At the Gateway School, our goal is for students to become as independent as possible as they mature. To facilitate a student’s functional communication we use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems to develop receptive/expressive and social language skills. It is important to note that AAC users span a full range of age, physical, and […]
Continue readingCongratulations! You now have an adult on your hands. However, this adult still needs our assistance as they transition into independent living.If they had applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Medicaid will come with the SSI approval. Once again, carefully review and consult with your state’s individual regulations. By now, all matters related to […]
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Being the parent of a special needs teenager is fraught with uncertainty. As the loving step-parent of a 15-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, the kinds of questions that keep my husband and me up at night range from, “Will he ever eat anything besides peanut butter sandwiches?” to “Who is going to care for him […]
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You don’t get anything in life, unless you ask.This is the old, hard-edged version of what is still essential advice for any young person. There’s another phrase about a silver platter but let’s move on to modern times. The term is self-advocacy. It refers to a person’s ability to effectively communicate and assert his or […]
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You will read a great deal about the academics and life skills offered at a special needs school. The most important question remaining is how the school maintains an environment conducive to such training. Gateway School coordinates with organizations from the international level to the local level to ensure the safest setting for its students. […]
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Make no mistake about it. We could all use a strategy or two when it comes to managing money. Perhaps when you are done reading this, you will pick up some tips for yourself.These strategies, however, are specifically designed to assist special needs students with a crucial skill for the transition to adult living: money […]
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Gateway School recently posted about one of the most vital topics and primary goals of our schools: soft skills in the employment environment. These soft skills are the result of several decades of research that culminated in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) developing a special curriculum, entitled Soft Skills […]
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So many years are devoted to preparing our students to be young men and women that will eventually transition into adulthood..In addition, they could very well transition into an adult day program such as our PrimeTime Centers located right here in Carteret, New Jersey. What about teamwork, though? Our children are not alone in the […]
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One of the primary goals of Gateway and its’ sister schools is to prepare students for workplace success after graduation.Young adults with disabling conditions who turn 21 have many options to purchase services once they are assigned individualized funding through the state Division of Developmental Disabilities in the Department of Human Services. One choice of […]
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Special needs educators do not just take a course in teaching students with severe behavior problems, receive a certificate and then look forward to smooth sailing from there on in. 15 to 30 percent of special needs students struggle to learn due to psychosocial problems which affect attention to task and retention of material. For […]
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