AHRC Nassau

This Spring, Students Flourish at Brookville Center for Children’s Services

Spring has sprung at the Brookville Center for Children’s Services. Across the nonprofit, new programs and activities continue to grow. This newsletter provides snapshots of meaningful moments across the schools and Children’s Residential Program.

We hope you enjoy learning more about how:

Spring nature walks at the Post Avenue School lead to greater strides in the classroom.
The Children’s Residential Program hosted an engaging and heartfelt Passover Seder.
Marcus Avenue School is moving full speed ahead with its new sensory room.
The Barbara C. Wilson School welcomed a new music teacher and her exciting new plans for the children this year.
Over at the Children’s Education Center, Amy Kelly, Special Education Teacher, is continuing to expand her insight and impact after 16 years at BCCS.

Post Avenue Students Learn About Buds and Blossoms on Seasonal Nature Walks

Spring is here and the students at the BCCS Post Avenue School have again begun their nature walks. As the weather permits, students get a chance to participate in this activity with their class. Going on a walk is important for many reasons, particularly for students to develop motor and interpersonal skills while learning the importance of being active and connecting with nature.

Post Avenue School’s 50 students have many opportunities to enjoy these nature walks. The campus is located on a historic property in Old Westbury, with cedar shake Quaker meeting houses surrounded by plenty of greenery and an enclosed garden for staff and children to enjoy.

For the walks, sometimes teachers incorporate the learning from their curriculum and give students a scavenger hunt. Other times, students receive an activity sheet on different birds or trees they may find in the area.

However, the primary goal for these walks is for children to enjoy the changing weather and allow them to be present and take in the world around them. These walks help students foster a sense of calm, increases concentration, and leads to being more focused in class.

One fun surprise is when the students get a chance to spot the neighborhood cat that likes to make an appearance now and then. Overall, the little ones are often excited to go on these periodic walks because they love being outside and Post Avenue’s outdoor campus is a perfect way for them to enjoy fifteen to twenty minutes in nature.

Continuing Traditions: Celebrating Passover at BCCS Children’s Residential Program

It's usually around 4, when the boys in House 28 at the BCCS Children’s Residential Program (CRP) come home from school. They settle down, grab a snack, and enjoy some downtime before eating dinner and then heading out to take on the night’s activities. They keep a busy schedule, but during the first week of April, the boys and staff prepared the home for Passover Seder—a tradition that House 28 has kept for three years now.

The Children’s Residential Program is an OPWDD-certified intermediate care facility (ICF) for children with developmental disabilities. They give children the opportunity to live as independently as they can, in a setting where they are supported and have a chance to live fulfilling lives.

The program consists of four residences—three for boys and one for girls. The school-age children in the residence receive therapies and services, usually until the age of twenty-one, after which they receive assistance for adult placements. House 28, is one of the four dormitory-style houses and is home to six boys from ages eighteen to twenty-three.

Deborah Lapidus, Speech Language Pathologist at AHRC Nassau, organized the Passover Seder dinner and celebrates the occasion with activities for the children.

Three times a week, Deborah regularly works with children on individualized eating guidelines. She also enjoys celebrating Passover with them. For Deborah, this is a great way to incorporate a meaningful tradition while helping build success with eating.

Throughout the years, House 28 has designed and solidified a unique routine to kick off the festival season. Ronny Fisher, Assistant House Manager at the residence, handles the preparation of the symbolic foods for the Seder plate. He makes quick work of it, as he has been part of the celebration for the past three years.

Read more on our blog!

The Barbara C. Wilson School Expands Their Music Program

The Barbara C. Wilson School welcomes Music Teacher Annette Stamatelatos to their staff. Annette will lead a music program from the school’s new music room opening this spring.

The class will feature Kindermusic, an early education program with music and movement suitable for children from infancy to seven years of age. The critical skills that children develop from this program will support students’ work ranging from sentence structure to self-regulation and rhythm patterns.

Although the school’s 141 students have music time daily with their teachers, the addition of a music teacher and music room will provide an energetic music experience twice a week.

In music class, they will sing songs, experience different instruments, and build on the skills they learn with their teachers outside of the music room. Annette also will share the songs they are learning with parents so they can practice at home, too.

The twice-weekly music classes are structured to tie in directly with the school’s creative curriculum. The music teacher will work with teachers to reinforce the skills they pick up in class as well as share the songs with parents for home practice. Reports on students' progress in the music class also will be provided for teachers to integrate the music lessons into their core curriculum.

For many of the preschoolers, the music class will be their introduction to musical instruments and music across cultures.

New Sensory Room Offers Opportunity to Learn Through Play

This year, BCCS Marcus Avenue made a special addition to the school—a state-of-the-art sensory room assisting children with processing and general motor skills. The room is used for three main purposes:

Proactively, for children who may need additional support to help them be more receptive to classroom learning.
As a reward, some students can work and accomplish tasks that would allow them to accumulate time in the room.
Therapeutically, occupational therapists can host sessions with students to help them meet their goals.

Although designed for preschoolers with special needs, the sensory room has design features that anyone might find soothing and inspiring. Upon walking into the dimly lit room, your eyes might focus on a color-changing bubble tube spanning from the floor to the ceiling. The tube is surrounded by mirrors, giving the looker the illusion of three tubes with water bubbles flowing up and down.

Across the room are tentacle lights laid on a vibrating mat. There’s a wall made up of individual marbles for those with a more tactile need. Right in front of it is a moving mat made up of large colorful cushioned squares filled with a jelly-like substance.

The sensory room also allows the staff to collect data analyzing the potential benefits to the child, whether it be increased emotional regulation, increased attention span, or providing the sensory stimulation needed to be available for learning.

Staff Spotlight: Amy Kelly
Growth and Impact: Amy Kelly Pursues BCBA While Teaching at Children’s Education Center

“Whatchu got? One plus, one plus?” Amy Kelly, a teacher at the BCCS Children’s Education Center in Brookville, encouragingly asks during a one-on-one lesson with Hunter, a student in her classroom. Hunter, although inquisitive, gets a bit distracted by the video playing on the smartboard in front of him.

But Amy gently persisted. She moves the equation card closer to him—patiently waiting. Seconds later, Hunter grabs the card, fully focused. “One plus three equals four,” responds Hunter.

“Excellent” clapped Amy as they celebrated together, and Hunter neatly placed the card on the stack he has been working on.

Amy is growing into her role and starting to come into her own. Although the 2023 school year marks her second year of teaching, Amy has been a BCCS staff member for sixteen years.

Amy started her career at BCCS as a teacher’s assistant. The then nineteen-year-old learned about the job from a friend. At the time, she was waitressing at a local pizza shop and had no experience working with children. Without concrete plans, she took the job figuring that holding a position with daytime hours would be a welcome change.

After Amy joined the Children’s Education Center, she found that she loved having hands-on interaction with the students. Special education programs work with smaller class sizes, increasing the time teachers spend with each child. This allows teachers to reinforce individual education plans, ensuring students are reaching their goals.