The New York Institute for Special Education

There is a hidden gem in New York City that has served children with visual and other impairments since 1832. The New York Institute for Special Education was founded as The New York Institution for the Blind and was located at several Manhattan locations, the most recent of which was at Ninth Avenue and 34th Street. When this land was needed to build a huge postal facility, arrangements were made to move the Institute to its current location on more than 17 landscaped acres on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, where it began operations under its current name in 1924.

Over the years, the Institute's mission has both expanded and contracted. Its original program, and still center of its mission, is the Schermerhorn Program for visually impaired or blind students from ages five through 21. The program is designed to provide students with the tools they need for independence and includes New York State exams and Regents exams for those who are able to work at that level. Those who are not at grade level receive remedial instruction as needed.  Related services, such  as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, orientation and mobility training, and counseling, as well as training in social skills and activities of daily living are provided as appropriate.  Students participate in pre-vocational and skills development and can earn college credit starting in their junior year as part of a partnership with area colleges. There are a variety of extra-curricular activities, including sports, student government, music, and art.

Another program at the Institute is its Readiness Program, a full-day program for Bronx children from ages three through five who have developmental delays and who are referred by their Committee on Preschool Special Education.

Still another program, Van Cleve Program, was established in the late 1980's to serve children with learning and emotional disabilities from ages four through 13. The goal of this program is to remediate the behavioral and learning deficits of these young students in a highly structured setting that includes counseling services for both students and families. At this time, however, the Van Cleve Program is not accepting new students.

The spacious facilities at The Institute include dormitories for students from the Van Cleve Program and those in the Schermerhorn Program who can benefit from the five-day residential program . Students return home on weekends and holidays and during the week receive homework help, learn independent living skills, and participate in numerous recreational activities.

Graduation 2018

The Institute is led by the amazingly knowledgeable and dedicated Bernadette M. Kappen, Ph.D. Dr. Kappen leads a team of dedicated educators and works with a Board of Managers that includes Dr. Yellin, who tries to attend graduation every year!

Working with Schools

We often speak about our work with students and with families. But we also work with schools, in a number of different ways.

For most students we see, an important step even before we begin our evaluation process is to review information that has been prepared in the past by the school, generally IEPs and report cards. Then, we ask parents to provide the school/teacher(s) with several questionnaires (some proprietary and some standardized) dealing with academic and behavior issues. These are designed to give us a better sense of how a child is doing in school. It is important to keep in mind that some families prefer not to involve their child's school in the assessment process, at least not at this point. Although information from the school is very helpful, we understand and respect parents' preferences when they want to move ahead without letting their school know they are having their child assessed.

Sometimes, especially for very young students, there are reasons to visit a student's classroom for an observation as part of the assessment process. The findings of this visit are included as part of the information we use when creating the student's profile and preparing our report of our findings and recommendations.

Once the assessment is finished and our finalized report has been prepared, we generally speak to the school (in a conference call that includes the parents) about our findings. This call is included in our assessment fee and is done at no additional charge. If the family will be seeking -- or revising -- an IEP, we can arrange to have Dr. Yellin join the meeting by phone to explain our findings and recommendations. We have found this to be a very effective way for the school to understand what we have learned about the student and what strategies, services, supports, and accommodations we recommend.

Sometimes, our work with a school will begin when the school reaches out to us to ask us to evaluate a specific student, or when parents tell us that their school has urged them to come to us with their child who has been struggling.

We also go into schools -- and school districts -- to do professional development and to speak to parent groups. We have several talks to parent groups scheduled for March and April. Check our calendar in the next couple of weeks for full details. Dr. Yellin will speak to local parent groups at no charge.

Finally, our evaluations include an advocacy consultation with our attorney Susan Yellin, Esq., where appropriate. That consultation often includes suggestions for schools that may be a good fit for a particular student. Both Dr. and Mrs. Yellin regularly visit schools in the region and are familiar with many programs that will work well for the students we see.

Signs It May be Time to Change Schools

I have been preparing for a webinar I will be presenting for ADDitude Magazine on March 6th on"A Parent’s Guide to Changing Schools: How to Find the Best Match for Your Student with ADHD or LD" and thinking about what parents need to consider and do before deciding to move their child to a different school.

We aren't talking here about the natural progression from elementary to middle to high school, or the need to move schools as part of a family move from one place to another -- whether in the same school district or across the country. We've addressed these issues before for students with IEPs and there are specific rules to be followed for such moves.

What can be most difficult for families is determining whether their current school is meeting their child's needs and, if not, what can be done to make things better. Whether parental concerns are based on lack of academic progress, social or emotional issues, safety, or distance, there are usually steps that can and should be taken before a decision to change schools is made. 

