Tailored to the individual needs of the school-aged children who attend, Crystal Springs School offers a specialized curriculum that incorporates various therapies, responds to each person's health and behavioral needs, and prepares students, when the time is appropriate, for a smooth transition to an adult program. Crystal Springs operates under a full approval status as a residential school from the Massachusetts Department of Education, and is recognized by the state as a provider of quality services to children in residential care.
Providing an innovative curriculum, the School provides a comprehensive, caring environment for children under 22 years of age with severe-to-profound mental, physical, and behavioral disabilities. The School is specially equipped for developmentally disabled children, adolescents, and young adults unable to live at home due to the severity and multiplicity of their handicaps, and the need for 24-hour skilled care. Cognitive functioning levels range from 4 months to 36 months.
Educational Services and Children's Residential Services comprise Crystal Springs School. The Children's Program also offers Recreational Services, which involves the children in after-school and weekend activities, and a broad spectrum of Medical Services, Clinical Services, and Adaptive and Therapeutic Services.
Licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, IDDI's Crystal Springs School Program is approved as a 766 Special Education School by the Massachusetts Department of Education. In July 2008, the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) issued IDDI’s Crystal Springs School a three year license, recognizing it as a program that provides quality services to children in residential care. Classrooms are staffed by teachers and aides who guide students through activities of daily living skills, language and motor skills, socialization and behavior skills, all within the context of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. The Education Department's classrooms offer a five-day-a-week year-round school curriculum.
Students are assigned to classes by their functional (cognitive/physical) level. There are specialized classrooms for students with intensive medical issues; a low-vision specialist who creates strategies for our teachers to adequately instruct students with visual issues; an Orientation and Mobility specialist who works with visually-impaired students to help them become as independent as possible; and a Music therapist to effect positive changes in the physical, cognitive or psychosocial functioning of individuals with disabilities. Upon admission, a multidisciplinary team of specialists meets with parents to develop an individual program for each child so that s/he may reach his or her full potential. The team works with the family prior to and during admission and offers ongoing support so that parents are better able to understand and participate in all phases of their child's treatment.
For more information on IDDI's Children's Program, contact the Director of Children's Services, John Kershaw at 508-644-3101, ext. 3437, or email jkershaw@iddicommunity.org