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winter 2013/2014
vol. 18
B
E F O R E it closed in 2010, the
Little Room at the Brooklyn
Heights Montessori School was
the oldest, continuous mainstreaming program in New York City.
Founded in 1970, it was created to serve
preschool children with special needs in a
small, therapeutic classroom at the same
time that they were an integral part of the
larger Montessori environment. This
pioneering program had a well-deserved
reputation for innovation, excellence and
success and it, as its founders envisioned,
enhanced the spirit and character of the
Brooklyn Heights Montessori School for
forty years.
In 1977, the Little Room was in danger
of closing for the first time because of New
York State and City funding cuts. Thanks
to the intensive efforts of Maureen
McCafferty, Educational Director at the
time, the BHMS Board of Trustees agreed
to sponsor the program for one year and to
allow a newly hired Little Room Director
to search for alternate sources of funding.
I became that director, and for sixteen
years, I was privileged to serve in that
capacity. The Little Room grew from one
to four classes and BHMS became an
exemplary mainstream preschool.
In 1995 ten women met regularly
around Sybil Hannah’s table to create the
cont’d
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Treasure
A MY L AM
M OTHER OF J OAQUIN P INTO
FIRST ALUMNUS OF R IVENDELL’ S CORE PROGRAM 2007–2008
NOW ATTENDING THE G&T PROGRAM AT P.S./I.S. 217 B ROOKLYN
There was a boy named “J”
who had his own special way
of looking at the world around him
and expressing his thoughts and fears.
The summer he turned three
his mom and dad could see
that J was not yet ready
to blend in with the rest of his peers.
So by the following Fall
J stood proud and tall
excited for a new beginning
as a full-fledged Rivendell preschooler.
Meeting time, circle time, “work” time
lunch, snack and “roof” time
plus busy making new friends
life couldn’t be any cooler!
But then one sunny day
Mama, Papa, and J
found a place called Rivendell
where Ms. Denise saw a light in J’s eyes.
Soon there was a team,
teachers passionate to the extreme
to help J find his voice
and show just how he’s curious and wise.
And to this very day
this now fourth grader named “J”
still reads his Rivendell Diary
lovingly made by teacher Katy.
All those pictures and words
some of the best stories ever heard
lead him to declare:
“I will treasure this til I’m eighty!”
First it was a CORE class of one
which J thought was challenging and fun
and lovely friends from upstairs
took turns to come visit and play.
In the brand new Classroom Five
J could learn and thrive
while mastering new skills
little by little, day by day.
Letter to Children’s House
S ALLY, R ICHARD,
AND
I SAAC M ANN
We feel such gratitude to Rivendell at Children’s House for providing a safe,
stimulating, and nurturing environment in which our son, Isaac, could begin
his education.
He started at Children’s House at a time our family was in real need. Our
wonderful, quirky, imaginative three-year-old required a lot of support in
order to be in a classroom situation. He also needed special services,
including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. In
addition, Isaac had the benefit of a special education itinerant teacher
(SEIT), to keep him safe and teach him how to behave with his peers. Children’s House provided all of those services, and integrated them into the
school program.
He was happy there, well-liked by teachers and students, and brought up
to speed with his school functioning. The classroom teachers were so attentive and finely tuned to his unusual issues.We are particularly grateful to
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Rivendell School
J OAQUIN P INTO
I am in fourth grade now, and I have come a long way, and Rivendell School
has been a great starting place for me. Rivendell School has done a lot to help
me and get me to a fantastic boost in academics. I am way ahead of many other
fourth graders, and I thank Rivendell for getting me ready.
During my first months at Rivendell, I was put in a classroom that was just
for one child and a teacher. Of course, I had no idea that I was among the first
to participate in this solo student-teacher activity, but the teacher was very
nice. (Well, all the teachers at Rivendell are nice and very helpful.) We had
lots of activities in different classrooms, including building blocks, puzzles, and
lots of other fun things that got me to love school very much. I could even say
this was a very good part of my life. I highly recommend this program.
Then I moved to another class with lots more activities! There were timers,
music time, puzzles, games, and other activities that kept us occupied, satisfied
and educated at the same time! In Rivendell, learning is always fun. We get to
feel worms (science), make paintings (art), do plays (drama), play with instruments (music), and have story time, too! There were also toys to exercise your
mind, too.
