Friday, September 22, 2006
Playing Catch Up
Not just in my blog posting, but at the New York Center for Autism Charter School... The public charter school, located in Manhattan on E. 100th St., is featured in the latest Education Update. Here's a sampling:
“There are 5000 kids in New York City with an autism diagnosis,” explains NYCA’s Executive Director, Jamie Pagliaro. “Most of these kids are stuck in special ed classrooms with kids who have all different kinds of disabilities, like Down’s Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy. Sometimes the easiest thing for the teacher to do when juggling six kids with really intense, diverse needs is to put our kids [those with autism] aside and let them relax—give them a lot of down time. But our kids don’t need down time. They need rapid catch up,” he concludes emphatically.
Indeed, catch-up at NYCA, which is the first charter school in New York that exclusively serves children with disabilities, occurs at a fast and furious pace. Like The McCarton School (a private school for autistic children), NYCA educators use intensive Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which Pagliaro refers to as “a toolkit of research-based interventions that have been proven to be effective and are based on behavioral principles.” At any given moment, teachers—who provide one-on-one instruction at all times —might be using discrete trial training, video modeling, incidental teaching on the floor, or role-playing to stimulate learning and behavioral change. Hallmark features of NYCA’s program include repetition and practice, positive reinforcement (the reward system), and extensive use of data to chart progress. “Our kids don’t go more than a few days without making progress on benchmarks,” explains Pagliaro, a recent MBA with over a decade’s experience in special education. Evan’s chart is a case in point: his skill mastery is plotted in a series of spiked graphs, indicating that he must accrue three consecutive days at 90 percent performance before moving on to the next task.
“There are 5000 kids in New York City with an autism diagnosis,” explains NYCA’s Executive Director, Jamie Pagliaro. “Most of these kids are stuck in special ed classrooms with kids who have all different kinds of disabilities, like Down’s Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy. Sometimes the easiest thing for the teacher to do when juggling six kids with really intense, diverse needs is to put our kids [those with autism] aside and let them relax—give them a lot of down time. But our kids don’t need down time. They need rapid catch up,” he concludes emphatically.
Indeed, catch-up at NYCA, which is the first charter school in New York that exclusively serves children with disabilities, occurs at a fast and furious pace. Like The McCarton School (a private school for autistic children), NYCA educators use intensive Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which Pagliaro refers to as “a toolkit of research-based interventions that have been proven to be effective and are based on behavioral principles.” At any given moment, teachers—who provide one-on-one instruction at all times —might be using discrete trial training, video modeling, incidental teaching on the floor, or role-playing to stimulate learning and behavioral change. Hallmark features of NYCA’s program include repetition and practice, positive reinforcement (the reward system), and extensive use of data to chart progress. “Our kids don’t go more than a few days without making progress on benchmarks,” explains Pagliaro, a recent MBA with over a decade’s experience in special education. Evan’s chart is a case in point: his skill mastery is plotted in a series of spiked graphs, indicating that he must accrue three consecutive days at 90 percent performance before moving on to the next task.
Most Recent Posts
- Update and Thanks
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- One More Class Size Note
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