INDIANAPOLIS — For the 2016-17 school year, Scecina Memorial High School will introduce a pilot program for students who are high functioning on the autism spectrum. The students will receive the same quality education that all Scecina students receive, leading to their high school diploma in preparation for career and college. This program initially will serve a class of no more than 10 students in ninth and 10th grades who have been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.
The new program is called CREST (Crusaders Reaching Educational and Social Goals Together). CREST will fill a need for autism education as more children are being diagnosed with autism. Scecina administrators believe several children within the Archdiocesan community could benefit from this new program.
The students with autism who have attended Scecina for four years have all graduated, and more than 80 percent have gone on to attend a four-year university. Scecina has been serving students with autism through the Learning Differences program and in general classes. CREST will allow Scecina to better focus on the different learning styles and needs of these children, as well as their socialization skills. The students will receive attention to their accommodations, specific after-school tutoring and after-school meeting time with parents. Each student would receive a computer equipped to serve their unique needs.
The CREST social skills class will include peer-to-peer interaction as well as life skills that autistic students or students with Asperger’s syndrome often struggle with. This would include things such as shopping, driving, putting gas in a car and many other daily activities in which the individual student may need help. The students also will have extra support in their general education classes, especially math and English.
For more information about Scecina’s CREST program, or about admissions to the program, please visit scecina.org/CREST or contact Mrs. Lee Ann Van Benten at lvanbenten@scecina.org.
