League center: giving kids a safe haven
By MARYLENA MANTAS

When the lights go out in Courtney Kelleher’s pre-kindergarten class at the League Treatment Center, students know it’s time to sing and move on to a new topic. Although the teaching technique may not be considered unique, the same cannot be said about the student composition of Kelleher’s class.

Out of the 18 students in the class, 12 are, according to Kelleher, “typically developed children,” and six children have special needs. Kelleher’s class is one of the three integrated classes at the Center’s preschool, a safe haven for children with special needs.

For many of these children hospitalization would be the only alternative. “We are the next step from hospitalization,” said Carole Kasmin, director of strategic planning and the former principal of The League School, a division of the Center. “We keep children out of hospitals and into the community.”

Dr. Carl Fenichel, an educator and psychologist, founded the Center in 1953. Fenichel, who supported that organic, neurological or biological problems led to autism, believed that children should remain within the family unit, and that parents should serve as partners in their treatment.

“This was a very revolutionary idea at the time,” said Stacey Chizzik, director of the Center’s preschool. The Center opened with only four children. Today, it serves approximately 500 children and adults free of charge in five divisions approved as psychiatric day treatment centers. The center is also approved by the New York State Education Department.

“The program is unique because there are very few programs in the city of New York that combine both educational and clinical components,” said Kasmin.

Every morning, the Center’s preschool opens its doors to approximately 126 children, 86 of whom have special needs.

For children with special needs, admittance to the preschool requires an evaluation for early intervention and preschool special education that reveals if the child meets the admission criteria and needs the services available.

An array of services are designed to address their individual needs. “We provide a continuum of services,” said Chizzik. “Children are able to move across this spectrum as improvement takes place and as they learn the prerequisite skills necessary to move into classes.”

According to Chizzik, at one end of this continuum, you may find autistic children engaging in behavior modification programs, and at the other end, children are enrolled in integrated settings, such as Kelleher’s class. Children leave the program once they turn five and are referred back to their local school districts for an evaluation that determines if they can enter the public schools. According to Chizzik, the vast majority of these children do enter public schools and very few remain with the Center and enter the League School, the division serving children and adults (ages five-21) suffering from a variety of behavioral and psychiatric disorders.

Much like the preschool program, the League School addresses the individual needs of the students and helps them acquire the skills needed to exit the program and enter the community as soon as possible. The school’s work-study program attempts to do just that.

“The program prepares students for the transition from school to work. They learn to complete a task, how to evaluate that task and job behavior,” said Kasmin.

Once students turn15, if they are ready, they are placed in various positions inside and outside the school. In the past students have worked for organizations such as DHL, Marriott and non-profit organizations.

“We want them to maximize their potential and get them back into the public sector,” said Kasmin. “The most rewarding thing for me is to see children that otherwise would be hospitalized remain in the community.”

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