The first step is generally to meet with your child's teacher, even if the teacher may be part of the problem. See for yourself what the teacher is like (if you haven't already met him/her) and get the teacher's take on the issues that concern you. If the teacher is unwilling or unable to make changes to address your concerns, consider whether a meeting with the principal or another administrator might be helpful. Such meetings can be useful if you want to switch your child to another class or teacher or to have your child placed in a special program -- a gifted track, a bi-lingual class, or a class of diverse learners with a regular and special education teacher in one room. 

But, sometimes these steps are insufficient. If the problems your child is facing are academic or behavioral, this is the time to request an evaluation to determine whether she or he meets the criteria for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504. The evaluation is the first step in this process. The IDEA also provides for a functional behavioral assessment for children whose behavior is of concern. 

Another issue that might make your child's current school problematic is bullying. In New York City, children who are bullied may be entitled to a transfer to a different school. Our colleagues at Advocates for Children have created an excellent guide to recognizing and dealing with bullying and the right to a transfer.

What about issues that your child's school or district can't really change in the short term? Is your child's class size simply too large? Does the school or the area in which it is located have safety issues? Is it too long a trip for your child to get to school? Does he or she have a talent or skill that the school can do little to support? Or might your child have an IEP and need a specific service, such as speech and language therapy or a reading teacher with training in dyslexia remediation, that your school does not provide and is unwilling or unable to offer? These situations may be reasons to consider changing schools. We'll address the steps to take to make such a change in a later blog post -- and in our March 6th webinar. We hope you listen in and submit your questions. 

Gillen Brewer School

Your blogger had the opportunity to attend a professional open house last week at Gillen Brewer School, a special education school for young children located in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The school serves children from just under three years of age through age 10, in ungraded preschool and elementary classes. The staff and the school itself were most impressive and the education and support offered to the students clearly met each child at his or her own level and worked to make them more independent and to help them learn.

Gillen Brewer was founded to serve children with challenges with speech and language, gross and fine motor skills, learning, and sensory and social-emotional development. As the Head of School, Donna Kennedy explained to our visiting group, the children at Gillen Brewer "need adult support around functional use of skills." In addition, the school believes in the importance of partnering with parents and families and offers workshops and events through its School-Home Partnership Program.

The school provides that support for its students with numerous speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, and doctoral level psychologists (five of each profession, for a student body of less than 100 children), as well as special subject teachers. Students come to Gillen Brewer (named for the grandmothers of the founders) with a variety of challenges and functional levels and the school offers two class models for its elementary students. Those students with more significant impairments, including those who lack functional communication and who need augmented communication devices, are served in a class of not more than six students, with one head teacher and two assistant teachers. Those students who have functional language and need adult support to communicate not more than around 30 percent of the time are served in a slightly larger class of up to 10 students, with one head teacher and two assistant teachers.

The school takes advantage of its New York City location with athletic activities at Asphalt Green, workshops with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and field trips to numerous city locations.

Among the students Gillen Brewer serves are those with medical issues (the school has three nurses on staff, to enable them to serve students who are nurse dependent) and those with mild to moderate autism, although Ms. Kennedy noted that the school does not utilize the ABA approach with its students with autism and that those students they will serve best will have mostly speech and language deficits. The school cannot serve students who are explosive or whose issues include aggression, wandering, or “running away.”

Such intensive support and remediation does not come cheap and the school is seeking to add a legal parent advocate position to assist its families and their attorneys with obtaining reimbursement from public school districts via Carter funding. In addition, the school will endeavor to offer Connors funding where parents are unable to lay out tuition while they await reimbursement, something they believe is important to their mission to maintain a diverse student body. Gillen Brewer no longer accepts referrals directly from school districts as an approved nonpublic school, although students who were enrolled by their districts are still "grandfathered in" to this status. The issue, one faced by most private approved schools, is that the difference between what New York State will pay them and their actual costs is significant and cannot be sustained by the school long term.

One good way to get a sense of how Gillen Brewer advances its mission is to view some of the videos on its YouTube channel. They showcase a school and staff dedicated to improving the life of students with significant challenges.

No School for the Fall? No Need to Panic

Most students know where they will be in school this fall. They may be continuing in the same school they have attended, only one grade higher. Or they may be moving to another school, either from an elementary to a middle school, or from middle to high school. Many have even visited their new classrooms and met their new teachers during a "moving up" day at the end of the school year. Even students whose families have relocated to another school district -- nearby or across the country -- generally know where they will be starting school in August or September.

 

But not all students have a place for the coming year. Public schools in some areas, including New York City, may have a shortage of places in desirable schools and place some students on waiting lists, so that while a student will have a place somewhere, he or she may not know exactly where at this point in the summer. 

Other students are new to the city, and have not yet been enrolled. For these students, the NYC Department of Education has information available on their New Student Page., which includes information on what documentation is needed for enrollment. They also offer in-person assistance at Family Welcome Centers, which are located in every borough.

For private school students, the situation is a bit different. While public schools must provide a place for every student (although sometimes, due to  over-enrollment in some schools, this doesn't happen by the first day of school), private schools of all kinds have no such requirement. They can generally determine their admissions criteria and often set up their classes months in advance. Many families apply to these schools almost a full year before their student would actually start classes. And that situation can be even more so for private schools for students with special learning needs. 

