YSU'S AUTISM CENTER Teachers in touch with kids

Hands-on training is the key, says a director of the one-of-a kind-program.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Joey Schramer's high-pitched voice is loud, uplifting and evidence of his excitement.
"The turkeys are by the chair," he says.
A teacher holds a book with the drawing of turkeys next to a chair. Joey takes cardboard squares -- one featuring turkeys and another with a chair -- and sticks them to a Velcro strip at the bottom of the page.
He smiles.
"Joey, you are so smart!" the teacher exclaims.
It's now Bradly Donatella's turn with the book. This time, the turkeys are by the pumpkins.
Anthony Sabatino sits in another tot-size chair in the circle. He shakes his head erratically. Joey wants another turn with the storybook. A second teacher helps him stay in his seat as the teacher with the book moves around the circle. Jayde Smith sits quietly.
While the children's personalities and actions are very different, they all share a commonality.
Each is autistic.
Circle time is over. "Check your schedules," teachers say, and the four children move to areas of the room where more Velcro squares show them what's next. "Work time" the next squares say, below a drawing of a child at a desk. Later will come "art time," "play time," snack time" and other scheduled "times."
Work time means one-on-one time with teachers for each child. They learn skills, pulled from a checklist of items they'll need to know to succeed in their public elementary schools.
J. Georgia Backus and Jennifer Palumbo explain on a recent class day that these children need the individual help. They are among six pupils in the new Early Intervention Preschool at The Rich Center for the Study and Treatment of Autism in Fedor Hall at Youngstown State University. Backus is director of the center. Palumbo is lead instructor and coordinator.
The nine-month, school-year program for children 3 to 6 began in January, and there is a waiting list.
A similar summer program, serving children as old as 13 and their parents and siblings, started in 1996 with five children; now it helps 50, and there is a waiting list.
Hard at work
In the work room, Bradly is learning to point. "Point to red," his teacher says, placing a red square before him and poking it. "Point to red," he echoes, mastering the skill.
"Good job!" the teacher says, sliding a red M & amp;M candy his way. "Say thank you," and, when he does, "High five!"
They smack hands.
In a neighboring cubicle, Anthony is using tiny scissors to cut a straight line along a paper held by his teacher.
"Oh my. Oh my, I cannot believe you!" she says. "Wow! Look at that!"
But when she pulls out a vest -- it's time to learn buttoning -- he screeches.
Watching the process are two YSU students from the education department. It is fast-paced, errorless and full of positive reinforcements for the children. Each child follows his or her own, specific, individualized learning plan.
Teachers observe
Backus, who carries a gold-colored, heart-shaped key chain, explains why it is so important for these future teachers to observe and learn the individual, reward-system teaching technique.
The key chain was given to her by a child she once taught, and it reminds her of the struggle to teach herself how to teach him.
"I'm hoping those going into the field of education will have much more of a clue than any of us did," says Backus, who holds a master's degree in special education.
Teaching knowledge is one thing, Backus explains. But hands-on training is the key.
Educating the children while teaching the professional educator makes the Rich Center unique and the only one of its kind in the United States, Backus says.
Backus notes that the center also is the only place in the five-county area that looks at "the total of the child."
Aside from the educational component, children in the program receive speech therapy at the center from Youngstown Hearing & amp; Speech professionals. And, occupational therapy at the center is done in conjunction with Easter Seals.
Costs
Pupils' parents pay a $125-per-week tuition, about one-fourth of the cost to educate a child.
The center receives space, support, assistance and in-kind services from the university. It does not receive university funds.
The $300,000-per-year budget is funded by grants, fund-raisers and donations, Backus says. It costs from $38,000 to $60,000 annually to treat a child in the program.
The center begins its annual solicitation drive next week. To donate, contact the center at (330) 941-1927 or One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Donations can also be sent to the Youngstown Foundation at 606 Wick Ave., Youngstown, OH 44502; (330) 941-3211.
The center was founded in 1995, using memorial funds donated after the deaths of Paula and Anthony Rich and their unborn child in a 1994 plane crash outside Pittsburgh.
Founders are Beth Kosar Forward, Geri Kosar, Jacqueline Rubino Marchionda, Phyllis (Rich) Ricchiuti and Rose Rubino. Honorary chairman is Boardman native and former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie J. Kosar Jr.
Besides working with students in YSU's education program and the counseling department, the center has developed a new partnership to train students in the Department of Human Ecology.
Current educators also learn at the center through summer course work through YSU's Beeghly graduate school.
The center also partners with medical students at the North East Ohio University College of Medicine in Rootstown.
Resources
The center has created the largest resource library in Ohio on the topic of autism, Backus says. It is housed at YSU's Beeghly College of Education.
The center also works with the public schools and informs pediatricians of each child's progress. Teachers send daily progress reports home to parents and have regular conferences with them.
Backus says the system used here is the only research-based treatment effective in teaching autistic children. A goal is to look past the small bodies to see them as 18-year-old adults who need job skills and dignity to survive and thrive in their communities. (Ninety-two percent of disabled adults are unemployed, Backus says.)
Back in the pre-school classroom, it is art time and the pupils are painting trees, gluing acorns and chestnuts to the trunks with the help of their teachers.
A timer rings and the teachers announce "check your schedules."
Joey resists. He screeches and fights the teacher who tries to lead him from the room, eventually falling to the floor. As they lead him to the work room, for speech therapy, he again resists.
"He'll come back," Backus says as she watches the teachers ignore the poor behavior and encourage him along.
And he does.