IDEAL Program gives students extra support

 At the beginning of the 2019/2020 school year, White County launched a new program designed to provide support to young students who may need a little more behavioral and emotional support and guidance than their peers, and, a year later, the program is running strong.

The IDEAL program, which was housed at Woodland Park Elementary until the opening of the new facility at Findlay Elementary, in January, aims to serve as an early intervention program for students in kindergarten through fifth grades who have participated in an array of behavior modification and intervention programs without receiving the success desired by both the student’s family and the district’s behavior specialist, Richard Bumbalough.

“The IDEAL class helps students meet academic goals, as well as behavioral and social goals,” Bumbalough said. “Students are able to practice new behaviors and social skills in a small learning environment.”

He explaining that the contained environment provides students an opportunity to develop, or enhance, a variety of socially-necessary skills including self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship, and social awareness. 

“It is our hope that all the students in the IDEAL program will meet academic goals, exhibit positive behaviors, attend school regularly, and graduate from the program,” Bumbalough said. “We hope that every student will eventually graduate from high school and find success as adults.”

According to Bumbalough, the program, which is providing services to six White County students and has had another student graduate from the program and return to general education classes at the beginning of the current school year, provides a point system from students to work through which helps them track their progress and begin to reintegrate with their peers.

“There are six levels that the students work through as they earn privileges and create the opportunity to attend general education classes,” he explained, saying that students are given the opportunity to be a part of the decision of which classes they begin attending. “If they are strong in a particular subject, we start there, and then they can earn more points and choose an encore class that they think they would enjoy participating in.”

Bumbalough said that, as the district’s behavior specialist, he provides assistance to Andy Southard, the classroom teacher, and the paraprofessional, Crystal Acosta, who work with the students to provide high quality academics in the safe and structured environment.

“Andy and Crystal are very good at what they do,” he said. “They not only strive to meet the academic needs of each individual student, but they also provide lessons to improve self-esteem, confidence, and to believe in yourself. They are really coaching them to know they have what it takes to be successful.”

Bumbalough went on to say that Findlay Elementary principal Rebecca Ryan is also a great asset to the program, “She doesn’t hesitate to step in and help in the classroom and provide assistance wherever it is needed.”

“I’ve been in education for 18 years, and this is such a positive step,” Ryan said. “It is a teaching and learning system designed to let students learn how to correct themselves rather than a punitive system. These students are learning how to be a productive member of our schools and community.”

Ryan said that as a former teacher, she sees the advantage the program gives to classroom teachers who can now focus on the academic needs of all of their students, while a student who may need extra attention to work through behavioral or social situations can receive one-on-one attention to learn skills for success.

“The benefit to housing this program here at Findlay is that we have all this space,” she added. “The building was designed with an extra room for additional educational needs. We also have the courtyard and separate playgrounds. There is plenty of space for students in the IDEAL program to have everything they need to feel both safe and successful.”

While the goal is for students to integrate back to the general education classes and eventually back to the elementary school for which they are zoned, Bumbalough said he understands that students may have hesitations about moving from a contained classroom to a larger setting and have some anxieties about putting the skills learned into action without the guidance of the IDEAL instructors.

“We don’t just send them on their way and that is the end,” he explained. “My job includes providing support to at the student’s home school. I help them with coping strategies, working alongside them as they transition back to the classroom. I help their classroom teachers learn to address the student’s individual needs as well.”

As for how the IDEAL program (which stands for Identify the problem, Define and represent the problem, Explore possible strategies, Act on the strategies, Look back and evaluate the effects of your actions) is being received, Bumbalough said he is encouraged.

“Parents are very supportive, and the students are working really hard to graduate from the program, and we want this program to be as successful as parents are hoping it will be,” he said. “We are looking to improve graduation rates and produce adults capable of being successful, contributing members of the community. We hope that through this program we can achieve those goals.”