Sargent Rehabilitation Center receives many 'thank you' letters from family whose son or daughter has successfully transitioned from one of the Center's school programs. We would like to share some of them with you below.
Former student McKenna was given the High Five on the Channel Five News for her growth and perseverance.
Our family’s involvement with Sargent has been nothing short of wonderful in every way. Parents with neuro-atypical children face challenges unknown to the general population and we experienced some difficulty finding the right fit for our son Patrick. This odyssey started with attempts to home school and included multiple therapists, hospitalizations, and another therapeutic school that just wasn’t what he needed. It’s therefore gratifying and validating to be able to send him to a place that is both familiar with these challenges and welcoming while conveying a genuine sense of caring for Patrick. Sargent demonstrates kindness, compassion, flexibility and great understanding in engaging with neuro-atypical students. Their programs are sufficiently broad and accommodating to deal with a wide range of issues since no two children are the same. Yet they’re focused on giving students what they need including willingly challenging Patrick academically within the constraints imposed by his mental illness. Sargent also works hard to bring the world into the school while getting students out into the community. They do this by hosting visits from the Providence Bruins and New England Revolution, bringing in karate instructors, getting the kids to the gym, taking them sailing in the summer, and many other activities (it seems like every week during the summer, Patrick is coming home with the story of something new and fun). Overall, we’re very happy our school district recommended Sargent (the interaction between district and Sargent has been seamless from our perspective). We couldn’t be more satisfied with our family’s experience with this great institution and its committed and dedicated faculty and staff.
Our son’s experience at Sargent has been integrative, coordinated, and motivating for his unique learning style. The kind of support he receives was not possible in other places. What makes the Sargent Center unique is how the team approaches complex learners-making a progressive academic program accessible— and attainable!
Amy Walsh
Jared Dufour came to Sargent at the age of six, diagnosed with apraxia, a neurological disorder that impacted his speech. When he began at Sargent, Jared was non-verbal and had limited academic skills. Jared's team of therapists at Sargent included two speech-language pathologists, occupational therapist, special education teacher, social worker and case manager.
Jared's speech team worked in harmony with all school personnel to assist Jared. While one speech therapist focused on teaching Jared to communicate with an augmentative device, the other concentrated on helping Jared improve his speech. Jared learned vocabulary and language structure utilizing his augmentative device. He also learned to break each speech sound down to its simplest form and then to build words and phrases. Jared's speech team utilized specialized techniques and programs that focused on literacy and motor speech. As his speech and written language improved, his augmentative device was phased out gradually.
Jared's occupational therapist, teacher and social worker were working collaboratively with his speech team to improve his visual perception, fine motor planning, sensory regulation, and language processing skills. Jared had a high intensity level of intervention from his team at Sargent and his family provided daily follow up training at home as well.
As a result of Sargent Center's interdisciplinary team approach and specialized expertise and with Jared's own determination, he has had success! Now in his community school, Jared will continue to work on both his language and his processing. We wish him continued success!
Unique Approach to Education
Like Jarred's program described above, each Sargent Center program is uniquely designed to meet the individual needs of each child by incorporating a multidisciplinary team approach with a robust extra curricular activity offering.
Education and Interdisciplinary Team at Sargent Center
Sargent Center is proud to staff a full complement of education, behavioral and related service personnel that include special education teachers, physical education teachers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, registered behavioral therapists (RBT), board certified behavioral analysts (BCBA), behavioral specialists, full time nursing services (RN), certified nurse assistants, (CNA), teacher assistants, community job exploration and transition service personnel and on campus staffed school administration.
Extra Curricular Programs
All students attending Sargent Center engage in our strong extracurricular programs, many of which are not available at the public school. Extracurricular activities personnel support theatre arts (provided by Trinity Repertoire), martial arts (provided by Cerio Ambrosio Martial Arts) Yoga (provided by Shri Yoga) sailing, in Newport (Provided by Sail to Prevail-Sail Newport) gardening (supported by URI and Whole Foods), soccer (instruction provided by the New England Revolution Professional Soccer Organization, floor hockey (provided by the Providence Bruins Professional Hockey Organization, and swimming (at a local Warwick recreational facility)
The Center's staff is proud to share this letter from the Dufour Family.
Dear (staff) friends at Sargent:
Today is such a happy day and a sad day for Jared and for us. The time Jared has spent with you has been a blessing. Several years ago we were told that Jared may never speak. As you can imagine, we were completely devastated by this news and refused to accept that there was no hope. Fortunately, the Johnston School Department recommended that we send Jared to Sargent because he would receive specialized care and therapy there. So, off to Sargent we went!
During the past several years with all of you, Jared has worked so hard and gained so much. The only word he could say clearly when he first got there was 'no.' Now, he is talking up a storm! While we realize he still has lots of therapy ahead of him to continue his progress, he has already achieved more than we could have hoped for, thanks to all of you.
'Thank you' just doesn't seem adequate. You are very special people who are completely dedicated to your vocations and the children that benefit from them. Your patience, knowledge, expertise and commitment are truly remarkable. You are an invaluable asset to the children who are lucky enough to have you in their lives. Without you, Jared's life may have turned out very differently. We will always be eternally grateful for all you have done to help our little guy. As we said, 'thank you' isn't nearly enough to say. We will miss you and we will keep in touch and keep you posted on Jared's progress.
With our never-ending gratitude,
Patti, Mike and Jared Dufour