Ripple Effect: Community Partnerships Inc. Smoothes Path to Inclusion

Braxton with counselor Cameron Lee at the Hilburn after-school program

Braxton, 9, sat on the bus in tears. It was the first day of the school year, and the bus was full of excited children on their way to the after-school program the A.E. Finley YMCA runs at Hilburn Elementary. As the other children talked and shifted in their seats, Braxton just cried louder. Finally, he took his shoes off and threw them out the bus window. When the driver turned around and yelled at him, he dissolved into a full-fledged tantrum.

It was a case of a good plan gone wrong because a few key pieces of information didn't reach the people who needed them. The bus driver didn't know Braxton has autism and found the noise and chaos on the bus overwhelming. Braxton didn't know where he was going or why his mother hadn't picked him up that day.

"We didn't realize he'd never ridden a bus," says Janet K. George. "We didn't make sure there was somebody on the bus who knew how to help him adjust to this new environment. We prepared ourselves for this transition, but we didn't really prep him."

George is an inclusion consultant and trainer at Healthy Out of School Time (HOST), a project run by Community Partnerships, Inc. (CPI) and funded by the John Rex Endowment. By providing training and support for staff members at Wake County day camps and after-school programs, HOST expands recreational opportunities for children with special needs.

Before Braxton moved to Raleigh with his mother, Rasheeda McAllister, and his sister, Jocelyn, he had not been to an after-school program or summer camp because McAllister wasn't sure he'd fit in.

"When we came here, I wanted him to have meaningful participation with kids his own age," she says. During the school day, he's in a self-contained special needs classroom, and she wanted him to spend time with typically developing children and have a sense of belonging with the group.

She looked into a program near the family's new home, but when she told them Braxton has autism, "they didn't seem too enthused. As a parent, I didn't feel comfortable leaving him there because I didn't think they'd make the effort." When a CPI caseworker directed her toward HOST, George contacted the Finley YMCA summer day camp and set up training with the counselors and an orientation for Braxton and his mother.

At that point, George recalls, Braxton used only about 25 words and didn't interact very well with other children. If he wasn't interested in whatever was going on, he'd run off. She also discovered he loved music.

"Janet told us what she knew about him," says Randi Gressel, who directed the summer camp the year Braxton started. "Braxton was always picking up sticks, and anything he had in his hands he was hitting with. We found out he really likes rhythm and we gave him drumsticks. As long as we called it drumming, he was nice with [the sticks]. It was common sense, but sometimes it takes outside eyes to see."

George also helped ease the transition by talking with the other children, Gressel says. "When they'd say, 'What's wrong with him?' she'd say, 'Nothing! What's wrong with you?' She told them that when he shakes his hands in front of his face, that's his way of getting excited."

With George providing input first in person and later by phone, Braxton began to adjust to camp. With his beloved Rambo Hugs and Tickle Time as rewards, he learned to stay with the group and take part in new activities like gunnysack races and softball.

One day, George recalls, he started singing "Ice Cream and Cake" and doing the motions that go with the song. "Other kids started doing it too and he got angry and said, 'Don't mock me!' I said, 'Braxton, they want to do it with you because they like it.'" When he realized that was true, he started hamming it up. Soon he was leading the other kids in song and dance routines during assemblies.

Delighted with their success, George and the YMCA staff planned for Braxton to attend the after-school program. "We put all of the right supports in place and congratulated ourselves on preparing for Braxton's transition," she recalls. Then, on the first day, everything fell apart.

When Braxton got off the bus crying and angry, George took him to a quiet area, gave him big squeezes and tried to find out what he was feeling. "At some point, he took my face in his hands and said, 'It's just scary.' It just about broke my heart. 'I'm sorry it's scary,' I said. Knowing Braxton loves music, we put on a music CD from the summer, and he started smiling and then he got up to dance. I let him know his friends were coming in, and as they did, Braxton started smiling and putting more energy into the dance, and the other children fell into line and followed Braxton's lead."

That difficult day, George says, was a reminder that inclusion is a process. "It is fluid and flexible, and we really need to keep our focus on the individuals we are supporting. It doesn't matter how well someone does in one environment. When you change the environment, that changes their needs."

With Braxton's needs now met, he's thriving at the Y after-school program, his mother says. "The other kids all know his name and they argue over who gets to sit next to him. He's gained a sense of belonging. His vocabulary has really widened from being with other kids and listening to them."

He talks to her regularly about other children and about who he sat with at lunch. He high fives the staff members and teases the after-school director. When he rides the bus these days, his counselors make sure he's the last one on so he doesn't have to be in the noisy environment so long, and one of them loaned him an iPod so he could have a distraction.

"He's flexible and comfortable with whatever environment he's in," says Gressel. He continues to get up with a microphone at Friday assemblies and leads songs, dances and chants.

And a few weeks ago, on his 11th birthday, his friends in the program threw him a party with--you guessed it--ice cream and cake.

"It really is healthy out of school time," his mother says. "It really is healthy just to be part of the group."