Fairness in special ed placements

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande.

On June 20, the New Jersey State Assembly, by a vote of 74-0, passed legislation prohibiting public school boards from awarding bonuses to superintendents for reducing the number of special needs students placed out of district. Republican Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, from the 11th District, which includes several municipalities in Monmouth County, sponsored the bill.

In advocating for this law, Assemblywoman Casagrande said, “The most important consideration for special education is what’s best for the child. That decision should never be clouded by an administrator’s personal financial stake in the outcome.” Casagrande introduced the bill after some districts had allegedly begun awarding such bonuses. She added that, “Merit pay for outstanding educational achievement and reducing spending are commendable goals; however, not at the expense of special needs children.”

An article in the MoreMonmouthMusings blog had reported that Casagrande became aware of this issue last March while touring the Oakwood School, a non-profit, non-sectarian private school in Tinton Falls that serves adolescents with Asperger/autism. She told MMM that she put herself in the shoes of a parent already fighting for a special needs student and being confronted with an additional obstacle: a superintendent with a financial incentive to withhold the best educational opportunities.

Cindy LaBar and Matheny student Ryan O'Connor.

Cindy LaBar has always wanted to work with children. But she had never spent much time around kids with developmental disabilities until interning at Matheny in 2003 after receiving her MS in physical therapy from Columbia University. “It’s the small accomplishments that are so rewarding and are so huge for our students and patients,” she notes. For example, “one of my students had a really hard time holding up his head. By putting him on the therapy ball on his back, he was able to hold his head up for a brief time, and he broke into a big smile.”

After her internship, LaBar joined the Matheny staff and was named director of physical therapy in 2006. Ironically, her daughter Hanna was born with a rare chromosome anomaly as well as a cleft palate and heart defect. Hanna, who is now seven, is non-verbal and in a wheelchair, although, according to LaBar, “she can take about 20 steps alone.”

Her experience with Hanna has helped LaBar understand what the families of students and patients are faced with. “ You constantly have to be an advocate for your child—the right school, the right therapies. My focus here has shifted a little to really get involved with the families.”

Hanna has also had an impact on LaBar’s own family. “If my five-year-old son Jack sees a kid in a wheelchair,” she says, “he wants to know him.”

Cindy LaBar and her daughter Hanna.

John Reck.

Individuals riding in a vehicle while seated in wheelchairs are 45 times more likely to be injured in a crash than a typical passenger. That was one of the sobering facts pointed out by John Reck, Matheny’s director of assistive technology, at The Arc of New Jersey’s annual Conference on Medical Care for Persons with Developmental Disabilities held May 31 in Princeton, NJ.

In a session on Wheelchair Transportation Safety, Reck added that many injuries of wheelchair-seated passengers are caused by non-collision events such as abrupt turning maneuvers and hard braking. To prevent such accidents, Reck recommended always securing wheelchairs, using occupant restraints and removing loose accessories from the wheelchair, which might injure an occupant during impact.

The safest option, he said, is to transfer a wheelchair occupant into a manufacturer-installed vehicle seat and use the vehicle’s crash-tested occupant restraint system.

At Matheny, Reck heads the assistive technology program, which strives to meet the needs of each individual by providing the perfect match of assistive technology services and products in order to give each person the highest possible level of health, function and quality of life.

Matt McDermott and Matheny student Nicholas Barros.

Matt McDermott’s gifts of toys and games to Matheny students have become an annual tradition.

This year, the fifth grader at Mount Prospect School in Basking Ridge, NJ,  asked guests coming to his family’s pool party to donate the toys and games, and then he and his mother visited Matheny to present them.

Thanks, Matt!

Matheny student Michael Taurozzi uses a switch to access a computer, assisted by OT Wendell Lumapas.

Occupational therapy helps people regain, develop and build skills that are important for independent living and well-being. OTs often use assistive technology to help people with disabilities with life skills they couldn’t normally perform.

