Small school helps teens make transition to workplace

Rivendale Institute of Learning is a small school making a big impact in the lives of its students and their families.

A private school for children age 3 to 15 with learning disabilities, Rivendale has been serving students for the past 16 years, said Kerri Duncan, education director and owner.

In the year and a half since Duncan took over as director, the school, located at 1613 W. Elfindale Dr., has added new therapy programs and a classroom for children with autism.

Duncan has been a special education teacher and program director, a principal and, most recently, director of the Southwest Missouri Autism Project.

We need help'

"That's where I found my desire to work with children with autism," she said. "That's where I found families telling me, We need help.'"

As a special education teacher, Duncan learned about disabilities and kids, she said. As principal at the Lakeland Re-gional Hospital School, a school maintained for patients, she learned more about the behavioral and medical aspects of learning disabilities.

Then, at the Southwest Missouri Autism Project, she began to understand and learn more about the parents of the students. Now, she said, her work at Rivendale is much more than a career choice "It's something I live out and fight for every day."

Rivendale helps children prepare for life outside the school's secure confines, but sometimes young people older than 15 need more preparation. To this end, the school this year is initiating a new pilot work-study program for former Rivendale students above age 15 "who are not college-bound and are not making it in the public schools," Duncan said.

Work-study

"Right now we are working collaboratively with Our World Day Care across the street," Duncan said. The one student now participating works at the day-care center in the morning, then comes to Rivendale for core curriculum classes in the afternoon. "She's learning to clock in and out, that she has to wear a name badge, that she needs to be there on time and call in sick if she can't make it." The student is working with 2- and 3-year-olds, reading to them and helping to set up for lunch. "As time goes on we will give her more and more responsibilities," Duncan said, adding that by participating in the work-study program, students will be able to learn valuable skills and become involved and productive in the community.

She has been talking with other businesses about expanding the program in the future.

As students are leaving the school to get involved in their community, the community is also getting involved in the school. One AmeriCorps volunteer helps out at the school, and last year, a team of AmeriCorps volunteers came and painted the entire school, Duncan said. Now a Boy Scout troop is planning to work at Rivendale for a day of community service.

"We have lots of community support," Duncan said. "I think it's just getting the word out. The community will help if given the opportunity."

Curriculum

Rivendale's curriculum is individualized. "The children are evaluated and we approach the program based on their strengths and weaknesses," Duncan said. When it's time for math or spelling, each student in the classroom may be working on a different assignment, and for reading, students are grouped according to ability, rather than age. "We take small steps and review daily," she said. "Frequent review and drill on a daily basis is mandatory for our kids to continue to learn."

For children with autism, instructors use "discrete trial training," in which students perform a task repeatedly until the drill is mastered.

"This is where research suggests children with autism are im-proving the most," Duncan said. "So we are incorporating it into our classroom. And our children are showing success."

Rivendale's classes lately have been full. Maximum student-to-teacher ratios are stringently upheld, Duncan said.

Rivendale's K-3 classroom, for 5- to 8-year-olds, has seven students and two adults; the ratio for upper-grade classrooms is nine to one; and the autism class consists of just four students and two adults.

Although Duncan would like Riven-dale to expand, she doesn't want the school to become too large. "Research indicates that the smaller the school, the better the kids do," she said.

Counselors

Working alongside Rivendale's nine employees, several therapists and counselors add to the students' individually tailored educations. "Counselors come in once a week and meet with the two older classes," Duncan said. The counselors deal with issues relating to those particular groups of students. "If something's going on with the kids that week, the counselors will drop whatever they'd planned to do and focus on that."

An occupational therapist works with students who are struggling with handwriting. Music therapy, art therapy, recreational therapy, and speech and language development are also part of the educational program.

One recent addition is a language class-within-a-class program, in which a language therapist comes in once a week to do classroom work with the teacher.

"More and more I realize how many of these problems are language-based," Duncan said. "(Language) affects their ability to do anything else. ... Most of our students are language delayed," she said. That doesn't mean the students can't talk, she said; it simply means that they don't understand all the nuances of language, including its social ramifications.

"Everything we do is language-based and social skills-based," Duncan said. Recreational therapy, she added, is not just about playing a game; it's about learning how to follow rules and games all the social things that go along with. "These kids don't pick up on the codes of conduct' we have to teach those skills."

Positive discipline

At Rivendale only positive discipline is used. Good behaviors are reinforced, and inappropriate behavior is "redirected," Duncan said.

A small "quiet room" exemplifies this approach. If a child needs to remove himself from a situation, or if a teacher feels that the student is disrupting others, the child can go to the quiet room to cool off. "It's not a punishment," Duncan said. "As soon as they get it together they can come back to the classroom." This teaches self-control, as the students learn to calm themselves down, she said.

Perhaps the most difficult part of going to school at Rivendale is getting in the door. Because of its small size, some students are on a waiting list to get into the school, Duncan said. The cost of tuition is also an obstacle for many families, so the waiting list for scholarships is even longer.

Rivendale Extension Services is designed to address this problem. A not-for-profit corporation, RES has been set up to assist families by providing educational scholarships for those who can't afford the tuition.

Endowment fund

RES has also established an endowment fund through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks to provide scholarships to help pay for alternative education. Money from the scholarships may be used at institutions, schools or programs of the families' choosing; it does not have to be spent at Rivendale.

"The endowment fund is for the long term," Duncan said. "It may take five to ten years to really develop. It's for the community, for the kids who aren't here yet," she added. The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is also helping to develop the endowment fund. If Rivendale raises $10,000 in two years, the Foundation will match that amount, moving the school closer to its goals.