However, even for students with special learning needs facing limited spots in schools that can offer them the support they require, all is not lost. First, keep in mind that a school that might be full in June can have openings by August, as families move or change their plans. Stay in touch with the admissions office of the school(s) you are interested in and let them know you would enroll if a spot opens up. Also, despite what parents may hear (and schools don't want to advertise this fact), but especially in times of economic uncertainty or downturn, not all of these schools fill their spots. Private school is very expensive, and whether families pay completely on their own, or are seeking reimbursement for special education tuition, some parents find these schools beyond their means.  It never hurts to inquire about last minute openings. There is also the possibility of mid-year openings, as schools or families realize that the "fit" between a particular school and student is not a good one. Again, stay in touch with admissions officers to learn of these places. 

Parents of students who require special education and were contemplating private school should keep in mind that the public system not only is required to accept their child, but to provide him or her with a free, appropriate education (FAPE) under an IEP. There are many reasons why this solution may not be acceptable for some parents, including class size and the rigor of special education supports (although some public schools do provide strong special education programs) but it can offer an alternative while parents seek a private setting they may prefer. 

Photo by Pete Bellis on Unsplash

Carmel Academy - A Unique Program in Connecticut

Earlier this week, Dr. and Mrs. Yellin had the opportunity to visit Carmel Academy, a private K-8 school located on a lovely 17 acre campus in Greenwich, Connecticut. Carmel is a Jewish day school, and religious instruction and Hebrew language lessons are part of its curriculum.

But what makes Carmel Academy unique is the way it integrates a special education program - Providing Alternative Learning Strategies (PALS) - with the general curriculum in which most Carmel students participate. As Jonathan Holub, the Head of the PALS program, explained during his informative tour of the campus, there is a great deal of fluidity between the regular and the PALS classes. Students in the general education track who need some additional support in a particular subject may become part of a PALS class in that subject. Likewise, PALS students who can handle a more advanced class in one or more subjects may spend part of their day with typically learning students. The class schedule for each grade makes this flexible arrangement possible. Students in the PALS program thus feel very much a part of their grade and typical learners interact with the PALS students in class and across other school activities.

The PALS program notes that its basic tenet is that their students are not expected to to meet the demands of the curriculum; the curriculum is expected to adapt to the needs of the student.

Other notable features of PALS include:

• Small classes, capped at ten students with two teachers in each class, provide hands-on, multi-sensory instruction. Notably, both general and Judaics teachers have special education training.
• Instruction is thematic and interdisciplinary, so that subjects are connected across all academic areas. 
• All students are involved in general and Judaic instruction, but the depth of Judaic instruction is individually determined for each student. 
• On site professionals include occupational therapy (and a sensory gym), speech and language therapy, Orton-Gillingham and Lindamood-Bell reading specialists, a school psychologist and full time nurse. Outside consultants are brought in when needed. 

Clearly, Carmel is not for every student, even for every student seeking a Jewish day school. The PALS program focuses its curriculum on students with language based learning disabilities and would not a good fit for a student with significant emotional difficulties.

For families seeking a Jewish religious school with integration between special education and regular curriculums, Carmel is definitely worth exploring.

The Quad Preparatory School

Yesterday, Dr. and Mrs. Yellin had the opportunity to visit Quad Prep - The Quad Preparatory School, located in lower Manhattan. Quad Prep was founded to serve "twice-exceptional" or "2-e" students - gifted children with learning differences.

It was actually a second visit to Quad Prep. Their first visit was shortly after the school was founded  by Dr. Kimberly Busi, a physician who is the parent of a 2-e child, who believes that parents should not have to choose between settings that foster gifted children's enormous academic potential and those that provide appropriate support for their areas of challenge, without sufficient academic stimulation. Dr. Busi took action to address these concerns and Quad Prep was founded with just a handful of students in an East Village location.

Now, only a few years later, the growth and development of the school is astonishing. The attractive and open physical space is on one large floor of an office tower, and has been designed to foster the individualized learning model that is fundamental to Quad Prep's approach. Classrooms have places for one-on-one instruction as well as group activities and there are numerous "nooks and crannies" where support services or individual or small group work can take place. Students range from kindergarten through 12th grade, divided into multi-age groups (within two years) of eight to ten children, based on the students' needs and abilities. Even this arrangement is individualized, so that a third grader with extra skills and interests in chemistry, for example, can work on that subject with a more advanced, older group.

The academic curriculum is rigorous, with emphasis on both STEM subjects and the arts. Upper school students take a foreign language, currently selecting from Latin and Arabic as well as more traditional choices.

However, academics are far from the whole story. Each classroom features a team of teachers, including both academic instructors and clinically trained psychosocial teachers who support the school-wide social-emotional curriculum and who act as liaisons with  the therapists and other specialists who work with each child. There are weekly phone conferences with parents and any outside providers, supplementing the individual instruction and support with a team approach to each student.

