The schedule for the Bedford schools’ extended school-year program for students with learning disabilities will be modified to allow participants to enroll in the second session of the Recreation Department’s Summer Adventures day camp.
Also, breaks are being incorporated in the five- and six-week programs to provide for family vacation time.
Marianne Vines, the schools’ director of special education, told the School Committee last week that five extended-year programs are planned for July and August in all four schools: pre-school intensive, pre-school moderate, SAIL 1 intensive, SAIL 2 moderate, and “comprehensive academic performance.”
SAIL 1 and 2 are designed to serve students with educational needs due to a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and other related disabilities.
Vines said she and her staff are recommending about 110 students for the extended school year. She told the committee that parents have been informed of the offerings and her office plans to follow with more details.
Vines emphasized that the extended school year is not summer school, day care, or recreation. “The focus is on specific critical skills where regression may occur. It’s not supposed to help students with disabilities advance in relation to their peers.”
Vines explained that a student on an individual education plan (IEP) who “is likely to demonstrate substantial regression in learning skills and has substantial difficulty in relearning such skills,” may be eligible for the extended year. The student’s IEP team makes that determination at least once a year, she said.
She said the team asks if the student is “in critical stage of developing a skill that has great potential for increasing self-sufficiency;” the nature and severity of the disability; and the time it would take to recover. “All students regress during the summer,” she noted, but for some it takes much longer to catch up.
Committee member Sheila Mehta-Green asked what summer school options are available for students who are falling behind and may not be formally eligible for special education. Vines replied that maybe in a year’s time there will be additional options for families.
Mehta-Green also noted the involvement of the Special Education Parents Advisory Council (SEPAC) in this effort to add a social component to the academic offerings.
Committee member Ann Guay stated that a strong extended school program keeps students in the district. “It’s not going to be what everybody wants,” she acknowledged, but overall the feedback is good.
The schools will provide transportation when needed to Summer Adventures, which is based at the high school, Vines said, so the students are not “missing out on opportunities to participate with their peers and friends in other activities.”
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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