Our students inspire us
Children’s Workshop’s students are between 3 and 12 years of age and they display a wide variety of communication disabilities, learning disabilities, social interaction deficits, and behavior problems that are associated with autism and other developmental disorders. Most of our students qualify for special education in the Autism (AUT) category; however, we also have students who qualify as Other Health Impaired (OHI), Mental Retardation (MR), Hearing Impaired (HR), Multiple Disabilities (MD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Emotionally Disturbed (ED). They are a very diverse group and every one of them has inspired our affection and our zeal to help them learn and be the best they can be. They deserve it. And, so do their families.
“Session skills” are essential to being a learner
New enrollees at Children’s Workshop nearly always need to acquire what we refer to as “session skills.” Without these skills, it will be extraordinarily difficult to teach our students the full range of skills they need at an acceptable rate. So, we teach them to sit in a chair, orient to the teacher, place their hands and feet appropriately, and otherwise respond as effective learners.

Communication is a common emphasis of instruction
Heavy emphasis for all of our students is on developing functional communication skills. Many of our new enrollees have little or no systematic, functional communication. Our goal is to teach them these skills, whether the modality consists primarily of pointing, using sign language, exchanging pictures, operating a communication device, or speaking. Communicating their wants and needs is likely to be our starting point, because their communication can be reinforced in the way that is most valuable to them at the moment.

Highly structured learning opportunities
Children’s Workshop students share the requirement for small group instruction with many 1:1 opportunities to learn new skills. Their learning environment must be highly structured and the opportunities to learn must be maximized in order to increase the quality and the rate of their achievement. Their teachers must be highly skilled in delivering instruction, whether it is discrete trial or incidental teaching. Prompting must be carefully planned and reinforcement must be delivered with enthusiasm.

A love for learning is our overriding goal
Our foremost goal is for Children’s Workshop students to develop a love of learning and to acquire the necessary skills so that they can benefit from education in more typical and less restrictive settings.

On October 1, 2008, Children’s Workshop had a total of 39 students enrolled and, during the year, the school had a net gain of four students, so the average daily enrollment during the year was 42 students. The chart below shows the composition of the student body on October 1 by age and gender. As has been true for a number of years, Children’s Workshop served a much larger number of boys (31) than girls (8) during the 2008-2009 school year.

The next chart shows that 30 of the 39 students (77%) enrolled in Children’s Workshop on October 1, 2008, obtained eligibility for special education and related services under the category of Autism.

Attendance
The next chart shows an analysis of enrollment and attendance by month for the 2008-2009 school year. While the enrollment in Children’s Workshop gradually increased over months of the school year, student attendance remained almost constant at 95 percent with a modest dip in the month of June.

Children’s Workshop has many student success stories and the successes of our students are measured in a myriad of ways. Although most of our students are boys, we would like to share the success stories of two of our girls at this time.

Madeline was first enrolled in Children’s Workshop at four years of age. She’s now an early teenager. On initial enrollment, however, both the school and Madeline’s family had very serious concerns about the range and severity of her skill deficits and the excessiveness of her problem behaviors. She could tantrum for very long periods of time. Diagnosed with autism, she displayed significant delays in attention and awareness, imitation, communication, socialization, self-help, and learner skills.

In some of these areas, she had, for all intents and purposes, no detectable or measurable skills. Maddy, as we came to call her, responded well to ABA interventions and her rate of acquiring student skills gradually increased, which reduced the gap between her and her typically developing peers. Today, Madeline is enrolled in TIEE’s Cook Education Center’s Foundations Program, where she acquires basic academic skills in a 3:1 setting. She readily approaches learning opportunities and displays dramatically fewer deficits than she once did. Maddy’s behavioral excesses have been all but eliminated, she evaluates her own behaviors and implements a self-reinforcement system, and she now participates in all core academics at or about the 4th grade level. She is truly enjoyed by her teachers and her peers and her family is very proud of her growth. We are very proud to have contributed to her growth and her success.

Anika joined Children’s Workshop for her kindergarten year. She was referred by her school district after having been unsuccessful in several previous pre-school placements. Based on our initial assessment, it was clear that Anika had the pre-requisite skills to begin core academic programs, but before we could begin teaching, we had to increase the reliability of her student engagement. In less than a year and one-half, Anika had acquired the essential skills to learn as a member of a group and she was flourishing in her academic programs. Best of all, she had developed a value for school that was demonstrated by her approach to and respect for her teachers and her eagerness for new learning opportunities. She transitioned successfully to the Cook Education Center’s Foundation Program and has continued to blossom in this environment, making lots of new friends, and starring in the school’s Talent Show.

If you work for any length of time with individuals with developmental disabilities, communication disabilities, Autism, or any of the types of disabilities of the students we at Children’s Workshop have taught for years, you will come in contact with many families whose strength of commitment to the education, welfare, pleasure, and safety of their children is awe inspiring.  We know many such families and we believe they are deserving of high praise for the level of their 24/7 commitment.  In our very small way, we take this section of our website to feature one of our families at a time.

Nic’s Story
as told by his mother

When my mother came to visit a few weeks ago, we found ourselves deep in conversation about all that my 10-year old son had accomplished. We reminisced about how difficult things used to be and spoke in awe about how far he had come.

“Remember when we couldn’t even take him to the grocery store?” my mother said.

“But did you see him calmly helping me in there today?”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” I replied as tears came to my eyes.

Little did I know the journey I was about to embark on as a parent when I heard the words, “Your child has autism and Fragile X Syndrome.” The medical professionals focused so much on what my son wouldn’t be able to do that it was hard to see the forest for the trees. I just wanted to fix everything myself but soon realized that was impossible. Instead, I went in search of the best professionals I could find – professionals who understood how my son learned and what type of environment he needed to thrive.

The educators at TIEE’s Children’s Workshop are just a few of the unsung heroes in my son’s life. From the beginning, I knew it would take a village to help my Little Man be all that he could be academically and behaviorally across environments. I also knew this village would have to work as a team, with me as their leader and coordinator. The knowledge I brought to the table was an innate understanding of my son’s needs. The knowledge they brought to the table came from years of training, specialized education and most importantly — real world experience with children like my son.

We started slow and I found the pace of his progress frustrating at times. What I couldn’t see were the building blocks being placed as a foundation for future growth. Looking back, I can see how the patience the TIEE staff had with my son’s behaviors, and their dedication to understanding the root causes behind them, taught him to self-regulate. I can see how finding the right tools for communication opened up the world to my son and offered the staff a glimpse behind his handsome brown eyes. I can see how their belief in his academic abilities pushed him to accomplish every single goal in his ambitious IEP last year.

I have always appreciated the professionals at TIEE who not only pull my son out of his comfort zone, but also do the same for me. When we work in unison, it’s like a well-oiled machine that propels my son forward in ways I never thought possible. They are a very valuable second set of eyes.

When people ask me what I attribute my son’s successes to, the first thing that comes to mind is early intervention – followed closely by consistent intervention. While we as parents carry the heaviest load when it comes to our children’s care, it’s important to acknowledge and appreciate those who lighten the load for us. I am grateful to the professionals at TIEE who grace my son’s life every school day with the same affirmative belief in his future as I have.