School for autistic children shows success

By LINDA CONNER LAMBECK lclambeck@ctpost.com
FAIRFIELD

At Giant Steps School, students like Drew help the school live up to its name.

A few months ago, Drew, who is autistic and largely uncommunicative, had a hard time telling teachers anything.

Now, with his own classroom space, own schedule, own educational assistant and new voice a hand-held voice output system

Drew can not only answer questions, but pick out his own reward for academic challenges.

This day, Drew points to a symbol that tells Chris Carabillo, Drew's personal educational assistant, he wants to play a game called Chance once he completes his lesson. A school where 32 different lessons go on at once one for each student enrolled

Giant Steps has a single goal, according to Kathy Roberts, the school's executive director and founder.

"Everything we do here, we're thinking, 'How can we can help these kids be the most independent person they can be,' " she said.

Roberts' personal goal is to see Giant Steps close for lack of need. But in the decade since she started this school to serve children with autism, enrollment has only grown.

In three years, Giant Steps, located in the Southport section of town, has gone from 20 students to 32. There is a waiting list. During the same time, the number of autism cases among school-aged children in the state has risen, from 968 to nearly 1,600.

No one knows why, or even what causes the brain disorder, which affects a person's ability to interact, communicate and develop daily life skills. April is Autism Month, a month to call attention to the problem of autism.

Giant Steps is one of a half dozen private schools in the state approved to serve autistic children whose needs are too complex for public schools to handle. It enrolls students ages 4 to 19, who come from about 15 communities.

What makes Giant Steps stand out, Roberts said, is its multi-pronged, "one-stop shopping approach." Instead of relying on one or two therapies, Giant Steps gives each student five to six, in addition to academics.

Every student gets occupational, music, play and speech therapy built into their academic days. Some get physical therapy. There are also lessons in daily living activities, art, adaptive physical education, computer time and academics.

So while Drew, one of the pupils whose parents did not want their children's names used, is working on academics, Christopher is downstairs on the computer, Aitan is working on multiplication problems. Meanwhile, Kevin is working with a speech therapist, Jason is on the piano and Jocelyn is working on a large bouncing ball in occupational therapy.

As a parent member of the Parent Autism Research Foundation, Roberts often has access to cutting-edge research and said the school is not afraid to try new approaches.

Elaine MacKenzie, a New Canaan parent, said her daughter Cayla, 12, has flourished at Giant Steps.

"[Cayla] has pretty significant needs and can be overwhelmed by a very stimulating, noisy environment," MacKenzie said. "Verbally, she's come a long way here. We've seen a lot more language, and she's socially more aware of other people and kids."

One area that has made a big difference in the school in recent years, Roberts said, is an increased use of adaptive technology therapies that allow non-verbal children to communicate through hand-held computers.

Now, instead of merely pointing at pictures to communicate, students have a much broader range of pictures and can verbalize words through a computerized voice output system.

"What that opens up is amazing," Roberts said. "You tap into the way they can communicate and boy, do they."

One little guy was able to tell his teacher last week he was sick. That never would have happened without this system, Roberts said.

Roberts' own 19-year-old daughter, Jenny, who is autistic, has used the system to reveal a sense of humor and sophisticated taste in music her family never knew she had.

Older students at Giant Steps spend time in the community as well as the classroom. One works a couple mornings a week at a local firehouse, washing down the trucks.

"He loves it," Roberts said.

For some students, the goal is a return to public school. As many as 10 Giant Steps students spend some time in their home schools. For others, the aim is to master a degree of self-sufficiency.

In most cases, students are placed in Giant Steps by their home district, which foots the bill. Tuition is $75,000 for the 12-month program, but that doesn't cover the full cost, Roberts said. A foundation supplies the balance another $10,000 to $15,000 a year per child.

A parents' group also raises funds for the school. Last week, the group held an auction and dinner dance that raised funds to help equip music therapy rooms at the school.

Roberts said the cost to run the school is high because between teachers, therapists and support staff, there is a 2-to-1 ratio of staff to students. And as high as tuition is, she said it's about half of what it would cost to put a special needs child in a residential school.

The sour economy has not kept school districts or parents from calling the school for information, Roberts said.

Roberts hates having students on waiting lists but said more students would mean hiring more staff, and therapists who specialize in kids with severe developmental disabilities are hard to come by.

She also would like to create a comprehensive evaluation center. The Yale Child Study Center has one, but it also has a two-year waiting list, she said.

Linda Conner Lambeck, who covers regional education issues, can be reached at 330-6218.