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APS visit

The Melmark School from an Educational Advocate’s perspective.

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The Melmark School

Lisa and I decided to take the schools that we visited and each blog about them from “our perspectives.” Mine is the perspective of the Educational Advocate since that was my role when I visited the placement and hers as the parent.* My disclaimer before discussing the placement-*these are only my opinions as I see them fitting the specific needs of the client I am supporting.  They may or may not fit your needs in just these opinions given. You should always do more research on placements that suit your child’s specific needs. * That said, here is my point-of-view of the APS- Melmark, located in Berwyn, PA.

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Before visiting The Melmark School, as an Educational Advocate, I did some background research on it to make sure that the programming “fit the needs” of my client. I have broken it down into categories:

Facilities

75  gorgeous acres- large campus- beautifully maintained residential buildings, day school.

Melmark-Recreational Activities

  •  Melmark has both indoor and outdoor pool areas. Swimming is a part of day school curriculum once a week. Great fun!
  • They have stables with riding area and when OT is available, hippo therapy is provided to students. Students go to stables to visit horses and farm area with animals once a week.
  • Melmark has a gymnasium which is used in conjunction with PT with students.
  • They have tennis courts which are used when it is weather permitting.
  • Lots of fitness trails for walks (weather permitting).
  • Melmark has several playgrounds. Especially great for 5-year-olds that like to get out and play.

Melmark-Programming specifics

  • Ages served are 5-21 years.
  • Populations served-Autism Spectrum Disorders, Neurological Impairment, Intellectual Disabled, Developmentally Disabled, to Multiple Disabled.
  • 2-month cycle for both Day School and Residential Students.
  • Clinical, comprehensive, and evidence-based programming that features Applied Behavior Analysis to address the unique characteristics of each student as an individual.
  • Your child’s team meets weekly to discuss each student’s progress on the ABA programming and the needs of each student.
  • The child’s team meets with the family to make sure they understand the ABA programming  and progress on a bi-weekly basis.
  • Team works with the family’s wraparound home team so that ABA is also being implemented in the home-setting.
  • Truly a “collaborative” approach to working with parents, programming, and the community.
  • Once older, students are brought out into different parts of the area for Community Based Instruction to learn functional skills.

Melmark Clinical Team Members

  • Board Certified Behavior Analyst
  • Clinical Social Workers
  • School Psychologists
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Physical Therapists
  • Speech and Language Therapists
  • Special Education Teachers
  • Vocational Coordinators (once of age and in need)
  • Registered nurses (if medical need)

Concerns for my client

  • The coordinator of admissions mentioned  several times methods of restraint for some of their students that had behavioral issues which was a bit alarming.
  • There is no vision specialist not on-site-would need to be brought in as consult.
  • A feeding specialist is not on-site-need to be addressed with OT and SLP.
  • There is no Orientation and Mobility Specialist not on-site.  We would have to arrange for outside services to be brought in.

That was my experience with The Melmark School.  Overall, I was quite impressed with the placement. Please feel free to contact them for a visit to view it for yourself.

Michele (this was written in 2011 and updated to check links)

NOTE: The tuition for The Melmark School is very expensive. You must go through a process that includes screening, interview, and acceptance. And you also need your School District’s approval.  This is when the proper facilitation of the IEP process is necessary for placement. Click here if you have more questions on seeking an out of district placement on your IEP.

Read more about private school options in our area.

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The Timothy School- Educational Advocate’s Perspective

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Here is another APS that we looked at for programming needs.  Before visiting The Timothy School as an Educational Advocate, I did some background research on it to make sure that the programming “fit the needs” of my client. I have broken it down into categories.

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Location

973 Old Lancaster Road

Berwyn, PA

Professionalism of staff

-greeting and presentation were professional-round table setting with Q&A

-No hand-outs at Open House

-many people there because website said  they practice”ABA” but actually they do not fully practice

Facilities

-the building is dated and parking is limited.  The location is off of a semi-busy street- not a lot of space for kids to play outdoors

Recreational Activities

-music program seemed to be very inspiring-kids all had an instrument to play while we were there

-the gymnasium is where main activities take place- not very large

-Physical Ed.

