‘Ability’ program aims to foster talents, build skills
‘Team members’ acquire means to deal with disabilities, prepare for possible independent living as they explore their potential
BEAUMONT — Amy Ten Naple’s private school people with disabilities opened in 2018, but when the pandemic, it like most schools shut down.
Given her students’ physical issues, Ten Naple was uncomfortable reopening Ability Central. So, she looked at other ways to serve the community.
Ten Naple, a clinical psychologist and special needs consultant to area schools, teamed up with Honey Staudenmier, who has spent years doing paraprofessional life skills training with students that have special needs in addition to working with and consulting for Beaumont ISD.
The pair got together with Russell Watley, who worked for Ten Naple at Ability Central school, and launched Ability Central Works last summer.
The summer program served teens and adults experiencing a range of disabilities. Some were on the Autism spectrum, others had physically induced- or congenital developmental delays. One had brain cancer and another was legally blind.
Participants aren’t called clients or students. Instead, they are team members focused on building life skills and creative/vocational endeavors that could be sold to the public.
They gather three days a week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Some, like Paul Deslatte, of Nederland, come every day. Others come once or twice a week.
The goal for Abiliity Central Works is not to have people just watch TV, do puzzles or pass time until they can be go home. They want their team to learn, work, grow and take those skills to the next level. And the ultimate goal is to prepare them for independent living, if possible.
Every morning, Staudenmier and Watley start the day with stretching and exercise. It’s set to a playlist, which varies depending on the team members involved that day.
Some, like Jon Oliphint, can listen to any kind of music throughout the day but can only tolerate morning exercise to one particular song — “Footloose,” in Oliphint’s case. That’s the group’s Thursday morning song.
The workout and the activities that follow place a heavy emphasis on laughter and fun.
“We want to make sure everything we do is fun, and that it’s a place they want to be, not a place they have to be,” Ten Naple said.
Oliphint has a passion for baking. Deslatte is gifted in music and has an ability to retain data — especially as it pertains to music — that amazes the staff daily.
Staudenmier credits his parents with fostering that interest.
Deslatte has been to multiple concerts and theater productions on Broadway. He’s met performers backstage, including Paul McCartney and Billy Joel.
Staudenmier asks him to pick a musician to play as the group gets ready to cook, showing him how to use Siri to make the selection.
It’s how programs are tailored to meet the interests and needs of team members. “One size does not fit all,” Ten Naple said.
Staudenmier encourages them to let their personalities shine, especially in the TikTok videos she regularly records and posts.
It has brought some, like Emil Angel, out of their shells.
“He is obsessed with puppets, but no one ever saw him perform a puppet show,” Staudenmier said.
But when her video started rolling, to the amazement of family, Angel was in front of the camera, hosting his first public puppet show.
Jon also had his starring moment, serving as host of a baking segment, much like the British cooking program he watches regularly.
Staudenmier and teammates donned British accents to add to the reality.
“This is probably the happiest day of his life,” Jon’s father told them after the video posted online.
Ten Naple said she and Staudenmier dream of opening a residential community.
That’s a place Cameron Pegoda would like to live.
The 20-year-old Orangefield native suffers from a rare disorder that was diagnosed when he was 18-months old — Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis which forms lesions that attack multiple major organs.
The condition is treated as a cancer, and Pegoda has undergone chemotherapy so intense it nearly killed him. The brain lesions cause cognitive and behavioral disruptions with diagnoses of schizophrenia, ADD, ADHD, depression and more. Now, centered in his brain stem, it also has physical symptoms. His eyes move uncontrollably while he is trying to focus.
People often misunderstood his condition and the behaviors it created. But when he came to Ability Central Works last summer, Pegoda found people like him and staff that did understand.