The students were saw were thoughtful and engaged in a wide array of challenging activities. As the school notes:
"...If you have met one twice exceptional child, you have met one twice exceptional child. No two Quad Prep students are the same and there is not a specific mold into which we expect or even hope our kids to fit.... We pride ourselves on how well we individualize attention: rather than expect a child to fit us, we truly fit ourselves around each of our students. In turn, each child is given the opportunity to capitalize on their strengths and further develop their passions, while also receiving empathic support and empowerment to cope with challenges."  

These are impressive goals and, for the right student, this is an impressive school.

The IDEAL School of Manhattan

The IDEAL School, a K-12 private school, located on Manhattan's Upper West Side, incorporates its goals of diversity and inclusion in every aspect of its program. Your blogger had the opportunity to visit IDEAL School during a recent Open House and saw these principles in action. Students and teachers alike spoke about their experiences, and it was clear that all of them valued this nurturing and accepting school community.  

The student body includes typical learners, students with some learning or other challenges, and a  number of students with significant learning or developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome.  Individualized instruction at a foundational, standard, or even honors level, is the key to providing instruction for students with different learning needs. Small class size, embedded support and services, and a "no pull out" policy (where services are provided during elective periods so as not to remove children from the classroom) helps students at all levels build critical thinking skills and creativity. 

IDEAL has two specialized programs in addition to its standard curriculum - the Zenith Program, in which about one-third of their student body of approximately 180 participate, and the Dylan Program. The Zenith Program is designed for students needing an additional level of academic, behavioral, and related services support. The Dylan Program is for students with more significant needs, often 1:1 support, which IDEAL provides by an associate teacher. Both the Zenith and Dylan Programs may be paid for by a student's public school, using Carter or Connors funding.

The arts and technology are both important parts of the IDEAL curriculum, for all students. Drama, art, music, and dance are part of academic content through cross-curricular units. STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) classes in the middle school (continuing as electives in the high school) include robotics and film making, with tools such as a 3-D printer and a green screen to help enhance the creativity of students.

The Lower School and Upper School are located in separate buildings, a couple of blocks from one another. This year, IDEAL will graduate its first students since it was founded in 2006. A program to extend the IDEAL education for students with IEPs who are entitled to publicly funded education through age 21 and who need more time to build skills, has begun and IDEAL has also engaged a college advisor  for its 11th and 12th graders who plan to attend college. 

As we visited classrooms and saw students of all levels of ability in their classrooms, it was clear that this is a special place, where every student is learning at his or her own pace, as part of a diverse student body. For families who share its values and approach to learning, this may well be an IDEAL school option. 

A School Grows in Brooklyn

Today we feature a guest blog by Elizabeth Frank, the Head of School at Sage Heights School, which will be opening in Brooklyn, New York in September 2016. Dr. Paul Yellin is an Advisor to Sage Heights. The school will utilize the approach of Mind, Brain, and Education to apply best practices in the classroom from research in Neuroscience, Psychology, and Education. Sage Heights is a member of the Harvard International Research School Network.

Everyone is different. We say it all the time, but is it fully embraced by our schools, by us? When taught and nurtured according to their individuality, children are more engaged with the process of learning. Educational research has confirmed what many parents and teachers experience daily; each child is infinitely varied from the next and cookie cutter solutions do not meet their needs. Recognizing our inborn differences allows for children to develop their passions and strengths, while fostering challenges and aversions.

Jillian is an advanced eight-year-old who doesn’t have to try very hard to get perfect marks at school, and tests above the average range on assessments like the ERB. She is often praised for her brightness and quickness. She is starting to avoid anything she thinks is too hard, because she fears the grown-ups might discover her secret. She believes, “If I can’t do this fast and easily, then I must be dumb,” keeping her from her own unique potential to learn and succeed.

Charlie is a seven-year-old gregarious kid who excels at school, is athletic, and very popular. However, he recently retreated into himself, refusing to participate in activities he once loved, after his beloved grandmother passed away.

Annabeth is six and loves books, words, and games. She has great difficulty staying out of trouble. Lately, she’s been left off the birthday invitation lists of her classmates.

Henry is a six-year-old, well liked, quiet boy. He loves building intricate structures with blocks and avoids anything with letters or numbers.

All four students are typical and should be treated as such. We do not learn in synchronistic ways and sometimes life gets in the way. All can excel if the adults in their lives help to cultivate their challenges and support their gifts, while emphasizing the natural differences in all of us. We want schools to see our children for whom they are and respond to them as their lives unfold.

All children are learning machines and learning begins with the brain. Neuroscience tells us brains are unique and plastic. There are no two duplicate brains in the world, now or ever. While the basic structure of our brains are the same, at the molecular level differences can be detected that affect our ability to learn, even in identical twins. If all people are different from one another, it follows that instruction should be differentiated. Differentiated doesn’t mean easier, but rather creating high challenge and low risk for each individual.

