BY DIANA BROWN MCCLOY
Many parents whose children have special needs suffer long, agonizing struggles to find the right school to meet their children’s intellectual, social, medical, and therapeutic needs. For about 1,500 such students, their quests began far away from Massachusetts – as distant as the Middle East and California – but they came here to attend schools they simply could not find in their home states or countries.
Ask Kim King of Atascadero, California. Her son, Jeff, has had a longstanding challenge with autism and a severe spine and back problem. King works in special education, and she and her husband, Troy, looked in vain for a school that could help her son with his aggressive tendencies and sensory, language, speech, and emotional disabilities.
“We searched the entire country for suitable placements and had extreme difficulties,” King said of their decision to send Jeff to The Guild for Human Services in Waltham, Mass. “Massachusetts is a frontrunner in special education. This experience has been a real eye opener for me as a parent but also as a special educator. I find it appalling that we could not find appropriate help for our son anywhere near the town where my entire family was raised.”
There are other examples from a family in Saudi Arabia who sent their 17-year-old son with an intellectual disability to attend Cardinal Cushing Center in Hanover, Mass., to a California girl who came to Cape Cod to attend Latham School in Sandwich, Mass., to address her Prader-Willi Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that leads to learning and behavioral limitations. Scores of other parents have gone to extraordinary lengths to find highly-attuned educational fits for their children with complicated special needs. Massachusetts has a national reputation for having a wide variety of schools that can meet these challenges.
“I have heard countless stories of parents from faraway places like India, Switzerland, England, Japan and the Middle East who have searched the world for an appropriate school for their child,” said James Major, Executive Director of “maaps”, the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools. maaps is a nonprofit organization that represents 85 private special education schools, including the schools these children attend. About 1,500 out-ofstate students attend maaps schools each year.
“I have also talked directly with parents as close by as the state of Maine who are desperate for a school that can turn years of inadequate education and failure into success by unlocking the strengths and potential of their child,” Major said. “Parents in these situations have a right to find an individualized education which can meet their children’s often very unique and involved learning, therapeutic, intellectual, behavioral, and social needs.”
Major, who has been maaps’ executive director for 25 years, added that the state has long been a leader in providing educational opportunities for all students, including those with special needs.
“Massachusetts is a leader in special education for the same reason that it is a national leader in education overall,” he said. “Our Commonwealth has a long history of supporting high-quality institutions of higher education and special education. We were the first state in the country to pass a law requiring public school districts to educate all students with disabilities. So our laws reflect this priority and the culture and values of Massachusetts do as well.”
For many of the families who make the decision to send their children to attend schools in Massachusetts without them, it is not without great sacrifice. Trey McCall, 22, of Oklahoma is one such example. Diagnosed at age 3 ½ with autism, McCall’s parents cobbled together a patchwork of schooling in his Oklahoma public school district, and then years of therapy offered in their home with volunteers from a nearby university who would come and work with him.
“As Trey got closer to 10 years old, it became more difficult to find people who would work with him on a regular basis and he began losing skills,” his mother, Valerie McCall, recalled. “Most of the language he had developed was dropping off. There were safety issues that were becoming dangerous, like getting out of his seat belt in the car and grabbing the steering wheel. We, as a family, were getting worn down and exhausted. Around this time, I started looking for residential schools on the internet and found maaps. I checked out schools’ websites and found about 12 potential programs I thought might work for Trey.” Melmark New England in Andover, a maaps member school, is where Trey McCall eventually attended in 2007, a long way from his home in Oklahoma.
“The thing that stood out about Melmark over other programs I had visited was the professionalism and cheerfulness of the staff. Everyone was happy, loving and encouraging,” said McCall. “During Trey’s teenage years, he developed some serious aggression. The staff at Melmark was well equipped to handle his behavioral challenges. They were excellent at working on self-help skills and toileting, leisure skills, work skills and communication using picture exchange,” she said. Trey progressed and learned significant coping skills as a result.
“When it came time for Trey to graduate, I was so sad to be leaving this wonderful group of people. Even though we lived a long ways away, I never felt nervous about leaving Trey in their care. Trey was in good hands and I felt so supported by the staff. We were always kept informed of any concerns and updated regularly on what was going on with Trey,” Valerie McCall added.
Destinee DiPrima also faced a difficult dilemma when she sought a school for her daughter, Morgan DiPrima, 16, an identical twin from Kensington, N.H. Diagnosed with Asperger’s, a form of autism, and severe hemophilia, DiPrima started acting out in middle school, struggling with social and academic issues and making it difficult for her twin sister, who does not have autism.
After a lengthy search for a high school in New Hampshire, Destinee decided on Learning Prep School in Newton, Mass., where she felt comfortable with the staff’s ability to handle her daughter’s social and learning challenges and critical medical needs. Morgan still lives at home now and travels to Newton each day by van with other students, leaving at 5:25 a.m. and arriving home at 4 p.m. The big commitment is worth it, Destinee said. Morgan is happy, learning in a much smaller classroom setting where the staff understands her triggers and full scope of needs. “I like Learning Prep because it feels like a high school,” Destinee said. “Others felt like a day care.”
For the Hedyan Family of Saudi Arabia, it took sending their son, Saleh, 17, half way around the world to find a suitable educational setting to address his learning difficulties and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “It was a long road,” said Abdullah Hedyan. “My wife and I spent a lot of effort searching for the right school, contacting parents with the same dilemma, trying to locate someone with insight within our community until we looked through the Web.” Now, their son is at Cardinal Cushing Center in Hanover, Mass., where he has been living for one year. His family comes to see him in the summer time and over longer vacations. They talk by video phone and telephone to stay in touch, and his father said his son is more confident, and his speech and communication skills are improving.
By attracting special education students from as far away as the Middle East and across the US, there are many examples of why Massachusetts and maaps schools have been critical to giving students with special needs a better life.
“The Northeast is truly unique in the availability for getting the needed services for children with disabilities,” parent Valerie McCall said. “There is a real need for more quality programs nationwide to serve the autism population. I feel very blessed to have found Melmark and probably would not have found them had it not been for maaps.” •
The Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (maaps) was founded in 1975 as a statewide association of approved private special education schools dedicated to providing educational programs and services to students with special needs. Maaps embodies a commitment to excellence and ethical integrity. Maaps is concerned that all children with special needs have access to appropriate, high quality educational experiences and treatment options which are necessary for their individual growth and development. Learn more at www.maaps.org
