How this therapist-led program is bringing pre-educational services for some children at Voorhees Pediatric Facility
Voorhees Pediatric Facility is home to over 100 children, and the majority of the residents receive their education through the Bancroft School that operates within the facility. Classrooms are set up similar to a typical school; however, the rooms have been modified to include an open floor plan along with medical and technological instruments to better accommodate the children’s needs. While most VPF residents attend the Bancroft School, some school-aged children are awaiting placement within the school.
To prepare these children for the classroom environment, the speech therapy department created a weekly group which provides learning opportunities to these children in a variety of styles including round table reading, sing-a-longs, arts & crafts activities, and celebrating different cultures and traditions. According to Danielle, one of the original therapists running the group, “When we looked at the current group of residents at VPF, we realized that there were a number of children who were pending school placement. Since we started in 2022, the group has provided services for eleven residents with seven of them being discharged from the group due to initiation of school services or discharge from VPF to a home environment.” While the group started with a small number of staff, it has since grown as more residents have gotten involved. Danielle continues, “the group was initially staffed by two speech language pathologists with a focus on school preparedness and communicative activities to maximize vocabulary and language, cognition, and school readiness skills, but later expanded to include a recreation therapist to add additional support and a multidisciplinary approach.” This team is now made up of multiple therapists as well as occasional graduate students and volunteers who dedicate their time every week to provide opportunities for education preparedness to the children.
The Ready Set School group takes place weekly for one hour. Voorhees Pediatric Facility is proud of programs like this, which show how our staff always go above and beyond for our kids. Efforts like this are what makes Voorhees Pediatric Facility a special place for our residents, a place where children are provided with opportunities to reach their fullest potential.