Additionally, the brain’s plasticity is occurring constantly as we encounter the world. Our brains automatically rewire neural paths with each song sung, picture painted, soccer scuffle, or negative/positive thought. Schools and parents can use this plasticity to their advantage by creating environments where they reinforce important skills and belief systems around learning. Days should be designed to develop proficiencies in reading, math and other content areas, but more importantly on effort, collaboration and problem solving strategies. This way students become ready for the challenges of adult life. Isn't that what school should be for?

Visiting a Transformational School

I’ve just returned from a fascinating trip to Manchester, New Hampshire, where I had the opportunity to visit the Making Community Connections Charter School (MC2), the demonstration site of the QED Foundation’s mission to transform learning practices in K-12 education.

As we previously reported in our spring 2015 newsletter, in the initial phases of what is planned as a multi-year project led by QED, we will be visiting schools throughout the country with a view towards documenting practices that will help create a template for research-based educational change. This project is funded by the Bay & Paul Foundations. The participants under this grant, in addition to QED and your blogger, are representatives of organizations actively engaged in school reform, including the School Reform Initiative, which “creates transformational learning communities fiercely committed to educational equity and excellence.”

What we observed at MC2 was a learning environment different from any other I had seen. While descriptions cannot capture the energy and creativity of this special school community, some of the most notable aspects of the school include:

• MC2 works to eliminate the predictive value of race, class, language, gender, and special capacities on student achievement. They use a strength based model, leveraging areas of strength to overcome challenges. 
• MC2 is governed on a model based on the three branches of the federal government. Here, the stakeholders are parents, student, and staff, and all of these community members have a voice in all aspects of the school, from dress code, to policies, to the physical plant of the school.
• Students aren’t graded. Instead, they progress through different phases of development – areas such as community, collaboration, critical thinking, and leadership -- to determine their readiness to move towards graduation.
• The goals for each student are formulated by Learning Teams, made up students, their parents, and their academic advisors. Students update their Learning Team on their progress through daily written reflections and at quarterly Exhibitions.

Our group will be continuing our visits throughout the country to schools that represent transformational learning communities. By seeing such schools in action, we can get a better sense of what makes them "tick" and how to spread this approach to learning to schools throughout the country. 

Searching Far Afield for Schools

We live in a mobile society; the U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2010, 6.7 million people moved from one state to another. When families with school age children are involved, moving becomes especially complicated. How can parents learn about schools and school systems that are far away from their home town?

There are several websites that can be helpful in this process, and can be at least a starting point for gathering information. One is the site Great Schools, a national nonprofit whose website notes that it has "profiles of more than 200,000 PreK-12 schools and more than 1,000,000 parent and community ratings and reviews of schools." Parents can search for reviews of schools by location and schools are rated based upon their general performance and such specific areas as test scores. Great Schools also has information on topics of general interest, including a guide for families who are moving and need to consider a new school.

For parents interested in private schools, the National Association of Independent Schools has a good deal of information on its website, as well as a "school search" feature that allows for selecting such desired features as specific sports programs (from archery to wrestling and just about every sport in between) and the level of support available for students who learn differently -- "focused on learning differences" or "supports learning differences".

For parents looking for information about public schools, a number of cities have websites dedicated to providing information and reviews. In Philadelphia, the Notebook, a nonprofit website that also publishes a print edition, describes itself as "an independent voice for parents, educators, students, and friends of the Philadelphia Public Schools," and has search features for schools on every level. Here in New York City, parents turn to a website we have often mentioned, InsideSchools, for well-respected school reviews and general information about the New York City Public Schools.

Of course, these sites should only be starting points. Additional research, school visits, and conversations with anyone who might be knowledgeable about the educational landscape in your new community are all vital. But when you need a place to begin, these sites might just point you in the right direction.

Photo Credit: John Benson via flickr

School Visit: Bay Ridge Preparatory School

Last week your blogger had the opportunity to visit Bay Ridge Prep, a unique learning environment in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and to speak with Wendy Freeburn, the Admissions Coordinator, and with Dr. Charles Fasano, the Head of the Lower School.

Bay Ridge Prep is an independent, college preparatory school founded in 1998, serving approximately 400 students in grades K-12. The Lower School (through Grade 8) is located in a spacious former parochial school and the high school is in a newer location several blocks away. Both programs were founded by psychologists, who brought an awareness of individual learning styles and differentiated instruction to the school they created. The result is an unusual integration of academic challenge with support for those who learn differently.

We were particularly interested in learning about two programs at Bay Ridge Prep that were created for students with learning and related difficulties. The Achieve Program is designed for students who need academic support in areas such as organization, reading, and writing, and provides such support -- along with academic accommodations such as extended time on tests -- through a combination of small group work and regular support in the mainstream classroom. The Bridge Program, available at the middle and high school levels for students with more significant learning challenges, has separate classes within the setting of this mainstream school. Both programs will implement IEP's for students who have been classified as needing special education services by the New York City Department of Education.

