…
Back on Saturday May 4th, I once again had the privilege of flying down to my secondary headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida to attend the open house of a school I helped found last year…the Boca School for Autism on the campus of Florida Atlantic University. While the event could have attracted more potential students as we only had 4 families attend, BSA was another one of the schools in the greater Miami area that families can look to for getting the education for developmentally different loved ones.
For this review, I want to cover three main areas I found during the open house that a majority of schools should be embracing on behalf of special education students.
…
As I have reviewed BSA in the past, I probably think that you have a better understanding of what the school is…an evolution of the previous Unicorn Children’s Foundation of which I was a board member for from July 2022 to March 2024. The goal of BSA is to reach out to students and families in the greater Boca Raton area that are looking for a unique education tailored to their needs.
However, one thing that I would like to have BSA serve as a model towards is the fact that like other schools geared towards special education students, there is a lot of unique features that a lot of public schools tend to not have. The most prominent of which is sensory friendly rooms.
Many public schools I feel should embrace the importance of sensory friendly rooms where students who are overstimulated can go to if they get overwhelmed. When I was in public school, there was my homebase during my middle and high school years, but no sensory friendly rooms. As more and more individuals are diagnosed, the need for sensory friendly room in more public areas is essential.
…
Another area that I noticed is when I was walking through the cafeteria and I came across a board that monitors noise levels. Each level is ranked from 0 to 4 and it got me thinking about the issue that plagues a lot of sensory friendly/special education students which is the lunch period. Looking at this board got me thinking of the fact that there could be a similar board in that it measures the tolerance level of how a sensory friendly student can tolerate being in the cafeteria.
For one thing, you can have the numbers be from 1 (tolerable) to 5 (intolerable) that can represent the student’s tolerance level. Have the board be in the student’s classroom or homebase and then have the student determine whether he or she can tolerate the lunchroom for that particular school day.
Of course, I cover a majority of these issues in my “How to Create Alternative Lunchroom Settings for Sensory Friendly Students” training, but it’s something for teachers to think about.
…
…
Finally, I want to highlight something that we brought over from Unicorn Children’s Foundation that can help teach special education students important job and trade skills that they will later use in life. At UCF, we had what was known as the Special Percs Cafe where developmentally different individuals would work a coffee shop within UCF and learn about interacting with customers, handling product, etc.
I am happy to say that for the past few years, Seekonk Public Schools has incorporated a transitional program for students aged 18 to 22 that teaches them life skills and how to interact with students and staff at the high school.
Now, the reason I bring this up is because also in Seekonk Public Schools, high school students have to complete 100 hours of community service in order to obtain a high school diploma. Looking at something like the Special Percs Cafe cart, public schools can use this cart not only to get special education students engaged, but also can use the student’s participation in manning the cart as credited hours.
…
In conclusion, there are many tips and tricks that Boca School for Autism demonstrates that public and private schools can take with their special education students. With the ratio at 1 in 36 for an autism diagnosis as an example, more and more schools will eventually have to resort to creative ways to get students engaged. May Boca School for Autism continue to serve as that example!!
…
Catch you all later!!
Comments