A Little School is Making a Big Difference
*From the CARD Quarterly, April - June 2004

Kindergarten

Deep in the heart of Desoto County is a little school named Nocatee Elementary. It does not have self-contained units for children with special needs - every child is considered special and is fully included. When a local kindergartner with autism transitioned to their school, the staff had to look closely at their resources to support the child. No one at the school had any formal training in autism.

The kindergarten teacher turned to the Autism Training Institute in Pasco County, a collaborative effort between CARD-USF, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Citrus Counties that offers a four-day training on best practices for students with autism.

The school staff and CARD worked very hard throughout the year. The principal allowed CARD to come in during staff meetings and conduct trainings, and in order to obtain ideas for the child's upcoming first grade year, the school's behavior specialist and the teacher who was identified to teach first grade, attended the annual CARD conference. Although the year was a trial and error process for the support staff, it ended with the first grade teacher excited about the upcoming year, and the child with autism making great progress.

First Grade

The staff would agree that as the first grade year nears the end, there have been gains for the child with autism as well as the entire school community. Nocatee Elementary expanded its collaborative effort and brought in Mike Muldoon from the Florida Inclusion Network to assist with the inclusion practice and additional resources. Throughout the school are visual supports that the child's teacher felt was important for her student to have, as well as for all the students in the school. This picture exchange system has helped the student to increase his vocabulary rapidly. When asked about her students and how they are learning, the teacher speaks with pride in her voice and says they seem to be more nurturing toward each other instead of focusing on themselves.

When asked about the inclusion program, the principal, Mrs. Waters, put it quite eloquently, "If we don't give them a chance, how are we going to know what they can do? It's up to us to give them that chance to be more, to do more, to have more opportunities, and to support them in their endeavors. It makes us more unified as a school."

Everyone on the child's support team: the principal, the teacher the paraprofessional, the behavior specialist, and many others have worked very hard together. They have a shared vision for the child - that he will reach his maximum potential and exceed their expectations.

CARD-USF Support Specialist, Serena Samar, provided technical assistance to the school.

The Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) is a department of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida. The faculty and staff of CFS are committed to enhancing the development, mental health and well-being of children and families through leadership in integrating research, theory & practice.