As we toured the school and had the chance to visit classrooms, it was clear that this is a school where creativity, the arts, and hands-on learning experiences enrich the learning environment. Sports are an important part of the school culture and the school sponsors interscholastic teams in most major sports.

We have visited many schools throughout the Metropolitan area, but the mix of academic challenge, support for those who learn differently, creative learning, and a wide range of student activities make Bay Ridge Prep something special indeed.

Newsday Webinar on "Selecting the Right College"

Susan Yellin, Esq., the Director of Advocacy and Transition Services at The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education (and frequent contributor to this blog) has been invited to serve as a panelist for a free webinar on "Selecting the Right College."

The Newsday College PrepTalk webinar will take place on Monday, October 22, at 8:00 PM (Eastern).

Topics that will be discussed include: Student Life, Academic Reputation, Campus Size and Faculty, Special Circumstances, and Students with Disabilities.

The free event is sponsored by Hofstra University.

Register for the event here.


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For more information about upcoming Yellin Center events, please visit our Events page.

Moving Stories of Overcoming Challenges

I recently had the opportunity to attend an extraordinary graduation ceremony at the New York Institute for Special Education, where I am privileged to be a member of the Board of Directors. The Institute, originally founded in 1831 as the New York Institution for the Blind, has expanded its mission to include three distinct programs: the Van Cleve Program, for children up to age 13 who have emotional or learning difficulties; the Readiness Program, for preschoolers who are developmentally delayed; as well as the Schermerhorn Program for students from ages 5-21 who are blind or visually disabled.

Dr. Yellin and Dr. Bernadette Kappen, Executive Director of NYISE congratulate a graduate.

Together with the students, families, and staff gathered to celebrate students moving on to the next step in their education, I got to hear an inspiring speech from Felix Castro, valedictorian of the Schermerhorn Program. Felix, who has been blind since birth, took public transportation to school each day. Felix attended the New York Institute from age five, and is looking forward to using the skills he learned there to help him succeed in his college studies at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Rockland County in the fall. You can read more about Felix and his achievements in a story from the New York Daily News.

The valedictorian of the Van Cleve Program, for children who have emotional or learning difficulties, was Deonjay Yelverton, age 13. DJ told the assembled guests:

 " I never thought I would have the honor of speaking to you today and representing my graduating class, but here I am thanks to everyone’s hard work. I used to attend Northside Center from the age of 6 to 9. Although I did my work, my behavior usually kept me out of class and into the counselor’s office. I used to curse, yell, and disrespect students and staff. Since my mom did not feel that the school could handle my behavior, she decided to look elsewhere.

At the age of 9, I came to the Van Cleve program at the New York Institute. I thought it was a place that could help me with all my subjects and behavior, and the icing on the cake was when I found out there was a basketball team. I felt comfortable and started to make friends.

I’m a day student on level 5 which is the highest level you can earn based on your behavior. I had to work very hard to achieve this goal. Even though I had this level 4 times in the past and lost it, I managed to remain on it this whole school year. Clap for me!!! I’m proud of myself. I’ve made many friends, Cantrell, Nelson, Earl and many more. Little by little, one step at a time, picking myself up when the old DJ came back, I started to notice I was becoming a better person.

With the help of my mom, [and] my coaches, ... I began to mature into the young man that you see today... I know it was real tough at times, but thanks everyone for never giving up on me. I’ve been on level 5 this whole year. My academics and behavior have greatly improved too. Other wonderful things also happened to me this year. I was the captain of the Big Stars basketball team and guided them to an 11-2 record. Way to go guys!!! I received the MVP award. I was even a tutor for the younger ones. While at the New York Institute, I’ve learned that to get respect, you have to respect others. I’ve learned that good things come to those who do well, and I’ve learned that if you try hard enough you can succeed.

After I graduate, my new school will be Greenburgh Academy in Yonkers. There, I will strive to continue to work hard in my academics and be a force on the basketball team.

To my fellow Van Cleve graduates, I hope we stay in touch and that you stay strong and accomplish everything you set your mind to. Ms. Nora used to say, "I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t force it to drink." Stay thirsty my friends and become the best person you can be." 

There are terrific photos of all of the graduates and their families on a special page on the New York Institute's website. It was truly inspiring to hear from the students at the New York Institute and I look forward to attending their graduation ceremonies for many years to come.   

The Scoop on Schools: Resources for School Selection

Some families, especially those who are well settled in suburban school districts, don't give much thought to school selection. But for others, including families in large cities with numerous school options, or those who are considering moving or enrolling their child in a private school, solid information on schools is of critical importance.

For New York City families who can have choices of public schools available at every level, an excellent starting point is the school search feature on the website InsideSchools. Located on the home page of the site, this feature allows you to search by school name, number, or geographic location. The individual reports on each school are generally the results of visits to the school by members of the InsideSchools staff, sometimes multiple visits over a period of time. In addition, comments by parents and others often highlight issues that can be important to families trying to decide if a particular school would be a good fit for their child. The site also includes news and information on the often complex process of applying to New York City public schools.