-playground-small-but 5-year-olds will like to get out and play

Programming specifics

-Ages served- 5- years to 18 years

-Populations served- Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders, PDD

-Student/Teacher ratio 2:1

-Individualized curriculum for communication, self-help, cognition, motor and life skills

-Behavioral programming as well as social skills building

-Speech therapy

-Music Therapy

-Art Therapy

-OT provided

-Community-Based Instruction

Clinical Team Members

-Speech and Language Therapists

-Special Education Teachers

-Occupational Therapists

-Music Therapists/Art Therapists

Concerns for my client

– No PT on site

-Do not practice full ABA when client would like for the needs of the student

-vision specialist not on-site-would need to be brought in as consult

-feeding specialist not on-site-need to be addressed with OT and SL

-Orientation and Mobility Specialist not on-site-would need to be brought in as consult

-serves more of the ASD needs

That was my experience with The Timothy School.  It was not the right fit for my client but does fit the needs for many other children that are on the Autism Spectrum. Please feel free to contact them for a visit to view it for yourself.

Michele

NOTE: The tuition for The Timothy School is very expensive. You must go through a process-screening, interview, and acceptance to get into the Timothy School but also need your School District’s approval.  This is when the proper facilitation of the IEP process is necessary for placement.

{Chester County} Private, APS and IEP placement options for students with disabilities.

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Mom’s Eye View-Melmark

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Melmark

**Please keep in mind, that these opinions are my own, and as a mom. My son’s diagnosis, skills, abilities, and personality are certainly unique to him. While it’s always good to gather different opinions, you owe it to your child to visit the facility yourself and make your own call.

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Melmark is a huge beautiful campus, also in Berwyn. They offer education and services for ages 5 through adult, so Melmark can really be a lifetime placement if that is what you need. I visited and am going to review their day school.

What this mom liked about Melmark: I could go on for days, I loved this school and feel it is perfect for my child. They offer ABA–true ABA, not ABA style or ABA model programming, real ABA. I like that they can be a lifetime placement because while I don’t want to restrict my child in gaining any skills or abilities, my reality is that we may need an adult placement setting. I liked that even though the main building was older and some portions very dated, the newer parts looked and felt very new and modern. And, even though they are a true private school, they offer every service or make every service available for your child if it’s in their IEP. They do weekly team meetings and weekly or biweekly parent meetings talking about your child and what the team is working on. They also follow the model that I loved about our county’s 0-3 program–they involve the whole family in the process.  They do community-based programming and teaching too–taking the older kids into the community to work on ADLs or possible future job training or whatever is appropriate.

What I did not like about Melmark: It feels (well, because it is!) like a special needs school. There are no typical kids here.  My child will not have any interaction with typical peers in a given day. It’s a bit farther from my home than I care for. And I’m assuming that this would change should we place him here, but I didn’t get the warm, friendly welcoming that I had at the other schools. Also, as a parent, you cannot proceed past any of the steps except for the Information Session, without a referral from your district. You are not allowed to visit the school or classrooms without a referral. While I certainly understand why they don’t want families traipsing through all the time, doesn’t mean I have to like it. Essentially, I’m asking for a referral for a school and I haven’t seen any potential classrooms yet.

Melmark is set up for multiple disabilities, you do not have to have a specific Axis 1 diagnosis for admittance. Visit their website or talk with your district’s special education director for more information.

{Chester County} Private, APS and IEP placement options for students with disabilities.

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My mom’s eye view-the Timothy School

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The Timothy School

As part of our ongoing series on visiting APSs in our region, I’d like to tell you about our visit to the Timothy School in Berwyn. My standard disclaimer:

**Please keep in mind, that these opinions are my own, and as a mom. My son’s diagnosis, skills, abilities and personality are certainly unique to him. While it’s always good to gather different opinions, you owe it to your child to visit the facility yourself and make your own call.

What I liked: The staff was very friendly and seemed very knowledgeable. Even though it is an older building, it felt more new and modern. The class sizes were small and appeared to have decent ratios. The therapists I met seemed knowledgable and the entire staff seemed to really be engaged.

