Bridging the Gap

By Colleen Gundlach
With autism and autism-spectrum disorders on the rise across the country, a new program is being conducted at Botelle Elementary School. The Bridges 2 curriculum derives its name from its purpose, which is to bridge the gap between autistic children in special needs classes and their regular education peers.
The program began as an educational initiative through Shared Services, the special education provider for the Region 7 school district. It moved to Botelle this school year and now serves five autistic children.
Autism disorders encompass a wide range of symptoms, from social awkwardness to an inability to interact and communicate with others. In the past, these children have been educated in separate, special classes, but the Bridges program brings these children into regular classrooms. “It’s great for the regular education kids,” says Botelle Principal Peter Michelson, “to experience learning in a different way, and to feel empathy for the disabled child.”
“The autistic child uses a variety of methods for learning,” reports Bridges teacher Cheryl Warchol, “and they don’t just sit down and learn the way a traditional child does. They have individualized programs which require out of the box thinking.”
Michelson agrees. “The traditional students serve as role models to the autistic children. They are allowed to volunteer to be part of peer mentoring groups, and almost all of the students volunteer to help.” The traditional students learn to slow down and wait for a response from the autistic child, and the disabled child learns acceptable behavior by observing the traditional child. Because the autistic children often have a one-on-one paraprofessional assigned to them, classroom disruption is minimized.
The Botelle staff is especially proud of the Unified Sports program at the school. Initiated by Norfolk resident Tina Olsen, this after school activity brings the special education and regular students together once a week for sports activities. The autistic children learn about teamwork and develop social skills. The regular education students start out not knowing how to deal with the special education children, says Michelson, but end up “toning down their competitiveness” and becoming friends. “I can’t tell you what it does to an autistic, socially-impaired child to have the school’s athletes high-fiving them in the hallways.”
Michelson acknowledges that, because of its uniqueness, there have been some concerns about the program. He encourages those parents and other residents to call him directly at 860-542-5286.

The Botelle Unified Sports team at a recent event hosted by Conrad High School in West Hartford. Front row, left to right: Olivia Olsen, Nathan Lakatos, J.P. Bazzano, Cody Millard and Billy LaTulippe. Second row, left to right: Coach Tina Olsen, Carly Lakatos, Sloan Daley and Logan Murphy. Back row, Left to right: Jacob Cook, Coach Darlene Fullerton, Elias Olsen, Tyler Brazil, Ellie Olsen, Morgan Daley and Coach Amy Cimmino.

Photo By Erick Olsen