Living With Autism —

Resources In Newtown For Both Students And Parents

By Jeff White

Joey Moralis laughs as he shows off a multi-colored tower of Legos he has just built. It’s his “tall house,” as he puts it, adding to it until it gets wobbly. As it teeters and crashes down to the desk and floor, all he can say is, “I’m sorry for making it fall. I’m sorry for making it fall.”

Joey is autistic, and during the course of a typical day at the Wesley Learning Center he has his moments of happiness, and his moments of despair. Despite his now scattered “tall house,” Joey laughs and starts drawing.

There are five autistic students who receive daily instruction and attention in the brightly-lit basement of Wesley Learning Center. The classrooms are like any you’d find in a nursery school: scattered with arts and crafts, possessing several cubicles for individual instruction, a large, tan carpet for group work.

But it is down in this room that a new program for autistic children in Newtown has been progressing since the start of the school year last fall. The development of the program is an attempt to address the needs of children who suffer from serious autism.

Robert Chiappetta, who oversees the special education program throughout Newtown’s schools, has noted a striking increase in the incidence rate for children being diagnosed with autism over the past three to five years.

With a program firmly in place to address the needs of seriously autistic students, coupled with strategies used for autistic students who function well enough to attend a regular school setting, parents attempting to cope with the disease now find that there are more options than ever for their children.

Where The Children Can Go

Autism is a result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain. The disorder affects the normal developmental process of a child’s brain, the results being manifested in stunted social interaction and communication skills. The various developmental disabilities that stem from this disorder usually appear during the first three years of life.

Yet, with all of autism’s similar characteristics, it remains remarkably difficult to place children who have autism under a single, broad category. “One thing is for sure,” said Mr Chiappetta. “Each of the kids is unique. There are some similarities, but also some very unique differences in cognitive skills and function.”

Overall, there are 13 students with autism in the Newtown school district.

There are students like Joey Moralis, and Tyler Jones, Ryan Stubs, Andrew Stone, and Travis Albies. Some of them possess verbal skills; some of them do not. Because these children need so much personal instruction, they come to the Autistic Program at Wesley Learning Center.

Kristen Bakus runs the Discrete Trial Training (DTT) program at Wesley Learning Center. DTT is new to Newtown’s special education curriculum, and it combines the autistic training principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS).

Students at Wesley divide their day between working one-on-one with an instructor and doing group activities. Once a day around noontime, the five students crowd around the table and work on an art project with the help the instructors, who will sometimes steady their hands and keep their attention to the task they are performing.

“[These students] need intense, one-on-one instruction,” says Ms Bakus. “We’re trying to shape their behavior to be as good as possible.” Much of the individual training involves using methods from ABA and PECS.

ABA lays the foundation for how one approaches teaching an autistic child. The child’s functioning is routinely analyzed to identify specific skills needed for improved performance and functioning.

PECS is a more innovative teaching skill used to encourage autistic children to develop their own language. For those students who are nonverbal, PECS utilizes symbols and pictures to help children communicate. Students can have numerous pictures of specific items that they can trade in to obtain the actual item. A picture of a fork might be made to symbolize that a student is hungry, for example.

Currently two students at Wesley use the PECS method, with one other student about to start learning it.

Both ABA and PECS compliment overall DTT. An instructor using DTT “gives a cue for a student to perform, provides reinforcement for the desired behavior, and conducts ongoing evaluations of student performance,” according to an article in a 1998 issue of Focus on Autism and Other Disabilities.

From the beginning of the school year to now, said Ms Bakus, there has been significant progress made with the children at Wesley Learning Center. Two of the students are capable of being “mainstreamed,” parlance for the capability to join a regular school environment, during Sandy Hook School’s lunch and recess period. Travis Albies can also participate in the school’s gym class.

The majority of autistic students in Newtown are “mainstreamed” or “higher functioning.” The needs of these students are addressed through the regular special education program, not the Wesley Learning Center. Mainstreamed students attend their elementary school like a typical student, except that they are assigned to an assistant who attends classes with the student. In addition to having their own personal assistant, these students meet with the special education coordinator in that particular school.

Mainstream programs are tailored to the individual student, says Mr Chiappetta. Some students are good readers but lack math skills. For other students, the reverse is true. Still others struggle with writing. Typical classroom assignments and homework are tailored to meet the needs and abilities of these autistic students. “The attempt is made to try to keep [these students] as close to the regular curriculum as possible,” Mr Chiappetta says.

Most of the mainstreamed autistic students Margaret O’Callighan sees on a regular basis at Hawley School simply need some trouble shooting and behavioral training. Mrs O’Callighan, who is the special education coordinator for Hawley, admits that other students need more one-on-one attention.

Since autistic students are very visual learners, she might tailor classroom assignments to be a little more visually friendly. She’ll keep instruction simple: Read. Underline key words. Solve. Math problems might only involve three to a page; reading passages are broken down into smaller paragraphs.

But the important advantage these mainstreamed students have is that they are functioning within a school setting. There is a give and take, says Mrs O’Callighan, between typical and autistic students, and it is within these social settings that the students learn appropriate social behavior.

It is an advantage that Kristen Bakus wishes for her students. Although two of her seriously autistic students are able to be mainstreamed for a small amount of time each day, she is looking toward the future when a program for seriously autistic students can be housed within a school, where there would be greater opportunity to mainstream students. Although she doesn’t know where, the DTT program will not be housed at the Wesley Learning Center next year.

Mrs O’Callighan also speaks in favor of the interaction autistic students experience within a normal school setting. “People are really starting to look at how can we do the best for the child,” she explains. “Where inclusion works, when it’s appropriate for the child, it’s a good thing.”

Currently, said Mr Chiappetta, there are three autistic children who live in Newtown and receive schooling out-of-district. But that number is changing. Already one student has returned to Newtown, and Mr Chiappetta hopes that once parents see what Newtown has to offer its autistic students, they will not feel the need to look elsewhere.

Indeed, these programs notwithstanding, many parents are finding the support they need to cope with their child’s autism in the strength and support of other parents.

A Resource For Parents

“It’s extremely helpful, because if you’re really living it and experiencing it, sharing with someone who understands is such a relief,” says Patti Calderara, a mother of an autistic Hawley student.

 Mrs Calderara, along with Dawn Ford, has started the Newtown Autism Parent Support Group (NAPSG) in order to give parents who have autistic children the chance to share their experiences.

Mrs Calderara knows the difficulty of not having someone to talk to. When her son was first diagnosed with autism he was in a typical preschool, so she had no other parent that was going through a similar experience to bond with.

Both Mrs Ford and Mrs Calderara estimate that there are 16 families in Newtown dealing with autism. During a given meeting of NAPSG, which usually occurs on the second Wednesday of every month in Hawley School’s media center, there might be 10 people present. Although each family’s struggle is different, there are common experiences that can be used to help one other, the two explain.

“[The meetings offer] parent-to-parent support to share information,” says Mrs Ford. “[Parents] bring articles, share conferences, and tell of there problems.

“[The meetings] are stressful, but there is relief,” she adds.

Often times, Bob Chiappetta will attend the meetings to bridge the gap between the support group and the classrooms where the children spend most of their time.

With the start of April kicking off Autism Awareness Month, NAPSG is looking to draw more parents into its folds of support. The group is working to get participants for the May 7 Walk for Autism that is slated to be held in Brooksvale Park in Hamden.

Parents that are interested in participating in the walk or getting involved with NAPSG can contact Dawn Ford (426-6158) or Patti Calderara (426-9773) for more information.