News & Events
NRS of Somerset wins award for Innovative Program
June 2007
In April, Program Director, Michele Rieman, learned that New Road School of Somerset had been selected as a winner of the 2007 Innovations in Special Education for its “Assistance Dog Training Program.” This award is the culmination of three years of research, planning and implementation. Mrs. Rieman then went to inform principal Douglas Bower and program coordinator George Metelski, who had spent seven weeks in Santa Rosa, California earning a High School Assistance Dog Professional Certificate.
This invaluable community service program transforms puppies into what are called “Assistance Dogs” for a targeted population that benefits immensely from such loving and compassionate companionship. Just as Seeing Eye dogs are trained to help the blind, Assistance Dogs are intended to help wheelchair-bound adults improve their quality of life by helping them with their everyday activities. An Assistance Dog is a specially bred, highly intelligent, and intensely trained animal that ultimately resides with a wheelchair-bound person, both as pet and as help mate.
The program began with interested students filling out an application. They then went through an interview process for acceptance as either one of the four student-trainers or one of the two dog-walkers needed for startup.
Simultaneously, staff members were selected (Tara Ambrose and Tom Sparacio) to be our designated “puppy-raisers”, which entailed taking the puppies home with them each night and bringing them back to school each day to be used in the training program. The dogs would live with these puppy-raisers for the two-year duration of the program.
The entire school population – 170 plus students and 70 staff members – was ecstatic about the puppies (named Kate and Kruse) and they instantaneously became celebrities in our midst. Even those you wouldn’t deem “dog people” were immediately enamored with the animals and just “had” to pet them.
Our student-trainers worked with the dogs twice each day. Initially, simple commands were taught –such as “sit,” “speak,” “roll over” – and as these common directions were mastered, the students themselves grew increasingly skilled at teaching on the basis of positive rewards, infused with huge doses of patience and love. The dogs then proceeded to more complex commands, learning how to “tug” open a closet door, a cabinet door, and finally, a room door. They were taught how to press the handicapped button to open doors of public buildings, how to turn light switches on and off, and many more similar skills. At last, they were harnessed and pulling a wheelchair with a person sitting in it.
The success of this program at New Road School of Somerset has been staggering. Working with dogs teaches teens myriad practical competencies and admirable character traits, like self- control, communication and leadership skills, fortitude, parenting/nurturing skills, and anger management. The unconditional love and friendship that emanated from this bond between the child and the dog acted like a magic elixir for many of our students, and clearly improved their self-esteem.
Kate and Kruse graduated this June, and participated in the graduation ceremony. An awards luncheon was attended by all the students who participated, along with Kate and Kruse, of course. At this luncheon the NJ School Boards Association and ASAH presented the school with a plaque and a Proclamation from the State Legislature which, along with a picture of Kate and Kruse, proudly hangs in the halls of New Road School. This fall we are expecting our next set of puppies!