At Matheny, many students and patients are able to access a computer by using a switch. OTs train our children and adults to use any functional part of their body to activate a computer program. This use of assistive technology enables them to participate more fully in school activities, leisure activities and activities of daily living.

Locking hands and arms in aquatic therapy.

The mission of The Matheny School is to provide an integrated educational and therapeutic experience for students with a diverse range of abilities and disabilities. We do that by providing our students with the freedom to explore their own interests within a positive learning environment. We also:

• Enhance the potential of our students through the development of Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) that focus on tailored, attainable goals and objectives.

• Enrich our students’ daily living by increasing their gross motor, fine motor, visual and perceptual skills.

• Provide our students with unlimited opportunities to learn through an interdisciplinary approach combining therapy treatment, social services, psychology and medical care in collaboration with classroom staff members.

Participating in adapted karate.

From left, Marie, Matthew and Donald Detgen.

Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Detgen has cerebral palsy combined with several other medical conditions. When Matthew was three months old, he began receiving services from the early intervention program at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ. He subsequently attended the Buck County Intermediate Unit in Quakertown, PA, and a Mercer County regional school. By the time Matthew was 17 years old, the Delaware Valley Regional High School in Frenchtown, NJ, recognized the need for placing him into a private special education school. According to his mother Marie, a resident of Milford, NJ, the school district was “impressed with Matheny’s program and saw that it was perfect for Matthew.”

On  June 18, Matthew graduated from The Matheny School, and his mother says he has benefited from the way he has been, “consistently challenged and pushed to reach his full potential. The knowledge, opportunities and technological support that Matheny affords far exceed any class in a public special education program. No public school program could come close to all that Matheny offers.”

As Matthew moves on to Matheny’s Adult Services program, he will benefit from The Matheny School’s transition program, which is designed to increase the independence of its students, both within the school and in the surrounding community. A key element of that program is the Tea Time Café, an in-house school refreshment stand equipped with an adapted cash register. It provides students with an authentic work environment, and Marie Detgen recalls the first time she and her husband Donald saw Matthew at work, “interacting with people. We had heard about it, but actually seeing how he was so excited and happy to be engaging with others made a lasting impression.”

Congressman Leonard Lance, visiting with Arts Access artist Luis Rodriguez.

U.S. Congressman Leonard Lance, whose district includes Peapack-Gladstone, will be the Honorary Chair for Full Circle 2013: Reflections, the 20th anniversary celebration of Matheny’s Arts Access Program, to be held November 2 in the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center. Lance, who visited Matheny this past January, is co-chairman of the Congressional Arts Caucus. He has been a member of the New Jersey Council on the Humanities and a trustee of the Newark Museum and McCarter Theatre in Princeton.

Arts Access enables people with disabilities to create fine art assisted by professional artist-facilitators. Many of the Arts Access artists cannot speak and do not have control of their hands and arms. But their minds are intact, and they use unique methods that allow them to overcome their disabilities and express themselves in multiple artistic disciplines. The program was created in 1993 by the late Robert Schonhorn, former president of Matheny, and Dr. Gabor Barabas, former medical director.

Recently, Arts Access received a $10,000 Challenge America Fast-Track grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the 20th anniversary Full Circle celebratory event. It will include an exhibition displaying original artwork created by artists with disabilities and will feature guest artists who will help participants with disabilities create a culminating multimedia performance piece.

Graduate Sammy Heisler with Ms. Wheelchair New Jersey Maggie Redden.

The Matheny School’s Principal Sean Murphy congratulated the 10 graduates of the class of 2013 on June 18, pointing out that they “never said ‘I can’t’ or ‘I won’t.’”

And in an understatement, Yasin Reddick, the class valedictorian, said, “It took a lot of work to get to this point.” That work was recognized by those who spoke before diplomas were handed out. The students were congratulated by Steve Proctor, Matheny president; Daniel McLaughlin, chair of the Matheny Board of Trustees; William Horton, mayor of Peapack-Gladstone; and keynote speaker Maggie Redden, Ms. Wheelchair New Jersey 2013. And each speaker was introduced by a non-verbal Matheny graduate, who accomplished the task through switch activation technology.

