From the Quarterly Newsletter (Winter 2011)
By Scott Bylow, James Jones, Troy Estes & Jaymond Palacio The Purple Room is off to a successful start to the school year! There have been many changes in the Purple Room and the students have welcomed this. First, the Purple Room is excited to introduce Mr. Jaymond and Mr. Troy. Both recently have joined our team and the students have taking a liking to both of them. Mr. Troy brings plenty of experience as he has been working in at the Autism Academy for more than a year now. He has recently worked in the Red, Green, and Orange Rooms. Mr. Troy’s experience with Math has given the students the self esteem that is needed to complete their math work. Mr. Jaymond brings a positive attitude to the classroom and can easily relate to our students because he has experience working in the field and is only two years older than our oldest student. Mr. Jaymond’s youthfulness brings plenty of energy to the Purple Room and the students certainly enjoy his company.
The Purple Room has enjoyed the arrival of new books in Science, Social Studies, Health, Vocabulary, and Writing to supplement our current curriculum. These books were provided through a grant from Target. These books give the students to not only an extra resource to learn from, but also these books focus on specific areas of Science, Health and Social Studies. So far, the students have performed very well when meeting their program goals and have been developing the skills to becoming attentive learners. The Purple Room students continue to participate in vocational job settings at the Holiday Inn French Quarter, St. Charles Hospital, and the Toledo Zoo. Here, the students learn hands-on skills that foster independent work abilities alongside a job-coach. Along with the students vocational jobs that they participate in, the Purple Room students are also responsible for collecting and disposing the school trash throughout the building on a daily basis. They have also been depended upon for collecting recycling plastics, metals, and cardboard that is collected by other classrooms throughout the week. The Purple Room students have also taken the time to help the Church fill food bags for the less fortunate as well as helping Mr. Bob (custodian) unload the donated food from local food pantries. The students have been working very hard and we look forward to a great school year!
