Visit SCHI’s photo gallery for a truly heartwarming experience. Join us in celebrating our children.. touching lives, one child at a time.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Aside from the carefully planned curriculum objectives, students attending SCHI have the opportunity to benefit from a wide range of diverse hands-on learning experiences that include state-of-the-art computer instruction, aquatic therapy and pre-vocational training.

Future mainstreaming opportunities, job placement and independent living are carefully considered and included in the formation of daily lesson plans.

Throughout every school day, learning concepts are transformed into practical attainment of basic skills and achievements. Self-sufficiency and life skills development are achieved through guided shopping experiences, visits to department stores and community experiences, (i.e., To the library, to the post office). Self-care skills and independence are acquired through classroom activities that include vacuuming, dressing skills, setting the table and assisting in meal preparation. Social development and interaction is encouraged through extracurricular group activities, instructional peer play and periodic recreational experiences.

During the summer, we offer an extended school year program organized by SCHI to ensure that the summer months will be an extension of the school year’s educational program and services. Reinforcement of learned skills, and carefully planned, exciting educational experiences enhance the summer days and create memories for the children that they will cherish.

OUR EDUCATORS

The faculty of administrators, teachers and therapists at SCHI (The School for Children with Hidden Intelligence) are chosen for their professionalism and educational expertise, as well as for their dedication, warmth and innate understanding. Each educator endeavors to build self confidence, encourage independence and to instill in their students the reassurance that accompanies personal achievement. While these objectives are of primary importance, they are fostered with an uncompromising adherence toward the highest standards of academic achievement.

Open communication between parents and educators is crucial to children’s scholastic success. This philosophy manifests itself at SCHI through daily written communication, parent/teacher conferences, progress reports and phone conversations.

In-service training workshops offered at the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence enable staff members to continuously upgrade their educational expertise and knowledge. These opportunities are not limited to the SCHI faculty alone but are attended by therapists from neighboring counties and cities who are invited to benefit from these highly informative seminars.

THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

To guarantee personal attention and full-time supervision, SCHI maintains a significantly low teacher/pupil ratio. Regular classroom faculty is augmented and complemented by specialists of various disciplines: physical, occupational, speech, music and art therapies.

In an informal, yet highly structured atmosphere, the children of SCHI benefit from a wide array of educational and therapeutic strategies. A warm and caring homelike atmosphere encourages optimum performance and contributes to success in achieving student outcomes.

ACADEMIC PROGRAM

Learning styles differ in every child and this is reflected in the variety of educational programs available to our students. Indeed, what sets SCHI apart from other schools of its kind is its thoughtful persistence in utilizing and adapting one program after another until a successful technique or strategy is adopted. Included among the many academic programs implemented at SCHI are the Stevenson Reading Program with the Touch Phonics Program, the Achieve Language Program, Beginning to Read, Write and Listen, Reading Milestones, the Silver Bernett Ginn Reading Series, the Focus Reading Program, Explode the Code, and the list keeps growing as we continue to grow and develop new strategies for learning. To master math skills, teachers at SCHI use many teacher-made materials, The Semple Math Program, The Addison Wesley Math Series and a wide variety of math manipulatives and number readiness programs.

Autistic children at SCHI benefit from a combination of programs and services. The ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) approach, a one-on-one discrete trial teaching method, is used along with Sensory Integration Techniques. Students with language delays or hearing impairments communicate and are taught with the assistance of sign language, the PECS Program (Picture Exchange Communication System) and augmentative communication devices to facilitate functional communication skills.

A mainstreaming program was initiated in the 1997-98 school year called S.K.I.P (Special Kids Integration Program). This program provides our students with the opportunity to regularly participate in a neighborhood school classroom or play-group in the community. Some of these children also come to SCHI on a weekly basis so that friendships can be formed and the students can learn more about each other. This has proven to be a very rewarding experience for all involved.

To help our students at The School for Children with Hidden Intelligence become productive members of their community, we have begun a pre-vocational program for our young adults. Our staff is trained in job coaching so as to help them pursue jobs that will be appropriate as well as rewarding.