League School Blog

We hope you find the information, opinions and recommendations appearing on our blog to be helpful, educational and, hopefully at times, inspiring. We always welcome your insights, comments and questions related to our postings.

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June 2010 (1)
May 2010 (4)
April 2010 (3)
March 2010 (5)
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League School Receives Prestigious NASET Award

By Dr. Margaret Reed
May 26, 2010

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I am pleased to announce that League School of Greater Boston was recently selected by the National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) as a NASET School of Excellence for the 2010-2011 school year.  Each year, this honor is bestowed on private special education schools across the nation that meet rigorous professional criteria and have demonstrated truly exceptional dedication, commitment and achievement in the field of special education.   This year League School was one of only four Massachusetts private special education schools to to be selected.  We are honored by this award.  It recognizes the dedication of our teachers and the caliber of our programs while underscoring our commitment to providing League School students with the highest quality education.  To paraphrase the NASET website, “These are exceptional teachers teaching exceptional students.”

Home Depot Helps League School Students Build Birdhouses - and Communication Skills

By Andy Zides
May 14, 2010

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On Tuesday, March 30th, the League School, in conjunction with Home Depot, sponsored a special Kid’s Workshop at which Home Depot employees visited the school to teach students in the CAT Program how to build their own birdhouses. This was the first in a series of workshops run by Home Depot focusing on instructing students across all programs in the basics of woodworking. During the workshop, students were provided their own orange Home Depot aprons, tee shirts, and pins. With the assistance of Home Depot and League School staff, students were taught how to fit pre-cut wooden blocks of various shapes in a step-by-step process, using nails, small hammers, and wood glue. Workshops such as this provide a multidisciplinary approach to addressing student’s skills in executive functioning, social communication, fine motor, and bi-lateral integration. The workshop proved so successful that students were still talking about their experience weeks later, and one student even expressed an interest in obtaining employment at Home Depot. The volunteers from Home Depot worked enthusiastically with our students and are looking forward to returning in the future. League School wishes to thank Home Depot’s Norwood store manager, Renee, and volunteers Brad, Kathy and Shirley for their efforts with the students. We look forward to Home Depot’s next workshop at the school on June 2nd.

     

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Exam Week at League School

By Frank Gagliardi, Ed.D, Executive Director
May 13, 2010

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Next week, the Massachusetts DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) will be reviewing the League School as part of a scheduled assessment of our school and programs called a Comprehensive Program Review (CPR). Every six years, all public and private schools receive a visit from a staff of evaluators who analyze their offerings, procedures and students’ levels of achievement. It is the state’s way of ensuring that the monies dedicated to student tuitions are being well spent. We confidently await their visit and their findings.

Use of Vision Therapy in Autism Spectrum Disorders

By Lindsay Thelin Wagner, MS, OTR/L & Melissa Fitzpatrick, OTR/L
May 5, 2010

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The occupational therapy department recently attended a conference titled Visually Enhanced Therapy presented by Dr. Stan Appelbaum, OD, FCOVD and Barbara Bassin, OTR/L, BCP. This presentation brought to light many new ideas regarding the impact of vision on performance of everyday activities. Eyesight is the ability to see clearly at 20 feet and is only a small portion of vision (20/20 eyesight does not mean perfect vision). Good vision incorporates using the eyes together to “see” everything in the environment effortlessly. It is the ability to focus on all stimuli, both centrally and peripherally, while using both eyes together.  It also includes processing visual information and the ability to retrieve and manipulate it in your mind. For example, when spelling a word, we often picture the word in our mind and then scan left to right naming the letters in sequence as we spell the word. 
 
Optometrists specializing in vision therapy are servicing an increasing number of patients with ASD due to specific visual issues that have become consistent in many individuals with the diagnosis. Vision therapy is a progressive form of exercises for the eyes and brain and is individualized for the patient based on their visual difficulties. Various forms of treatment devices are used under the care of the optometrist and are often paired with home programs to achieve the most efficient results. Because the visual system is very plastic, there is always room for improvement and positive results are typical.
 
Signs of visual problems in individuals with ASD can include:
  • Squints or closes one eye
  • Stairs at certain objects or patterns
  • Flaps hands or flicks objects in front of eyes
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Looks at objects sideways or with quick glances
  • Pushes or rubs eyes
  • Confused at changes in flooring or stairways
  • Widens eyes or squints when asked to look
  • Bumps into objects or touches walls when walking
Vision therapy can be a useful tool in treating visual deficits (remember, this is different than needing glasses to see more clearly). Many optometrists specializing in behavioral or developmental optometry offer vision therapy.   There is more information on vision therapy, including many useful research articles and testimonials, at www.visionhelp.com.
 
We'd love th hear from any parents or other individuals who have experienced vision therapy and what it can offer.
 

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