When the weather was good, we got to go up on the ROOF!!!!!!!!!, with a
view and sprinklers and a tower you could climb up to and even big blocks to
build HOUSES!!!! We learned in all sorts of ways, all of them being more FUN
than many have ever experienced! I was highly satisfied with Rivendell, and
sometimes I wish I could travel back in time and experience Rivendell all over
again! ;)
Of course, I was too little back then in preschool to figure out this was the
best booster rocket for the rest of academic life. But I instantly was miles ahead
of everyone else on the first day of kindergarten, and it was so easy I got moved
into the class for the best students. It was still quite easy! From this time on,
school has been quite easy and smooth and full of good grades, but I highly
believe that this has all become true just because of Rivendell School! I wish
I could keep writing, but my pen’s out of ink. Overall, Rivendell School is the
best preschool ever.
Rosalie Woodside for sticking by us, at a time when The Board of Education
was contesting Isaac’s right to remain at Children’s House and receive
special services for an extra year. Her help and support and vision were
invaluable.
Now, Isaac is a senior at Saint Ann’s School, and is applying for college.
He is accomplished as a student, a thinker, a writer, a musician and an actor,
and he is a good friend to many. He is developing into a terrific young man,
and we have to credit Children’s House for playing such an important role
in his early development.
Hi, I’m Isaac. I’m seventeen and I’m a senior at Saint Ann’s school in
Brooklyn. I don’t remember Children’s House extremely well, but I
remember that I liked it and felt as though I could trust the teachers.
Although I felt confused during group activities, my SEIT teachers helped
me sort it out. I made a great friend there who is still a close friend. I also
became well known throughout the school for my operatic rendition of
“What’s the Weather?”
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Nate at Rivendell
G AIL B ICHLER
My son, Nate, was three when he began attending Rivendell. He is a sweet,
energetic boy with a lot of heart and a big personality, but he often had
trouble finding the right word and had difficulty sitting still and focusing.
My husband and I worried that the transition from being at home to a more
structured learning environment would be tough for him. We took comfort
in knowing that Rivendell, with its inclusion program, welcomed children
of different learning styles and temperaments.
After working with Nate in the first few weeks of school, his classroom
teachers made suggestions about how to adapt his routine and the classroom environment to make them more manageable for him. The school
worked hand in hand with our family, developing a plan that allowed us to
work as a team to provide what Nate needed. And as what he needed
changed, the plan changed. The teachers were honest with us when issues
arose, but also kind and empathetic. And they were quick to point out our
son’s strengths along with his struggles.
As the year progressed, specialists worked closely with the classroom
teachers to support Nate. They communicated fluidly, sharing ideas, really
looking at our son as an individual with distinct learning needs and coming
up with concrete plans to meet those needs.
When Nate was ready to move on to his second year at Rivendell, the
teachers, therapists and the educational director, Katy Hill, carefully considered the type of environment he would thrive in for the next year before
placing him in Classroom 3. Nate was very much influenced by what happened around him and wanted to be part of the group so having good peer
models was crucial. As parents we appreciated that the inclusion model and
multi-age classrooms allow for a diverse experience and a range of abilities
within the classes. At times we could see that Nate’s language struggles
really frustrated him. His teachers and therapists helped him navigate his
desire to be social with his frequent inability to communicate as well as he’d
like with his peers. The teachers had a nuanced understanding of his needs,
stepping in when help was needed and leaving him to his own devices when
it wasn’t. Their approach allowed him to develop confidence and a sense of
independence and helped him to cultivate lasting friendships.
As we neared the end of our second year at Rivendell, we had a clear
sense of Nate’s strengths and challenges and what he would need to
succeed in his next school environment. Armed with this information, we
were able to identify and advocate for the right type of school placement
for him moving forward. Beyond what Rivendell did for Nate, the staff also
supported us as parents in a very real way, guiding us through the complicated process of working with the Board of Education to get the services
Nate needed and encouraging us to trust our instincts about what was right
for our son.
Nate graduated from Rivendell this past spring. It was bittersweet for
us. We looked forward to the next stage in his education, but also knew
that we would miss the truly professional, talented and caring staff of
Rivendell. There is a poster hanging in the lobby of the school that reads,
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way
the child can learn.” We walked away from this experience knowing that
this was not just a sweet sentiment, but something the educators at
Rivendell really live by. We are so grateful that our son’s first educational
experience was there.
