Canton beefs up SPED offerings with 3 new programs

By Jay Turner

Editor’s note: Below is the first in a series of occasional articles examining recent trends in education and their impact on Canton students. Coming soon will be a look at the new Common Core State Standards and what they might mean for MCAS.

Courtesy of the Canton Public Schools

In an effort to service more special education students while also saving on costly outside programs, the Canton Public Schools has added three new “sub-separate programs” this year for students with a range of moderate to severe disabilities — and the results, although preliminary, have certainly been encouraging.

Approved by the School Committee last spring at a cost of $216,000, or $72,000 per classroom, the three new programs are already paying dividends — financial as well as educational — as more Canton kids have been brought back into the district from residential or collaborative settings.

All three programs, including a language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) classroom at the Luce School, an Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities (EBD) classroom at the Hansen, and a second classroom at the high school for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), offer specialized instruction and accommodations for students in a small-group setting.

They also join a growing list of established programs that have been designed to “meet the needs of all Canton students,” echoing a philosophy that has become a hallmark of the current school administration under Superintendent Jeff Granatino.

In fact, according to student services director Debra Bromfield, all six Canton schools now offer at least one sub-separate program, including the Rodman Center, which houses an ASD classroom for preschoolers, and the Kennedy School, which has a classroom for students with “significant developmental disabilities.”

The Luce is now home to three such programs: two LBLD classrooms, including one that was brought over from the Hansen School, and a program for students with moderate to severe disabilities.

At the Hansen there are two programs: the new EBD classroom and a classroom for students on the autism spectrum.

There are also a variety of programs at the middle and high schools, including EBD, ASD, and developmental disabilities classrooms at the Galvin as well as two ASD classrooms and an EBD program at Canton High.

Bromfield said that in most cases, the students remain in these programs throughout the school day, although the opportunity for them to be included within the larger population is “always possible.”

“Some students,” she said, “are included for at least some part of their day, and a small number are included for a substantial part of their day.”

While some might question the sheer volume of special needs programs in Canton, the bottom line, according to the superintendent, is that the town will do whatever is necessary to help kids succeed. They also believe that Canton kids, whenever possible, deserve a Canton education.

Meanwhile, the need for these services continues to rise, a fact borne out by a recent CDC study on the prevalence of developmental disabilities (DDs) in U.S. children since 1997. The study not only found a sharp increase in the prevalence of all DDs; it also reported a nearly threefold increase in the prevalence of autism, which is currently estimated at one in every 110 children.

Perhaps the most telling statistic as far as Canton is concerned is the fact that all of the in-house programs, both new and existing, have been filled by Canton residents. And yet it was only a few years ago that the schools were charging tuition for these spots to families from neighboring communities.

Asked to confirm a rise in local cases, Bromfield said she still needs to analyze the most current data, although she was comfortable in stating that the “numbers certainly have not gone down.”

“It is noteworthy that the intensity of need of our students also continues to increase,” she said. “Some of our students appear to have greater needs and more significant disabilities — a trend that I believe is also being seen nationwide.”

As for how the individual schools are adjusting to the new programs, at least one building administrator, Hansen’s interim principal Peter Boucher, is already reporting success in the first few weeks of school — thanks in large part to two “amazing” teachers and four very capable and supportive educational assistants.

“This has been a learning curve as the program is new to me and to the Hansen,” said Boucher. “But the school has rallied to welcome these programs and give them the support they need to flourish. Our goal is a certain level of mainstreaming as it is appropriate, but we are moving slowly to make certain we are supporting all children at Team Hansen.”

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