If you are the parent of a child with special needs, you become accustomed to people focusing on what that child cannot do compared to a “normal” or “average” person. In fact, while the educational and social environment has become more receptive and responsive to people with special needs, many parents of adult children with special needs were probably told by a well-meaning individual to “stop” trying to teach the child to learn because of the frustration with a slower or different learning process. Many people look at someone with challenges because of autism, development disabilities, or traumatic brain injuries and assume that because they do not learn in the same way as people without these challenges that they cannot learn. Of course, parents and family members of people with special needs know this to be absolutely false. Those with developmental challenges are not just capable of learning, but need the stimulation and challenge provided by lifelong learning opportunities to stay mentally active and alert, just like everybody else.
At Mt. Bethel Village, we understand that learning is a lifelong process and should not be confined to a person’s primary education. As an adult residential and day program facility, we do not work with children with special needs. However, we still focus on education for our residents and day program participants.
What do we mean by lifelong learning? Well, to us, lifelong learning means constantly providing our residents with the ability to learn things that may improve their quality of life. For some residents, this means continuing access to behavioral therapies aimed at improving their ability to interact with people. These behavioral therapies would be geared towards the individual. For example, a day program participant with autism who finds it difficult to discern the meaning behind facial expressions may have behavior therapy targeted towards learning the emotions associated with certain expressions.
That same behavioral therapy may be entirely unnecessary for an adult with developmental delays who needs guidance and coaching in some life skills aspects, but who may benefit tremendously from field trips to locations like grocery stores, where he or she can receive help and supervision in completing a shopping trip for necessities. Other residents may want training on computer programs that help them interact with others and may enhance their employment or volunteer opportunities in the community at large.
Whatever the educational need, Mt. Bethel will strive to meet it, because we know that every person can learn; one just has to figure out how to teach that person.