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A Special Place of Inclusion
A NN W INTERS
I was introduced to inclusion at Rivendell Preschool ten years ago, before my
oldest child, Nathaniel, entered the classroom. The mother of another child
in his class wrote to all incoming families to explain that her child had a craniofacial disorder. She wanted the children to know a little about him before they
met him. She described the surgeries he had endured, and the vision and
hearing challenges he faced. Despite these obstacles, she emphasized, he was
a boy like other boys who liked to watch sports and play video games. I
was very moved by this letter, and so glad that Rivendell was a school that
welcomed my child alongside hers.
Nathaniel entered preschool that fall, followed soon after by my daughter,
Kayla, and son Teddy. To them, inclusion meant that there were always many
teachers in the room and that the teachers helped all the kids work together.
It also meant that sometimes kids invited them to go to the gym or to play
outside of the classroom on a special in-school play date. To me, inclusion
meant that my kids were learning next to kids with different strengths and
challenges and were thriving with the involvement of so many talented
teachers and therapists.
Inclusion took on a more crucial meaning when I was thinking about
preschool for my youngest child, Brendan. When he was about sixteen months
old, I knew that Brendan was not speaking, but I began to realize that he did
not understand words, either—he had delays in both expressive and receptive
language. His play skills and fine and gross motor skills were also delayed, and
he received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder when he was twenty
months old. When he began in the Little Twos class at Rivendell, he had a
Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT), and he also received speech,
occupational, and physical therapies. He spent his second and third years at
Rivendell in one of the larger classrooms and continued to have a SEIT and
related services incorporated into his school day. Now my child was not in the
role of “typical peer”—my child was the one who was included.
During these three years, Brendan went from speaking a few words to
speaking in enthusiastic sentences. His understanding of language
exploded. Early on, he was afraid of change and resisted family gatherings
in the classroom. By the time he left Rivendell, he joyfully participated in
holiday sing-alongs. He performed in plays, he visited the greenhouse, and
he created vivid scenarios using the green wooden blocks on the roof.
Brendan engaged with the rich curriculum at Rivendell with support, while
his “typical peers” motivated him and modeled language and play. By the
time Brendan moved on to a public school inclusion kindergarten, he was
well prepared, proud, and happy.
In the last year, I have heard from parents at Rivendell that they are
struggling with changes mandated by the Committee on Preschool Special
Education. Now, they must go through a “cascade” of service providers
other than Rivendell and they are faced with the possibility of having to
take their children all over Brooklyn to participate in various therapies,
even though Rivendell is expertly equipped to provide these services on
site. This is disturbing because I attribute so much of Brendan’s success to
the foundation that was built at Rivendell through inclusion and related
services, and I want that foundation to be available to other children with
special needs. Rivendell has created a unique opportunity for children with
and without a range of disabilities to be nurtured and challenged together,
and this model should be replicated, not destroyed.
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Rivendell School Represented
at Vancouver Conference
This July, our Executive Director, Rosalie Woodside, and Katy Hill, Educational
Director of Rivendell Preschool, travelled to the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver, where the International Association of Special
Education welcomed participants from around the world to their Thirteenth
Biennial Conference: The Bridge from Segregation to Inclusion . . . A Long
Journey. Rosalie and Katy described the conference as truly inclusive, and not
simply because of worldwide representation. The wide-ranging group at the
gathering also included many individuals with special needs who shared their
experiences and expertise, both formally through their presentations, as well
as informally during the many enjoyable community-building events planned
over the course of the week. They agreed that one highlight was certainly the
keynote presentation by J. A. Tan, a Vancouver-based visual artist diagnosed
with autism before his third birthday. “A Part Of . . . Not Apart,” Tan’s story
about his childhood in the Philippines and his growth as a visual artist, was
inspiring as was his motivation to make a difference in the world through his
art by making “the world less of a mystery and less scary for everyone. I hope
to be able to create images of how someone like me thinks, feels and interacts
with people.”
Rosalie and Katy’s presentation, "Inclusive Preschool Education: What
Classroom Teachers Need to Make It Work," highlighted the hallmarks of
effective inclusive preschool education and connected them to the model
inclusion program in place at Rivendell Preschool. A lively discussion with
attendees included thoughts about team building, collaboration with specialists,
assessment, curriculum development and responsive supervision. An essential
take away message of the program was the value of recognizing individual
growth, team partnerships and school-wide threads that capture what classroom teachers believe is important about their work within a collaborative
model. This message was echoed throughout the week as the assembled group
reaffirmed their commitment to individuals with special needs and the efforts
underway all over the world to become increasingly inclusive.
