Special Children's School offers unique opportunities for disabled students

If you look at the brick exterior and take in its location, the Special Children’s School in Sparta could be just another business on the circular road that is Gail Court. Even after getting buzzed in by the front office, located immediately to the right, the halls could be that of any other school in Sussex County, with 19 exceptions. Its students. Unable to attend school in a traditional setting due to disability, these students go to the Special Children’s School to receive the academic, social, cognitive and physical education and therapy they need, according to their Individualized Educational Program, or IEP. “We are very unique here,” said Barbara B. Miller, Ed.D., interim superintendent and principal at The Special Children’s School. “We have students ranging in age from three to 21 and provide programs in preschool disabilities, cognitive disabilities, multiple disabilities and autism. In addition, each student participates in two half-hour sessions per week in physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.” The Special Children’s School, which opened in 1995, is its own public school district that is run by the Sussex County Educational Services Commission. The funds for each individual student’s tuition are paid for by the local school district in which they live, through the school’s budget. Students attending the Special Children’s School have been identified by a child study team as needing special education. The school seeks to provide all of its students with a well rounded education that will help each one reach his or her full potential, utilizing individual strengths. To accomplish this mission, the Special Children’s School is committed to providing a wide array of programs. “We take the students to swim at the YMCA once a month, as well as offer pet therapy and music programs, also once a month,” Miller explained. Students are offered the benefits of a scouting program by participating in the Special Children’s School Scout Troop 700, which includes class trips, new community experiences and monthly scout meetings. Classes are given the responsibility of making the daily morning announcements, incorporating the Pledge of Allegiance, the weather, activities and a Word of the Day. In addition to designated programs, the Special Children’s School’s teachers make a point to emphasize learning concepts such as character education and pre-vocational skills every day. They teach these students “Character Education Traits” so that they become equipped with the skills to develop their own character ethics and traits and pre-vocational skills to use at home, work and their communities. For the hours between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., the 19 students that fill the school’s classrooms work hard to develop their physical skills, cognitive skills and life skills. One preschooler is finally walking by herself since enrolling last March, and shortly before turning four. She is just one triumph for the faculty and staff, filling the halls she can now navigate on her own with hope for all the students to reach their full potential. And to find out for themselves what makes each one so special.