Outside of New York City, an excellent option for researching schools is Great Schools, a national nonprofit whose funders include the Gates, Walton, and Robertson foundations. The site lists over 200,000 schools and allows families to search using a variety of parameters. This site includes all kinds of schools -- public, private, and charter. There is guidance on how to choose a school, including such issues as how to choose a school when moving from a distance. The site also has sections for homework help and parenting issues.

For families who want a private school setting, the website of the National Association of Independent Schools has a Parents' Guide that includes a school search feature that allows searches by such parameters as specialized sports programs (equestrian and crew among several dozen others) and schools that offer International Baccalaureate programs.

School Visit: Mary McDowell Friends School

Your blogger recently had a chance to visit the elementary school program at this private special education school located in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood in New York City and came away most impressed with what she saw and with the information provided by Deborah Edel, the Director of Admissions.

Mary McDowell Friends School began in the 1980's as a K-4/5 school and over the years has added grades and changed locations so that it now also has a middle school program for grades 6-8 in a separate building in nearby Carroll Gardens,  as well as a high school program in Brooklyn Heights that presently goes through 10th grade and is adding an additional grade each year.

Mary McDowell Friends School in Brooklyn

The students at Mary McDowell have a variety of learning issues, but the largest number are students with language based difficulties, ranging from dyslexia to expressive and receptive language disorders, as well as processing issues, including central auditory processing difficulties. A somewhat smaller number of students have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), primarily of the inattentive type. Mary McDowell would probably not be a good fit for students with major hyperactivity. The school also serves students with executive function difficulties and a small number of students with nonverbal learning disorders, including those who have issues with social cognition. Deborah Edel noted that learning difficulties seldom fit into neat categories and that some students have difficulties in more than one domain.

One of the aspects of the school that we found particularly appealing was its focus on the Quaker principles, called testimonies, reflected in the acronym SPICES: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship. The students at Mary McDowell come from all kinds of religious affiliations, but the Quaker values transcend religion and infuse the culture of the school with a sense of responsibility towards others, to the school community, and to the community at large. 

Mary McDowell is not on the "approved" list maintained by New York State and families who seek public funding for tuition (now $49,000 per year) will need to seek reimbursement from their public school district.

Photo via Mary McDowell Friends School

High (School) Anxiety

Your blogger has had the opportunity recently to visit two local private high schools whose missions are to educate students with learning and related difficulties. Both The Churchill School in Manhattan and the Community School in Teaneck, New Jersey had invited me to speak to parents about the issues addressed in my book Life After High School.

In both schools, parents shared a very palpable concern about how their children would manage the transition from a specialized, supportive high school to post secondary education -- college or another kind of program -- and eventually to adulthood. These parents had all been through the special education process with their children, having emerged with spots in coveted, state approved (and publicly funded) schools where their children are taught in small classes by teachers with expertise in remediating learning difficulties. Many of these parents had provided their children with significant levels of support with tasks like organization, advocacy, and academics, beyond that customary for more typical learners.

The parents that I met at these presentations are far from unique in their concerns. Parenting any child is a complex process, but parenting a child who struggles in school is even more so. So what can parents of teens do now, while their child is still at home, to help foster independence beyond high school? Some helpful steps include:

Help your child understand how he or she learns. By really understanding their strengths and weaknesses and knowing what learning strategies work for them, students will be better able to arrange their academic accomodations and supports and to ask for the right kind of help.

Foster Affinties. Studies have shown that children who build on their interests and who pursue special skills, tend to be more resilient as adults. Students who may struggle with academics can have many areas where they are successful and should have opportunities to pursue their interests -- sports, hobbies, or the arts.

Build Self Advocacy Skill. By the time a student graduates from high school he or she should have attended one or more of the meetings where their IEP is developed, and certainly should have an understanding of the services they receive in school and why they receive them. It is not easy to get a teenager to deal with this aspect of their lives, but it is important to enable them to work towards independence.

Appreciating Teachers

This week is National Teachers Appreciation Week. We're not sure who declared it so, but we didn't check too hard, because we think it is a great idea to take some time to appreciate these oft-maligned professionals who shaped our lives and who shape the lives of our children. We asked some teachers what they would appreciate -- what would make their work easier, their lives better, and let them know that the work they do is valued. Here is what we learned:

Teachers want parents to care about what goes on in school. Some parents will be surprised by this, since they are incredibly involved in their children's education, but teachers tell us that too many parents are disconnected from what is happening in their child's class. Many of these are parents for whom long work hours, responsibilities at home, and possibly language or cultural barriers make it difficult for them to show up at teacher's conferences, or to send in a note, or respond to a telephone call. And it can be the parents of the most complex children who are least able to participate in the life of the school. Outreach to these parents from community and cultural organizations and opportunities to come to school at different times of the day or night -- possibly with child care provided -- can help raise the level of involvement of these parents.

