Pilot programs planned for children with special needs

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Montgomery school district, Recreation Department in partnership

   MONTGOMERY — Programs for special-needs children will soon be offered by the township through a partnership of the school district and the Recreation Department.
   In a presentation before the Township Committee on Thursday night, Recreation Department Director Karen Zimmerman and district Supervisor of Pupil Services Matthew Lembo outlined the findings of a community survey distributed last spring, and explained the next steps in providing programs for those with special needs.
   Mr. Lembo said the school district and Recreation Department would like to begin offering "select programs" to special-needs children as soon as early next year. Those programs might include activities in music, arts and crafts, or cooking, he said.
   In addition, the Recreation Department hopes to begin a "game night" for all children, including those with special needs, Ms. Zimmerman said.
   Members of the public — most of whom were representing local education-advocacy group A Parents' Initiative for Every Child's Education — expressed support for the township plan and gratitude toward those who are working to pilot the programs.
   "I applaud the fine work by Karen Zimmerman and Matt Lembo," said Jerome Carr, APIECE co-founder. "When we first suggested that there be a special-needs recreation program, to be honest with you, we were kind of gearing up for an uphill battle. To our great surprise, that didn't happen."
   Bob Witanek, also of APIECE, echoed Mr. Carr's comments. "Some of our struggles don't go as easy as this one," he said.
   After community support for special-needs recreation programs mounted last spring, the Recreation Department collaborated with the school district to distribute a community-wide survey to assess potential interest in such offerings.
   According to Mr. Lembo and Ms. Zimmerman, the survey indicated residents were "overwhelmingly" interested in recreation programs designed specifically for children with disabilities. In addition, the survey implied that the community is not aware of therapeutic recreation programs offered through the Somerset County Park Commission, Mr. Lembo said.
   According to the survey, residents would be most interested in programs focusing on arts and crafts and cooking.
   Moving forward, Ms. Zimmerman and Mr. Lembo indicated they would continue to inform residents of the county programs, continue to develop a local Special Olympics program and launch the pilot programs tailored to those with disabilities.
   Although some programs will be accessible in the coming months, Mr. Lembo said he wants to "move slowly" when unfolding the overall offerings. "These programs need to be good programs," he said.
   According to Ms. Zimmerman, more information regarding the start of special-needs programming will follow in the recreation portion of future township newsletters.

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Ten families said they were unaware of the therapeutic recreation programs offered by Somerset County, Zimmerman said.

Other parents said they don't participate in the county programs because they all are held in the North Branch section of Branchburg Township, which is too far from Montgomery, Zimmerman said.

Lembo and Zimmerman both said the programs in North Branch are excellent, and are run by a well-trained staff in specially designed facilities. They especially praised the cooking program, held in a specially designed kitchen there.

But, Lembo said, building "satellite sites in different communities would be a massive undertaking."

"We asked them about bringing programs to us," Zimmerman said. "They weren't very enthusiastic about that."

Zimmerman said the township has some programs for disabled athletes through the Special Olympics, Challenger Baseball and a soccer organization.

The township is working on additional projects, including creating a recreation center for game nights and a cooking class that would be somewhat less ambitious than what is offered in North Branch, she said.

Committeeman John Warms told Zimmerman to study the cost of North Branch's specially adapted kitchen because cooking can be an excellent career.

Jerome Carr, founder of APIECE, thanked the committee for being so responsive. Previously, APIECE was unable to convince the school district to create an African-American history course. School administrators have said the district meets state requirements on African-American history by "infusing" it throughout the curriculum.

"We thought we were gearing for an uphill battle (on recreational programs), but to our great surprise, it has been anything but," Carr said.

Bob Witanek, a member of APIECE's special needs committee, told officials the activities are needed because disabled children miss out on friendships because the other children's parents consider them unsuitable companions.