Student Matthew Detgen uses a switch to welcome visitors to Back-to-School Night, as his parents look on.
Speech language specialists at the Matheny School offer individual and integrated services plus in-class language groups. Our vast library of augmentative devices range from low-tech single switch access devices to high-tech dynamic display devices. And our onsite audiology clinic provides audiological evaluations as well as a dysphagia clinic throughout the year.
To learn more about Matheny’s speech, occupational and physical therapy programs, visit us at The Matheny School Open House for school administrators. It will be held from 10 a.m-noon on Tuesday, January 29. For more information or to register, call Jill Baker at (908) 234-0011, ext. 774, or email mathenyschool@matheny.org.
Congressman Leonard Lance chats with Arts Access artist Luis Rodriguez.
Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07) took one look at an untitled painting by Arts Access artist Jason Christie and exclaimed, “If you had told me that was a Jackson Pollock, I would have believed you!”
Rep. Lance toured Matheny recently, starting at the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center where he praised staff members, students and patients for being awarded a 2013 Fast Track Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
He visited with artist Luis Rodriguez in the visual arts studio and then watched Rodriguez work on his choreography with two dance facilitators. “I was pleased to talk with staff and patients at Matheny and learn more about the facility’s first-class art program for residents,” Lance said. “I was also impressed with the high quality of care that is provided to patients at this top-notch facility in Peapack.”
Arts Access enables people with disabilities to create fine art, assisted by professional artist-facilitators. The NEA grant was awarded to help support the 20th anniversary of Arts Access, which will be celebrated in November.
Darlene Tammara uses picture symbols to make a story more understandable for student Deborah Eike. At left is occupational therapist Debbi Goodheart.
Darlene Tammara looks at her students and sees their abilities, not their disabilities. “Who knows how far they can grow?” she asks. Tammara teaches a transition class at the Matheny School, instructing older students in life skills that will help them after they graduate.
Four years ago she started the Tea Time Café, a snack bar managed by Matheny students for Matheny employees. She has her students count money from Tea Time sales, enter the results on a special math worksheet and make bank deposits. The students also work on clerical jobs for Matheny and fill packages for Operation Shoebox, an organization that sends care packages to U.S. troops deployed overseas. On December 1, her students, along with some Matheny adult patients, participated in an Operation Shoebox packing event at the YMCA in Hillsborough, NJ. And in January 2013, both groups were scheduled to make weekly visits to the Bridgewater, NJ, Library and a local yoga studio to learn appropriate job skills.
Tammara, a resident of Bridgewater, NJ, is in her 17th year at Matheny. One of the things she loves about working there is the creative freedom. “If you have an idea, you can go with it,” she says. “Matheny gives you an opportunity to try things. I love working with students at all different levels, coming up with creative ways to bring the world to my students, giving them every opportunity to grow themselves.”
Tammara also appreciates Matheny’s trans-disciplinary approach, “where therapists work in the classroom with teachers. We all work together. I feel very strongly about that – it’s such a collaborative effort. When there is collaboration among the teacher, therapist and administration, it’s like a well-oiled machine. I enjoy being given the chance to discuss my students with my colleagues.”
Her colleagues apparently feel the same way about her as they nominated Tammara as Matheny’s educator of the year for the 2012-2013 school year.
Robert Declan tries out a power wheelchair under the watchful eye of Matheny physical therapist Lisa Tuminelli.
The goal of the Matheny School’s adapted phys ed program is to make it possible for Matheny students to participate and compete in modified versions of as many sports as possible. The program ranges from races in both manual and power wheelchairs to adapted versions of bowling, soccer and basketball, to name a few.
For several years, Matheny has been taking this program on the road, to public and independent schools throughout New Jersey, introducing these adapted sports to students of all ages during their own physical education classes. The most recent trip was to a second grade gym class at the Central Elementary School in Great Meadows, NJ.
The visits have several objectives: to let able-bodied students know that children with disabilities enjoy many of the same activities they do; to break down barriers of anxiety about how to relate to people with disabilities; and to replace those barriers with a sense of camaraderie, understanding and friendship as the two groups of students compete as peers. By all accounts, the Central visit accomplished all of those goals.
Lt. Governor Guadagno and choir member Jessica Evans.
As members of Matheny’s choir prepared for their appearance with Holiday Express at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on December 20, they received good luck wishes from an unexpected visitor. “You guys are going to be great!” exclaimed New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno. She stopped backstage and chatted with each choir member. Guadagno even promised adult patient Jessica Evans that she’d soon visit Matheny.
During the concert, Holiday Express founder and leader Tim McLoone welcomed the choir members, saying, “We go to a wonderful place every year called Matheny.” After the choir performed “Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You” and “Little Drummer Boy,” McLoone introduced Geri Brewer of Somerset, NJ, who sang “One Little Christmas Tree” to her daughter Rasheedah Mahali and the other students and patients from Matheny.
Tim McLoone, choir member Paul Santos and Lt. Governor Guadagno.
Holiday Express’ mission is to deliver music, food, gifts, financial support and friendship to those in need during the holiday season. The band presents a holiday concert every year at Matheny and also plays at our prom in the spring.
Back row, from left: Student Mohamed El Yamany, recreation therapy director Sean Bielefeldt, Santa Claus (David Formichella), Stacey Sturrock, Kim DeRocco, Lisa Alongi, Kathy Figueroa, Lisa Dattolo and Young Moon. Front, from left: student Daeon Troutman, adult patient Camille Van Valen and students Kimberly Alarcon and India Jones.