Teachers don't want to hear about their short work days or long vacations. They spend innumerable hours outside the classroom preparing lessons, grading papers, and improving their professional skills. They advise school clubs and organizations and coach all kinds of teams -- from the debate team to the basketball team and all sorts of sports and activities in between. They don't get the chance to daydream in front of their computers or to close their office doors to take a break. They are "on" all day in a very intense way, where their every comment or action reverberates in their classroom. Teaching is hard work.

Teachers appreciate students who are prepared to learn. A child or teenager who has not done his homework is often not able to fully access the lessons of the next day. Worse, a student who has not had a decent breakfast -- or possibly even a decent dinner the night before -- or who hasn't had a good night's sleep, can't be expected to concentrate properly on what is going on in class. This can be an issue for all kinds of families, and programs like school breakfasts can help. One teacher tells us that he keeps healthy granola bars and similar foods in his desk, since students are often hungry when they come to class and feeding them helps them pay attention. 

Teachers appreciate the benefit of the doubt. No, teachers are not perfect and there are plenty of times where they do or say something that is wrong. But they are usually right about what your child needs or does, and would appreciate being given the benefit of the doubt when your child comes home with a tale of woe.

Teachers appreciate a thank you. "There is nothing that touches my heart more than a note from a parent -- or a student -- thanking me for making a difference," one teacher told us. "I don't expect to be thanked, but it helps me remember why I went into teaching in the first place -- to make a difference in the lives of my students." So, take a moment this week to help a teacher be more effective and to share your appreciation for their important job.

Graphic used courtesy of Gifs.cc

West End Day School

We sometimes encounter young children who struggle in school for reasons that go beyond learning differences. For children whose emotional needs require a more supportive, therapeutic setting than mainstream schools -- or even most schools focused on learning differences -- can provide, West End Day School offers an important alternative for New York families.

We had the opportunity yesterday to visit this oasis of calm and support on the upper West Side of Manhattan, and were impressed by the school's approach and by the way we observed it being put into practice. Carrie Catapano, a licensed social worker and Head of School, explained that the students who were served by the school were those dealing with emotional vulnerabilities, perhaps brought on by a family crisis, separation issues, school phobia, or simply an inability to manage in a more stressful school setting. The school features a very small student body -- around 40 to 50 students at maximum -- and a highly individualized program with support for both the student and family. West End Day has a policy of keeping places for new students open so that it can offer admission to students who need this special setting at any point in the school year. As Ms. Catapano and Katy Meyer, MSEd, Education Head of the school pointed out, a student who is in need of the supportive, therapeutic setting of West End Day can't wait for the beginning of a school year for the kind of help he or she requires.

This focus on emotional and social needs does not come at the expense of academics. Extremely small classes, broken down by both ability levels and student readiness to learn in a classroom setting, employ Smart Boards in every room, and follow New York State Standards. Scientifically proven instruction methods geared towards each child's specific learning needs are employed in all academic areas. Although West End Day School is not on the list of schools for which New York will provide direct payment, the school will help parents find assistance with Carter funding to help them with tuition expenses.

Uncertain Times in New York City

The announcement this week that the New York City Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein, would be leaving and would be replaced by Cathleen Black, a publishing executive with no educational experience as a teacher or administrator (and who attended private schools and sent her children to private schools as well), left parents and professionals feeling uncertain about what would happen to them, their children, and education in New York City.

A special education attorney who works with families of children with substantial disabilities expressed concern about how children needing special educational settings would be treated under a new regime. "It used to be," our colleague reported yesterday, "that even though the City often fought these families over what services and placement their children would be entitled to receive, there was a genuine concern for the child. Department of Education attorneys understood that these children needed to be in school and getting services somewhere, even if they argued the details of arrangements. Now, that has changed and in more and more cases the interests of the child are just ignored. Kids with profound needs are being kept at home because the City is digging in its heels about providing services. And that is a tragedy. I am deeply worried about what message the new Chancellor will be sending to her legal troops."

A teacher we know was concerned about what would happen to the new initiatives put in place by departing Chancellor Klein. "I finally got set in a terrific school that was opened under one of Klein's programs. I wonder if I will have a teaching job next year -- or the year after that," he said.

Of course, before a new Chancellor takes the reins, she will have to be granted a waiver from the New York State Department of Education, which must waive the legal requirement that the New York City Chancellor have a certificate in educational leadership and at least three years experience in schools, neither of which Ms. Black has. Chancellor Klein had been granted such a waiver before he took office.

While we are looking at the change happening around the City, one change that is good for everyone is the movement of the terrific website Inside Schools to the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School. Inside Schools is an excellent, independent resource for families looking for information about public schools in New York City and it had been experiencing serious financial difficulties. A new grant has enabled it to move to its new home and secures its future. We are delighted!