The Rivendell Reader Extra Is About
In Our Beginning: The Little Room
Rivendell grew out of the Little Room at Brooklyn Heights Montessori
School. Fourteen Little Room associates have served Rivendell from its
earliest days as an evaluation and educational program for children
who needed special education services and homeless children from 2.6
to 6 years. As providers of itinerant direct and consultative services to
existing nursery schools and day care centers, Diana Abed, Suzanne
Abeloff, Katie Browning, Mary Coffina, Frieda Givon, Sybil Hannah,
Beth Howes, Victoria Kingsley, Ph. D, Elisa Lundy, Peri Pike, Sara
Silberman, Constance Tanner, Denise Taddonio, and Rosalie Woodside,
along with the staff from Children’s House, have initiated and run
Growing Connections originally at Icahn House West and now on
Third Avenue, countless inclusion workshops locally, presentations at
conferences and in a training film, as well as the CORE program for
pre-preschool children on the autistic scale. As we see how far Rivendell
has come, we thought it would be good to see what sort of benchmark
was set by those served where it all began.
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Friends of Rivendell School
$50,000 & Over
Antoinette Cicchetti
The Morris and Alma
Schapiro Fund
$30,000 to $49,999
The Nora Roberts
Foundation
$5,000 to $29,999
Goldman Sachs for
Darya & Kristerfor
Mastronardi
Darya & Kristerfor
Mastronardi
$2,500 to $4,999
Beth Lebowitz &
Jerome Adler in
memory of Max
Adler
Meghan Eison &
Benjamin Farkas
$1,000 to $2,499
The Frischling Family
Mary Dixie Carter &
Stephen Kempf
Julia Tung & Tongwei
Liu
Henry Myers Plumbing
& Heating
Harold Pearson
Prosky & Rosenfeld
LLP, CPAs
Quest Financial Services LLC
The Sadler Family
Foundation
Jean & Mark Tansey
Lauren Daniluk &
William Tung
$500 to $999
Barclays Center
Lindsay Barton Barrett
— Corcoran
Anne Fulenwider &
Bryan Blatstein
Eliza Byard & Eva
Kolodner
Yvonne & Jacob
Cane
Claire Ellis & Chad
Cooper
Amelia & Craig
D’Entrone
Sila Soyer & Jeff Ferruzzo
Laura Lee & Vikram
Gupta
Sybil Hannah
Izabela & Brennan
Hawken
Hudson Valley Bank
Grace Lee & Bradley
Kellum
Betty & Luke
Lawrence
Rachel & Michael
Lousteau
Donna McGill & Tim
Martin
The Mazzeo Agency,
Inc.
Angie & Ted Michaels
Maggie & Hank
Powell
Lisa & Jonathan Sack
Lisa & George
Scrivens
Law Offices of Regina
Skyer
Sallie Stutz
12BF Venture Capital
Alex van Biema
Gale Kaufman &
Michael van Biema
Anne & Barrett White
Anonymous
in memory of
Amanda Pearson
$250 to $499
Serena & Shan Basith
Bodywork Collective
Yashmin Fernandes &
Antonio Castro
Carmelyn Malalis &
Lule Demmissie
Julie Anne Dilley
John G. Dockendorff
Becky Mode & Chris
Erikson
Patricia Gaffney
Thomas Gilbert
Amy Lu & Charles
Greer
Laura & Sebastian
Guerra
Emily & Ben Herzog
Katy Hill
Hudson Valley
National Foundation
Victoria Kingsley
Lara Fitch & Ted
Lazarus
Mark Maimon—Sterling National Bank
Adriana Azarias &
Steve Marchese
Jessica Millstone &
Steve Rivo
Jennifer Shotz & Brian
Murphy
Paul Paglia – Garfield
Realty
Premier Care Walk-In
Urgent Care
Cynthia & Peter Salett
Shelly Wolf Scott &
Powell Scott
Ronni & Glenn Silver
Larisa Layug &
Alexander Sion
Megan McGrath &
Rob Stephenson
Spela Sterle – Indigo
Studio
Christa Rimonneau &
Timothy Surowiecki
Suzanne & Andrew
Taub
Esme Usdan
Rosalie V. & John M.
