.