Proctor paid tribute to Matheny’s founders, Walter and Marguerite Matheny and introduced their son Chuck, who still resides at Matheny. He also singled out some of the students’ accomplishments such as Sammy Heisler’s love of music, Bianca Mathis’ accomplishments with the Girl Scouts and Natalie Tomastyk’s job at a local yoga studio. Redden, who was part of the 2008 Paralympic Track and Field team in Beijing, encouraged the graduates to “persevere” and follow their dreams.

Physical therapist Erin Meineke, left, and teaching assistant Katie Wertheim help Bryan Desatnick 'walk' to receive his diploma from principal Sean Murphy.

Some of The Friends of Matheny officers for 2013-2014 gathered outside the Roxiticus Golf Club after their luncheon. From left, Lisa Novella, a resident of Peapack, corresponding secretary; Nancy Hojnacki, Bernardsville, vp membership; Liz Geraghty, Cranford, president; Karen Thompson, Gladstone, vp membership; and Jean Wadsworth, Basking Ridge, recording secretary.

The Friends of Matheny held its annual end-of-the season luncheon on June 5 at the Roxiticus Golf Club in Mendham, NJ, and Friends president Liz Geraghty handed Matheny president Steve Proctor a check for $60,000.

The Friends is an organization dedicated to providing support to Matheny, and, since its inception in 1983, the group has raised more than $3 million. Proctor thanked members for all they do, singling out such gifts as an adaptive bathtub and a new “Van Go” vehicle, which will help bring Matheny’s unique Arts Access Program to other facilities for people with disabilities.

Gary Eddey, MD, Matheny vice president and chief medical officer, spoke to The Friends about Matheny’s medical mission. “We care for children and adults with multiple chronic illnesses,” he said. “In our system of care, everybody works together, 24-7, 365 days a year, so that our children and adults can live a full rich life to the best of their abilities.”

Max Berg with student India Jones and volunteer assistant David Curcio.

Music therapists at Matheny use various types of music to positively impact students’ and patients’ cognitive, physical, emotional and social skills. The music therapy program also makes it possible for students and patients to hear a variety of music – either at outside concerts or by having performers visit.

Max Berg, a resident of Gladstone, NJ, and a student at Bernards High School in Bernardsville, NJ, brought his guitar to Matheny on a recent Friday afternoon and entertained residents of the children’s wing with a variety of tunes including the Foo Fighters hit, “Big Me” and “Time of My Life”, a song from the soundtrack of the movie Dirty Dancing that was recorded later by the Black-Eyed Peas.

After the concert, Berg let the students strum his guitar and promised to be a frequent visitor.

Max Berg with student Katherine Gaudio.

Standing, from left, Matheny principal Sean Murphy, Matheny student Ryan O’Connor, teaching assistant Carlos Nieves, BHS student Isabella St. Onge, BHS student Tatiana Prendella, teaching assistant Chris Filchak, BHS student Pelin Ozel, Matheny teacher Karen Dakak, BHS student Fiona Dunn and BHS teacher LuAnn Faletta. Matheny students in front row, from left, Scott Gordon, Yasin Reddick, Kaila Jones and Patrick Conmy.

Every year students who belong to The Math League at Bernards High School in Bernardsville, NJ, hold a Math-A-Thon to raise money to benefit other students in the Somerset Hills area. This year they raised $695 and decided to donate the money to The Matheny School to support and enhance our mathematics program.

Some of the Math League students and their teacher, LuAnn Faletta, came to Matheny recently to deliver the gift, visit with Matheny students and take a tour of the school. Afterwards, Faletta,  expressing her appreciation for the tour, added: “I have talked to so many of my colleagues about how wonderful your school is and how impressed we were with everyone. The students and teachers are very special.”