Spectrum Center Schools

The Spectrum Center Program at Broach Bradenton is a new and innovative program that has achieved some exceptional results with children with autism. Nationally, diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders are on the rise. Recent reports indicate that 1 in every 150 children has autistim.

Spectrum Center programs have enjoyed tremendous success working with children with autism in California many years. This fall, several Spectrum Center programs have opened in Florida, including one in Bradenton. As a recognized leader in autism education, Spectrum Center utilizes applied behavior analysis to manage behavior and stimulate learning. Spectrum teachers work with students who have several - and often multiple – behavioral, emotional and educational challenges.

The Bradenton program has already helped students achieve a number of individual and team successes, such as:

• Sara Burris, a 14-year-old who has cerebral palsy, autism and other disabilities. When she began attending Broach School, it would take upwards of 90 minutes for her parents to coax her out of the car when they dropped her off to school in the morning. After she enrolled in the Spectrum Center program, teachers were able to effectively use ABA techniques in combination with consistency and tough love to change this behavior. Sara now routinely gets out of the car and comes into school with no delays.

• Ian Settlemeyer, a sixth-grader with autism who functions well in math. He joined the Spectrum program this fall, but attends a traditional sixth grade math class in the same building. In this setting, while he can keep pace with the assignments, he is learning proper classroom behavior, such as the need to raise his hand and ask for assistance.

• Wednesday, which is now grilled cheese day. Students in the Spectrum Center program who are working to master basic living skills have begun making - and selling – grilled cheese sandwiches to the rest of our student body. The student leader for this activity is Philip Cheeseman, a ninth grader. It has become a point of pride for Spectrum students and something that the rest of the Bradenton faculty and students look forward to each week.

For the parents of children with autism, such seemingly small breakthroughs are tremendous steps forward. By having traditional classrooms under the same roof as the Spectrum programs, Broach Bradenton has been successful in meeting the needs of children who function at the higher end of the spectrum of autism disorders who are able to attend traditional classrooms and get the personal focus and attention they need in other areas.