CHANGES — The School of Bright Promise has streamlined its focus on students with the most intensive needs in the hopes of helping them return to their home school districts. Teacher Alayna Conrad works with kindergartener Benjamin McEndree on his skill-building process. -- Contributed

STEUBENVILLE — The School of Bright Promise opened its doors this year with fewer students and a mission to help more return to their home school districts.

Georgia Pavlic-Roseberry, children services director for the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said the school has undergone a rebranding process during the past three years and restructured its goals to aid students with intensive challenges. Nearly 20 pupils have transitioned back to their home school districts and the goal is to help even more return so they can thrive in a more inclusive environment.

“It’s definitely a different year, and it’s an exciting year,” Pavlic-Roseberry said. “We’re seeing a more intensive emphasis on skill-building and independence, which we haven’t seen in the past. We miss the kids who transitioned back to their districts, but it truly is a different atmosphere as we are able to focus on building the capacity of our staff and concentrate one skill set now. It’s tremendous for the students and staff alike.”

The school has pivoted its plan to assist students with behavioral and communication issues. To that end, a board-certified behavior analyst and three registered behavior technicians were added and have been delivering applied behavior analysis with the pupils. ABA is an evidence-based therapy used to assess and target missing skills by using positively based strategies in a way that is socially significant for learners. It is designed to target skills for improvement that will foster independence and communication. The therapy has been shown to be effective in improving communication, social skills and daily living skills in individuals with autism and the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome.

The RBT’s utilize the principles of ABA to conduct one-on-one therapy sessions with identified students and provide individualized programming designed and supervised by the BCBA based on quarterly assessments. By identifying, assessing and programming for students at an early age, officials hope to rapidly improve communication, social skills, independence and group participation skills that will encourage a seamless transition into small group or general education settings. The goal is to develop a system of independent communication and improve skills across multiple domains of daily living that will foster their ability to participate in and advocate for their needs in their academic careers.

The RBT’s also collaborate with speech, occupational and physical therapists while JCBDD has added a child service support administrator who works with families of students who attend their home schools.

Pavlic-Roseberry said there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, especially among the 40 current pupils in grades PreK-12.

“We have created an environment that is conducive to addressing behaviors and building skills, which is the exciting part. The staff is being trained to implement the Assessment for Basic Language and Learning Skills, the Assessment for Functional Living Skills and use a curriculum to address the academic needs of students,” she continued. “We’re super excited to see students increase their abilities and return back to their districts to learn with their peers. We want to be a service to our county school districts and not a lifelong placement. We want to focus on the needs of the whole child so they can go back to be with their peers and thrive.”

Students are assessed to learn what needs they have, and officials will find ways to fill those gaps by incorporating remedies into their instruction. Meanwhile, future hopes are to streamline the grade levels to PreK-8.

Andrea Starkey, a speech/language pathologist and president of the Bright Promise Employee’s Union, said the change will yield significant benefits.

“I do think it will be beneficial because we are revolving everything around an assessment and map of skills we can reference and collaborate with skill-based trainings,” Starkey added. “We’re all using the same assessment and treatment protocols and work with data for the progress of goals, and it allows for a much more cohesive program.”

She noted that students will gain foundational and functional skills to eventually return to their home districts, and Pavlic-Roseberry concurred.

“It is a necessary change and it’s good for everybody. We want to provide a service, identify goals and transition them back to their home schools. We hope to equip them with the skills to succeed,” she said. “The vision at the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities is to recognize ability, and as we do that we can teach skills so students are better prepared in the community with their peers.”