Moss Appeal funds to help autism school
Meg Alexander — Staff WriterArticle Photos
WELCOME - Lacey Breneman crawled through the colorful padded steamroller on her way out the door of the classroom.
A staff person stood patiently to the side as the little girl rolled her body through the playful conveyor system without complaint. This is standard protocol at Breneman's school, required when entering and leaving the sensory room.
Clearly, this is no ordinary school, but these aren't ordinary students either.
The sensory room is filled with odds and ends big and small to help the students relieve their autistic tendencies, like the three giant swings hanging from the ceiling.
"It's so exciting to see what we bought last year," said Lisa Dahl as she drove from Fairmont to Welcome to visit the school for area autistic children.
"This was a big, empty room last year when we visited," she said, describing the sensory room.
Dahl belongs to Moss Appeal, a group dedicated to raising funds for children in the area with physical and learning disabilities.
For the second year in a row, proceeds from the Moss Appeal Garden Tour will go to the autistic school in Welcome.
"In the past, we had helped individual students," said Becky Phillips, another member of Moss Appeal. "This seemed to help more students, so it was the way to go."
Formally known as The Positive Approach to Autism Spectrum Disorder Classroom, the school actually has several classrooms, including the sensory room, the calming green room and Boost-up Room.
"This is the room we need to work on," said Kristin Tietje, director of the school as she walked into the green room, aptly named for the paint on the walls. "... This is this year's project."
Tietje oversees the school, creating lesson plans for its six students, who range from first to 10th grade. Six paraprofessionals are employed there as well; one for each student.
The children arrive at the former Welcome Elementary School around 8 a.m., each transported individually from around the area. Two are from Martin County West , one from Blue Earth Area, two from Granada-Huntley-East Chain and one from Truman.
Their schedule each day looks much like that of an ordinary elementary school, with a few exceptions. In the main classroom, each student has his or her own "pod," a cubicle of sorts to separate them from distractions.
Their days start with Home Base, then "Pod Time" to review their lessons, followed by math, snack time, speech and Boost-up, which is similar to gym class. They work on social skills and then typing before sitting down for lunch time. Recess is spent outside or watching a movie. The rest of the afternoon is spent working on reading, "jobs" - functional tasks like emptying the trash, washing dishes, sweeping, cleaning the microwave - and then spending some more time outside before going home for the day at 2 p.m.
"For some, this is a transition program," Tietje said.
About half of the children attending this year will go back to their regular classrooms next year. Their places will quickly be filled, Tietje anticipates.
"We're constantly getting phone calls from people," she said.
The maximum capacity for the upper floor of the Welcome elementary school that once housed kindergarten through sixth-graders is eight autistic students. Even with only six currently enrolled in the program, the staff have their hands full.
The school started with two children in a classroom in Truman before moving to Welcome three years ago. The extra space has allowed the school to vastly increase the services it provides to students, but everything comes at a cost.
"Our kids cost much more than a typical child for schooling," Tietje said. The extra staff, materials and transportation add up. "... It's ridiculous that so much special ed stuff is so expensive."
With the proceeds from this year's garden tour, Tietje is planning the purchases she would like to make for the green room: a wall of mirrors, a rocking chair, a lit-up bubble tube, fiberoptic light strings. They're simple items that would all serve a similar purpose - calming the children.
The garden tour, if it enjoys the same success as year's past, should help significantly with that goal. In the nine years Moss Appeal has hosted the event, the tour typically raises $4,000 to $5,000.
"I think with state funding and government funding declining so that the need is growing and growing, somebody has to pick up the difference," she said.
Moss Appeal starts working on the project in October, looking for homeowners willing to let 300-500 people walk through their homes and gardens. On the tour this year are Todd and Naomi Segar, Pat and Darcy Graif, Tim and Tammie Hested, Clayton and Mary Ann Pytleski, Gary and Nancy Schomberg, and Gordy and Karen Toupal.
"It's a community service," Phillips said. "It encourages people to beautify their gardens and yards."
The tour runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 27, with a salad lunch served from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall.
Tickets are available for $15 at Hy-Vee, On the Wall and the Knights of Columbus Hall the day of the tour.