What did not appeal to me: It’s important to note that the Timothy School bills itself as an “autism school” and your child must have some type of autism disorder as their primary diagnosis. My son does not really fit into this category as he is multiple disabilities. There are many services that he needs that are not offered at this school-PT, feeding program, vision, O&M. As a real private school, they do not have to offer these services. And while they have a cafeteria where the kids eat lunch, no food is prepared on site. All lunches must be packed. Their student population is over 90% male, which I think is a consideration for those with daughters.

I think that the Timothy School may be the right placement for the right child, just not mine. It’s not set up to be a multiple disabilities school, which is what we need.

{Chester County} Private, APS and IEP placement options for students with disabilities.

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My mom’s-eye-view of the CDC in Coatesville

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As Michele had posted earlier, we are visiting area APSs. For me, the reason is two-fold. First, of course, if I’m going to be a Special Ed Advocate, I need to be familiar with these facilities. But more importantly, I am the mom to a brand new 5-year-old (turned 5 end of August!) and so I am visiting them in an effort to make the best possible decisions for hi

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**Please keep in mind, that these opinions are my own, and as a mom. My son’s diagnosis, skills, abilities, and personality are certainly unique to him. While it’s always good to gather different opinions, you owe it to your child to visit the facility yourself and make your own call.

The CDC is on a big campus in Coatesville. It’s right off of Business 30, and in the same area as Coatesville High School, Brandywine CAT, Head Start, and a few other agencies/schools. CDC stands for Child & Career Development Center, and to be honest, I’ve never understood why it’s not called CCDC. But it’s not. Everyone calls is the CDC. It’s not an APS per se. It’s actually jointly owned by all 12 school districts in Chester County, and the IU operates the facility on behalf of all the districts. But for the purposes of this blog, it certainly falls under the category of APS as it is a placement option for our kids.

What appealed to me: They work really hard to make it like a regular school. They have regular programs and a December holiday pageant, a prom, and other activities that a typical school has. They have a separate art room, music room, indoor pool, pet therapy, library time which may or may not include computer time in a computer media room, a gymnasium, a fairly well-equipped therapy room, and two cafeterias. Younger children eat lunch in their classrooms. Also, because they are not really a private school, but run by the districts, they have to, and do, offer every service or make every service available that is on your child’s IEP. Private schools are not required to provide more obscure services (like vision) but more on that in my next APS review. I was very impressed with the two teachers and many assistants/aides that I met. I visited two classrooms–given my son’s age and abilities, it was determined that he would probably be in one of those two. I also liked that it is a reasonable distance from our home. If I’m going to subject my son to a significant amount of travel each day, it’s got to be worth it.

What did not appeal to me: It’s huge. Over 500 students from age 5 to 21. Yes, they keep older students on upper floors and they don’t mingle with the younger children. But on one day that I visited (I visited twice) the noise, commotion and activity were overwhelming to me. And I’m neurotypical (I think, lol.) My husband said to me “K just looks so small compared to all the other students” and he was right. He did look small. They do not offer genuine ABA programs, though they do have “ABA model” programs. It also didn’t feel shiny, new and up to date. Mind you, the place was clean, well kept. It just felt like an older building, not new and sophisticated. I hope that makes sense. It also made me very uncomfortable that all ages and abilities are under one roof. That means, my 5-year-old son, who really cannon defend himself in any capacity, is in the same building as an 18-year-old student that has social & emotional disturbances and so on. I’m very sorry if that hurts you if you are a parent to a child with those issues, but that’s how I feel–I’m just being honest. I think we can educate and advocate for all students; that doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to be in the same building.

It’s very difficult to do a write up on just one facility when in my head I certainly am comparing it to other facilities I’ve visited. In the special needs world, you hear lots of chatter from other parents. I know parents that have children that went to the CDC for their entire schooling and just love the place. I’ve heard of others that have hated it and with good reason. Go visit it yourself and see. Keep in mind, that you need to make sure that if you do dislike the CDC–ask yourself if it’s the CDC or if it’s your district that is really the issue. For more information on the CDC or to arrange a visit, please visit CCIU.org or contact the Special Ed director of your district.

{Chester County} Private, APS and IEP placement options for students with disabilities.

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