Chance (middle) and educational assistant Jennifer English oversaw operation of the Brew Crew while vice principal Blair Lukacs places an order.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Each day a few of the students in the specialized learning program at Herald School begin by taking part in the Brew Crew. One student and an educational assistant take the cart around the school so staff can place orders. Each room or office has a photo up outside and there are duplicates of each in the specialized learning room to assist the students in delivering the correct order to each person. In the classroom kitchen, other students help make the beverages once orders come in.
When the News arrived, a dance party was in progress with educational assistants, students and administration taking part in the fun. There are 18 students in the program with about half in one area working on different projects and the other half in the adjoining traditional classroom. There are multiple small workplaces where students can work on things like functional literacy, which include things such as making a grocery list. There is also an adjoining, large multipurpose space used for morning exercise or where kids can walk around in as needed. The students don’t remain in one space but circulate through all areas throughout the day.
“There was a gap between when kids were coming here and progressing and when they went to the high school,” said principal Katrina Corbett. “We weren’t preparing them for that experience of joining the high school in Grade 10 and having options available to them.”
The program is a middle-school design to prepare students for attending Hat High or Crescent Heights and exposes them to things they will encounter at those schools.
Areas for cosmetology, computer technology, career technology services equipment and a kitchen for food studies help expose students to option courses also available in high school. Additionally, the school has an apartment-style space where they learn functional living skills to prepare them for life, such as making a bed and doing laundry.
Everything is gauged to the range of developmental abilities of the students, which don’t always match their chronological age.
“You are trying to be age appropriate at the same time as building skills,” stated Corbett.
A standing frame is used for wheelchair-bound students to help with their hip development. The length of time they spend in the frame depends on what the physiotherapist recommends, which could be 10 to 15 minutes and sometimes longer.
“A lot of this was made possible through the Education Foundation, we got a $10,000 grant last year and it went a long way,” explained Corbett.
Last year there were two separate classrooms, but with the grant, renovations were done to combine them and create extra spaces. There are two washrooms, with one having a lift that can travel from the toilet to the sink and over to the walk-in shower.
The Snoezelen Room is a multi-sensory environment where items can be turned on and off depending on what the students enjoys. There is a giant bean bag they lie on and when the door is shut, the entire room becomes more vibrant. Students can touch and interact with the objects, such as the fibre optic spray, which has strands of different coloured lights that don’t heat up.
“It is targeted for kids who may have sensory issues and we only turn on what they personally like or can handle, we may take a student in here who doesn’t enjoy the bottle tubes so we wouldn’t turn those on for them,” said Corbett.
Lindsay Barron and Shari Burk team up to teach the program.
“The two of us teach and we have six EAs, it is a beautiful thing. I’m loving it this year because for the needs of the program it really helps having two of us together to bounce ideas off and work together, it’s quite seamless,” explained Burk.