The annual holiday visit from employees at Skanska USA’s Parsippany, NJ, office is a tradition that Matheny students and patients look forward to—especially since the group from Skansaka drops off lots of toys raised in a company toy drive.
But this year, Santa Claus (aka David Formichella, technical administrator in Skanska’s New York City office) and his helpers did more than just deliver the toys. They walked through the hallways and visited every classroom in the Matheny School, spreading holiday joy everywhere they went.
Student Raven Bennett with Stacey Sturrock and Lisa Dattolo.
Camille Van Valen with, from left, Paige Nazzaro, Laura Chen and Clara Regan.
Camille Van Valen loves to sing. The adult patient at Matheny is a member of the Matheny choir, and she knows lots of the popular holiday songs by heart. So when the seventh and eighth grade chorus from the Old Turnpike School in Tewksbury Township, NJ, visited Matheny to perform a variety of Christmas carols, Van Valen could be seen singing along on such favorites as “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
Afterward, she met and chatted with several of the students and learned that they will be returning to Matheny in March to perform segments of the school’s annual musical, which will be The Little Mermaid. Van Valen is one of several members of Matheny’s Choir who sang at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on December 20 with Holiday Express.
From left, Jenna, Jacob, Lauren and sister Callie.
The scariest part of being parents of a special needs child, says Jacob Poleyeff, is, “What to do in an emergency. There’s no fall back.” Since May 2012, Jenna Poleyeff, the 10-year-old daughter of Jacob and Lauren Poleyeff of West Orange, NJ, has lived at Matheny. Prior to that, she was a day student at the Matheny School, and her father admits thinking that when an opportunity came up for residency, “I wasn’t sure I could let her go, although I knew it was probably the best thing.”
When a bed became available at Matheny in May, the Poleyeffs came face-to-face with the toughest decision of their lives. “As she grows, her physical needs get harder to handle,” her mother Lauren explains, “but when the call came that a bed was available, I thought it was a little too soon.” However, the couple knew that if they turned down the residential opportunity, it might be three or four years before her name came up again. “It was hard,” Lauren Poleyeff admits. “I cried.” The Poleyeffs did, however, with Matheny’s help, manage to make the transition a little easier than it might have been. “I insisted we leave her there on a Thursday,” Jacob Poleyeff recalls. “We brought her home for the weekend the next day instead of going a whole week. We passed that test.”
Jenna, the Poleyeffs say, is happy all the time, and the staff members at Matheny “go out of their way” to provide the little extras that make the hospital and school seem like home. One example is a special prayer the Poleyeffs would sing to Jenna at home before she went to bed. “Somebody suggested recording it,” Jacob says, “so it could be played at Matheny. When she’s home, I sing it, and when she’s at Matheny, they play the recording. Matheny is the perfect place for her.”
Friends of Matheny volunteers at the Holiday Boutique. Vena Glenn, Jean Wadsworth, Janet Allocco, Helen Fallone, Dorothy Carter, Angie Erickson, Cathy Wild, Lisa Lee and Edana Desatnick.
If you walk through the halls of Matheny during the holiday season, you will see the door of each bedroom decorated with wreaths placed there by The Friends of Matheny, our auxiliary group that does so much to help us improve the lives of our students and patients.
And, in addition to all the gifts The Friends gives to Matheny, its members also make sure Matheny’s students and patients can find good, inexpensive holiday gifts to give to their family members. Every year, The Friends set up a Holiday Boutique, stocked with items from their Second Chance thrift shop. For very reasonable prices, Matheny students and patients can purchase gifts and have them wrapped. This year’s Holiday Boutique was held on December 10, and, as usual, it was a huge success.
The Friends of Matheny is an organization dedicated to providing support to Matheny. Since its inception in 1983, the group has raised more than $3 million to sustain Matheny’s programs and services.
Adult patient Dion Alston was assisted with his shopping by Alicia Zurlo, left, and Debra Ross.
FiOS 1 NJ reports on Matheny’s indirect access communications program.
Reporter Matt Brody interviews speech-language pathologist Christine Mayercik and Matheny School acting principal Sean Murphy. Student Lee Lubin demonstrates how the system works.
Choir members India Jones, left, and Bianca Mathis.
The unofficial launch of the holiday season at Matheny starts off with the annual concert presented by the Matheny choirs. This year, the theme was “Fruitcake & Mistletoe,” and the selections included “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “ Santa Baby” and “Winter Wonderland.” There was also a new twist on an old favorite by members of the music therapy staff, who sang, “Oh Little Town of Hackensack.”
The choirs perform throughout the year at a variety of venues, and the music therapy program also invites musicians to perform at Matheny and facilitates trips by students and patients to outside concerts and musical performances. The music therapy staff consists of five full-time board-certified music therapists. The holiday concerts were held on Wednesday afternoon, December 5, and Thursday evening, December 6.
All of us at Matheny grieve with the families of the children and adults whose lives were lost as the result of the senseless violence in Newtown, CT.
We want to assure all Matheny families that the safety of our students, patients, residents and staff is our highest priority. We have established safety and security procedures in place, in coordination with the Peapack-Gladstone Police Department; and we regularly practice, review and revise these policies when needed.
We are also, of course, aware that this tragedy may have an emotional impact on some of our students, patients and residents. Our Social Services and Psychological Services staff members are closely monitoring this situation and are available at any time to address these concerns.
