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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1979)
i *- WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1979 Programs help handicapped student By DEBBIE PARSONS Special to The Battalion Frustration. Anger. Hopeless- A student with a learning hand icap struggles with such feelings as these when he is unable to adapt to a mainstream education. The Bryan and A&M Consoli dated independent school districts offer special services for students from three to 21 years of age who have a learning or physical disabil- ity- “Many kids come in with the at titude that they can’t do anything,” Elise Millikin, vocational adjust ment coordinator at A&M Consoli dated High School, said. “They have a low opinion of their capabilities. We give them confi dence.” There are 425 students currently enrolled in the special programs at A&M Consolidated and 875 in the Bryan programs. Students can be recommended by teachers, parents, a physician or a social agency for admission into a special services program. The programs serve students who are mentally retarded, language or learning disabled, minimally brain- injured, auditorially and orthopedi- cally handicapped, emotionally dis turbed or speech handicapped. “The difference between hand icapped students that are in vo cational training programs and regu lar students is that the handicapped function on a lower level, so they are taught at that level,” Katherine Patton, counselor for vocational education for the handicapped, said. When a child enters the special services program, he must have a physical examination to make sure his disability is not a health prob lem. ! The student is then considered by a referral screening committee to I determine whether he should be placed in a special services program. Both school districts have a pro gram for those so severely or pro foundly handicapped that regular classroom participation is prevent ed. Such students are served in a setting designed for them. There is a language, speech and hearing therapy program to improve communication skills, and a cooperative work-study program to prepare students for employment. Warren Jefferson (left) and Jim Rice set up the multilith off-set press in the office duplica tion class. Students learn how to run the press and print the school newspaper on it. Battalion photo by Debbie Parsons Another program is academic in struction for the learning disabled. The length of time spent in the classroom, known as the resource room, depends on the severity of the student’s handicap. “The old connotation of special education being for ‘retarded chil dren’ has gone out the window,” Phyllis Perkins, supervisor of A&M Consolidated Special Services, said. “We’ve won that.” An educational diagnostician runs psychological, achievement, audit ory and perceptual tests on the child after receiving parental consent. An admission review and dis missal committee, made up of spe cial education teachers, adminis trators, parents and people from so cial agencies who have been in volved with the child, meet to re view the diagnostic tests and decide which program the child should enter. Annual long-range goals are drawn up and shown to the parents and child. The teacher assigned to the students makes quarterly goals which state the materials to be used during instruction and the criteria for evaluation. There is an annual review to de cide if the student should continue in the current program, if he should change to a different program, or be dismissed from the special services program altogether. Students who can handle a higher-level class than the special classes can go into lower-level regu lar courses, usually English or math, as well as attend their special classes. If parents or a student request a regular program, or if the student tests outi he can go into regular classes. ' It is very important that parents become involved with and under stand what is going on in the pro gram, Patton said. Most parents are extremely help ful and involved, Rusleen Maurice, VAE program coordinator for Bryan High School, said. “Some parents won’t admit their kids have a problem,” Maurice said. “They are embarrassed to admit it to their friends or family. This is the only problem we have, and it is not very common.” In the lower grades, kindergarten through eighth, special education teachers stress the skills necessary for learning, which are incorporated into academic instruction. The middle and high school stu dents often go into the Vocational Adjustment programs. At Stephen F. Austin Middle School, for example, three programs are offered to VEH students. They must take two of the three courses during two years they are there. The students are graded mainly on their