Welcome to Room 150
A first-of-its-kind program at Streetsville school helps high-functioning autistic teens succeed
The second they arrive at school, Nancy Saunders can tell if her students are having a bad day.
Did they have a tough morning? Was it a rough bus ride in? Do they need time to de-stress before heading to class? In any case, she will pop in once they get settled at their desks.
It is Saunders’ job to know her students well. She is part of a small group of staff at Streetsville Secondary School overseeing a first-of-itskind program that integrates highfunctioning autistic teens into a mainstream high school.
The program is called Room150 — named after a space in the Mississauga school that 16 students have come to regard as home base, a safe place to work out frustrations, calm down, relax, eat lunch, learn to socialize or write a test away from the distractions of a regular classroom.
Room 150 is seen as a model program for these autistic teens, who are highly intelligent but need help with social and coping skills to thrive in school and life. Educators around the world want to know how to replicate its quiet success.
Parents contact Streetsville when their children are as young as 9, asking: “What do I have to do to get my kid in your school?’ ”
The program focuses on a child’s unique skills, while creating a lowstress, high-interest atmosphere. It is a simple premise, one a Streets- ville high school teacher came up with more than a decade ago after watching his son struggle with Asperger’s, an autism spectrum disorder.
What began as a one-year, parttime transitional program for six Streetsville students has grown to serve as many as 28 kids full time each year throughout high school.
The Peel District School Board now offers 13 such programs in its high schools, and other boards have adopted similar programs.
The teens take regular credits and are expected to complete the same work as other students. They perform the required volunteer hours and write the province’s mandatory Grade 10 literacy test. But typically, they earn seven, not eight, credits a year and complete a co-op placement before graduation.
Having ASD “doesn’t mean you can’t run the mile,” says Anne Manderson, head of special education at Streetsville. “It just means your time is going to be different than the person beside you.”
Room 150 is a series of interconnected rooms: an area with individual desks to write tests or work quietly at a table, a small classroom for students to gather one period a day for a social skills course. There is also an adjacent room for downtime — a place to eat, play a game of Risk, finish a puzzle, read or watch The Big Bang Theory at lunchtime.
When the teens first arrive at Streetsville, they might be accompanied by an education assistant all day as they rotate from class to class. Gradually the assistant pulls back, but is always there if needed. “Front-end loading is better than back-end filling,” says Therese Fitzpatrick, co-ordinating principal of special programs for the Peel board. When Gillian Louise Martin arrived in Grade 9, she needed an assistant with her all day, every day. She wouldn’t talk to anyone. Now in Grade 12, she sits at the front, and during a recent writer’s craft class chatted with a friend beside her. Her hand shot up to answer the teacher’s questions. The 16-year-old contributes to group discussions and will even make presentations to the class. Bradley Gray-Hall, diagnosed with ASD in middle school, has seen his marks shoot up since attending Streetsville and attributes much of his success to support from staff, who help him as needed and also stay connected with his parents. “I’m actually doing homework this year,” says the15-year-old, smiling. He says of last year: “I just wanted to play video games.” Regular classroom teachers routinely confer with Room 150 staff, and the assistants move inconspicuously from class to class to check on their charges. The teens are such a part of the school, no one questions when one needs to leave class, write a test in a quieter area or come to class early — or late — to avoid the anxiety-provoking crush of students in the hallways. Manderson ensures no student has a heavy academic load, mixing in an art or gym class. She pushes for staggered assignment deadlines and pores over exam schedules to ensure there’s only one in a day. The key to the program’s success is to anticipate problems each student may encounter and build in safeguards in advance, says Saunders. You can only do that by getting to know them individually. “You can read them,” she adds, “when you know them.” Most of the Streetsville students go on to college or university, though some opt to go straight into the workforce — whichever path is the best fit. “The appropriate supports bring them out,” says Manderson. “And when we do bring them out, it’s fantastic.”