Saturday, April 21, 2007
Here is a short story on Healthy Lifestyle and Graciousness. Andre first came to Rock Brook School, a Somerset County United Way-affiliated agency, in 1998 when he ran into learning difficulties at school. But thanks to the school's effective and caring staff he quickly began to excel as he found himself enjoying and succeeding at the many interesting classes and projects.
Andre was evaluated as a preschooler when his mother and pediatrician became concerned about his speech development. His expressive language at the time was jabbering and high-pitched screaming sounds and, it was determined that Andre had moderate to severe delays in all areas of development. Andre attended a county special-education preschool program where he made gains in all areas of development, despite significant attention and some behavioral problems.
"It was felt that the program at Rock Brook would be the next best step for Andre," said Mary Caterson, executive director of Rock Brook School. "Although he was talking at that point to request his wants and needs, he continued to need significant development of his speech and language skills. He remained approximately two years behind with auditory processing and attention problems and difficulty with spontaneous expressive language. The use of language in social situations was really difficult for him. He also required a small class with structure and a behavior management component."
Located in Skillman, Rock Brook School is a private, nonprofit school for communication-impaired and disabled children, from preschool through age 12. The school offers full academic individualized programs as well as speech and language remediation, behavior management, physical therapy and the development of self-esteem and social skills, all through a comprehensive, team-teaching approach.
Clearly Rock Brook School has been beneficial in numerous ways to Andre who says he enjoys all of the subjects he has learned about at the school, especially science. He can even recount one of his favorite experiments that involved watering plants with salt water and tap water to see which type of water was best for the plants. Andre also states that he likes his teachers, the work, the recesses and even the rules at Rock Brook.
"Andre is a terrific young man whose progress during his time at Rock Brook has been amazing," said Amy Myers, a speech pathologist who has worked with Andre for three years. Amy describes Andre as a very likable young man who enjoys science and math and who loves to learn. "One summer, Andre took the initiative to memorize his addition and multiplication facts during school vacation," adds Amy. "He soaks up knowledge like a sponge, and his innate curiosity makes him a great student.
"Andre's work habits and social skills have matured remarkably since he came to Rock Brook School. He is eager to please, has a good sense of humor, and is well-liked by his classmates. I wish every educator could be lucky enough to have at least one student like Andre. He is a joy to have in class, and enthusiasm like his makes a teacher's job truly rewarding."
"The program's focus on intensive, collaborative speech and language therapy was very important to Andre's eventual success," said Caterson. "He also benefited from our social skills program through which he had opportunities to practice, script language and discuss social situations. He really has had significant gains in the skills required for interpersonal interaction. We know that Andre will continue to have much more well-deserved success in his academic career."
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10:32 PM