effort. Students have a choice of office duplication, horticulture and build ing maintenance. In the office duplication class they learn how to run the school news paper press, which prepares them for work at the printing press on campus. They also learn such things as printing and typing. Students work in a school greenhouse in the horticulture class. They work with plants and learn about potting, germination, fumigation, tilling and planting. They take care of the school grounds and grow vegetables in the spring. In the building maintenance class, students learn about small motors by repairing lawnmowers. They work with wood making book shelves, tool boxes, facial tissue box holders and key holders. The stu dents do everything from sawing the wood to applying the finishing Emory Rice strips an old chair in order to refinish it forlLm building maintenance class. The students also learn car:-: T try and how to repair lawnmowers. Ren Battalion photo by Debbie P-JeXi The Battalion Name by Chris & Ji WEEKDAY SPECIALS Monday-Bar Drinks $1 00 Tuesday-Orgic Night j oo Wednesday-Frozen Margaritas $ 1 00 2- Thurs. Ladies Night 1st drink free Watch Greg Merlyn’s Magic Act! HAPPY HOUR STARTS AT 5 FOR 1 DRINKS ALL DISCO DANCE CONTEST WITH PRIZE FRIDAY’S : LIVE {entertainment! “SONNY” ! Il~ As true to each other as Aggies can be .. . The eternal bond of a Texas A&M ring is even more meaningful with a diamond. Now available at JCPenney 3 pt. diamond, 54.00 6 pt. diamond, 100.00 10 pt. diamond, 165.00 and 200.00 15 pt. diamond, 270.00 24 pt. diamond ( 1 A carat), 560.00 and 615.00 Mounting is done at no extra cost on any diamond purchased through March 31, 1979. Mounting requires approximately seven days. You can charge it with a JCPenney card. This is dCPenney Manor East Mall • Texas Avenue at Villa Maria Shop weekdays 10 to 9, Saturdays 10 to 7 Number One in Aggieland touches. They also learn how to re finish furniture. Upon graduating from Stephen F. Austin, the students can stay in the VEH program and go into food serv ices at Bryan High School, or they may choose to go into a regular vo cational program if they are capable of it. When a student enters the vo cational program at A&M Consoli dated High School, he takes a vo cational adjustment class in which he learns job-seeking skills, such as how to be interviewed, how to fill out an application and how to shop wisely. He also learns about possi ble careers. During the sophomore year, the students work at a job station on campus. This includes such jobs as working in the office, library or cafeteria. In their junior year, the students work part-time off campus. During their senior year they work full-time off campus. Students receive credit toward graduation for their jobs and must successfully complete a year of full time employment in order to be eli gible for graduation. Millikin said she finds a job open ing for the student, and makes the l initial call, but the student has to make the second call and fill out the application himself. “People in the business commu nity are super,” Millikin said. “A lot of people say ‘I’d love to help these kids’ and when they do, the kids love them, too.” There is an 85 percent ot 90 per- | cent success rate in placing students in jobs, Millikin said. fhe Stat win i Tl t This year there is a student| s j ai ing in a pizza parlor, oneatij j] station, one at the UniversityK or one at a nursery and anoti nj e] baker. H The students enjoy theirL r Millikin said. “A student with a learning lem in school sticks out like thumb,” she said. “But a it with a learning problem mechanic shop doesn’t. fo ce After a year of full-time erjnat, ment, the students can graiH The diploma the special stude^f ceives is no different form Ionia which other graduatesre<H Only if someone wants to clj T student’s records will it be hear that the student was inas|6-2 progam. Stej , , , in > The Vocational Adjustme: ^ gram at Bryan High Schoolis was cally the same, except the sti^| cannot work off-campus uni jj e j senior year. ove] Bryan High School abo j uc j, commercial food services ] g.j' specifically for the handica which they work in a small at the school and learn about thing from the parts of a mi preparing and serving the fool a week to the faculty. Most students do very« their jobs, Maurice said. “One of the greatest things the program is the change students after they are workii job and are away from the environment,” Maurice said, have a higher regard for the and from their family and oth dents.” wk-- GALLERY Tues.-Fri. 10-8 Sat. 10-5 Fine Art Picture Framing 4301 Carter Creek at 29th Jewelry by Harjes* 846-86631 new Uni of 5 S the the the T solii suit half bys con’ 0 DOOR BURSTING BOOK SALE! N “Sre assortment of hardba paperback books now on s A# J.l