Woodside
Mandy & James Wynn
$100 to $249
Thérèse D. Bernbach
Gail & Paul Bichler
Tracy Cabanis
Robin Keller & Brian
Cogan
Philip Cohen
Erika Niwa & Nicholas
Cutaia
Kathy Dodd
Catharine DuBois
Fincke
Judith & Christopher
Gilbert
Google for Laura Lee
& Vikram Gupta
Grace Church School
Vincent P. Hanley, Jr.
Maryl & Andrew
Hosking
Beth & Ted Howes
Anita & Richard Inz
Patricia Walsh Kay
Sister Helen Kearney
Marie Rudden & Peter
Lazes
Marion & Che Liang
Lois & Walter Licht
Susan Brady & Mark
Loeffler
Marion Morgenthal &
Lance Lynford
Sally & Richard Mann
Peter L. McNamara
Darnell & Eric Newsum
Anita Lin & Thomas
Prochnow
Tonya Pulanco
Neal H. Rosenberg, Esq.
Susan, Abraham & Ari
Sagiv
Melissa Wacks & Len
Small
Tamara & Jason Tepper
Treasure Island
Preschool
Helena & Peter Van
Nuys
Liam, Erin, Foo & Ken
Westlund
Heather Shamsai &
Basil Williams
Lois & Martin
Woodside
Maaike Bouwmeester
& Alex Wright
Roya Ghiasy-Xhafa &
Sislej Xhafa
Up to $99
Lauren Baum
Sheila Beatty
Jenny Burns
Susan Duprey
Dhana & Matthew
Gilbert
Maura & Carl Hotnit
Zailoon & Nootan
Jagdeo
Ann Jeffrey
Ken Ketchum
Bridgett Dickinson
Levy & Edwin Levy
Lise & John Logan
Kathi Love & Glenn
Bell
Fumiko Takagi &
Alexandre Mabilon
Jennifer B. Martin
Deanna Carlisle Moss
Sasha & Nicholas
Olney
Lois & Barry Ostrow
Christine & Michael
Samuels
Erhmei Yuan & Amar
Sen
Carol Sokolovsky
Elisa D’Arrigo & James
Stoeri
Leatrice Stutz
Nancy Foner & Peter
Swerdloff
Constance Tanner
Cynthia Vos
Contributions
In-Kind
Diana Abed
Associated Market
Bread Alone
Bulldog Gin
David’s Tea
NuNu Chocolates
Picado y Vino Wine
Shop
Salvatore Ricotta
Sip Fine Wine
Smith & Vine
Suzanne & Andy Taub
— Palm Bay
International
Trader Joe’s
Valley Shepherd
Creamery
John M. Woodside
7
rivendell reader 2013.qxp_proof 11/7/13 5:37 PM Page 8
continued from page 1
school without walls that came to be called Rivendell. When Rivendell began
in December of that year and we obtained our provisional charter, our fully
inclusionary model was born out of our Little Room experiences. We wanted
to extend the vision that the founders of the Little Room had of educating
young children with diverse needs and abilities together. In 1998, we realized
the fulfillment of our original inclusionary model and obtained our absolute
charter when we merged with The Children’s House of Park Slope, an
independent pre-primary Montessori school.
Fourteen teachers, therapists and administrators who have worked at
Rivendell were also staff members of the Little Room. Thanks to their dedication and that of the entire Rivendell community, our intitial vision remains
strong.
This edition of the reader celebrates the much-documented success of
preschool special education and inclusion through the stories of the children
and parents of the Little Room, of Children’s House, and of Rivendell who
have had those experiences and want to tell you about them. They have
written their articles in the face of very serious threats to the existence of these
vital services and in the hope that their words will help to secure continued
funding for Rivendell.
The Little Room no longer exists because the Brooklyn Heights Montessori
School could not continue to absorb that program’s deficits and, as an
Independent School, they were no longer willing to accept public funding.
Like many people in our community, we remain saddened by this loss. But it
has only strengthened our resolve to continue to provide the very best inclusion education that we can for many years to come. Your belief in us and your
support are necessary to that effort. Together, we can keep this vision alive.
Rivendell School
277 Third Avenue
Brookly n , NY 11215
Board of Trustees
Darnell Carr Newsum
Harold Arthur Pearson
Margaret K. Powell, Ph.D.
Sallie Stutz
Helena Van Nuys
advisory
Rufus Collins
ex officio
Sybil Hannah
Rosalie V. Woodside
8
Join us online at
http://rivendellnyc.org