Little City Hero: Wyatt

Wyatt is one of the five students that attend the ChildBridge Center for Education, Little City’s new therapeutic day school. Although Wyatt has an intellectual disability, he is learning and excelling in school.

Since the opening of the ChildBridge Center for Education in August, Wyatt has increased his verbal language use and has been performing extremely well at multi-sensory activities like playing the drums, which is his favorite part of school.

“Wyatt is a great student; he loves music and playing the drums. Music affords Wyatt the opportunity to express himself with multi-sensory activities in a group setting,” said Lead Teacher Andrea Heim.

Wyatt also enjoys playing matching games where he matches numbers, letters and colors and other interactive learning games on the computer. He is able to choose what games he wants to play, which gives him an outlet for self expression and increases his self-esteem and success. Wyatt is able to use the mouse by himself and is extremely well at navigating around on the computer.

“The improvements Wyatt has made since the opening of our day school are inspiring. He is giving us a lot of hope for our plans to expand the Childbridge Center for Education by offering another class. On a daily basis, Wyatt must overcome obstacles in order to progress in school; because of this, he is a hero,” commented Little City Executive Director Shawn E. Jeffers.

Over the last few weeks, Wyatt’s teachers have observed an increase in spontaneous language and the use of longer phrases. After a week of learning about firemen, the fire department visited the school to let the children climb onto the truck and the normally quiet Wyatt, exclaimed, “Fire truck!” In addition to improvements in his use of language, this showcased an increase in comprehension skills.

The ChildBridge Center for Education provides progressive services for students with severe and profound needs on the autism spectrum. This day school bridges education and each child’s developmental abilities enabling them to reach their fullest potential. A typical day for each student includes a host of activities outside of the classroom offered throughout Little City’s 56-acre, therapeutic campus.

The school collaborates with each child’s home school district and develops an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that provides personalized therapies and intervention services to address the student’s unique educational needs. 

Little City is looking to expand the ChildBridge Center for Education and will be opening a second classroom in January 2012 for students ages 14-17 that have pervasive needs. For school referrals call Jennifer Rupp at 847-221-7859.

For more information about other Little City Heroes, visit www.littlecity.org/hero.