All in the Family: La Salle Education Program Enables Children with Special Needs to Learn with Siblings

Tears ran down Joanne Romig’s face when she watched La Salle students teaching her son in a summer school program. But that was a good thing.

Her son is autistic, and for three weeks each summer he takes classes with his two sisters. Romig, a La Salle alumnus, said until her son was enrolled in this La Salle program her son had never been in a classroom with other children. That’s what made her cry.

Directed by Dr. Carole Patrylo of La Salle’s Education Department, these “inclusion” sessions bring children with special needs and their families together in a learning environment. The classes are taught by graduate students in the education program; each teacher is monitored by a supervisor (several of whom are La Salle alums) and have classroom assistants (usually undergraduate education majors).

It helps bridge two important gaps for children with special needs. It’s based on the belief that these children should be included with the general student population in classes. Their siblings learn more about what their brothers and sisters face in the classroom – and special needs children in general -- and parents get daily feedback on the children’s progress.

The La Salle students benefit by experiencing classes and activities involving both general and children with special needs.

Children with many types of needs, from those with dyslexia, attention-deficit-disorder to autism, are enrolled in the program.

According to Patrylo, socialization is very difficult for some special needs children, so having their siblings in the class brings familiarity and a comfort level to them. This is a particular need for children with various levels of autism, says Patrylo.

She recalled how during an orientation session for the program a child with autism ran out of the room.

“We worked carefully with the disorder and made significant strides,” said Patrylo. “The graduate students included him in all lessons and devoted much time on appropriate social skills. He has returned for the last three years with his sisters.”

Patrylo began working in the program as co-director in 1995. The first group had only 12 students and held its classes in the cafeteria of Simmons Elementary School in Horsham, Pa. Since then, as many as 125 children from 14 school districts in the region have participated.  

School districts often will have an individual plan for children with special needs, setting goals and objectives. The La Salle program helps the children meet those goals and objectives; in certain cases, special needs children need year-round schooling to reinforce lessons and goals.

And the program is not a “one-time” experience. Some children have been attending for more than 10 years.

Classes are small, usually no more than a dozen. One particular science lesson required the students to go to “the beach” (a made up one in a classroom) and then “fish” for the various sea creatures they learned about. In another class, one graduate student, Elizabeth Stack, had her mother, who is a teacher, read a story aloud to her students. Baking bread was part of the tale, so Stack had the children make bread using “Playdough.”

Children with special needs learn more effectively if the classes involve “hands-on” and “multi-sensory” activities as opposed to being taught abstract concepts.

“It’s challenging teaching these children,” said Stack. “But they’ve taught me a great deal.”

Michael Farrell, who graduated from La Salle in May, 2007 worked in the program for three summers, “and I really enjoyed it. I looked forward to it every year.” He was a classroom assistant his first year, a curriculum assistant his second year, and handled the technology needs of the classes this past summer.

“As an undergraduate student, it was a nice way to relate the theories of education to practical experience, even before I did my student teaching,” said Farrell. An elementary and special education major, Farrell began teaching special education at a Philadelphia charter school this past fall.