Staff of the Month: Tashiemia

What impact has Tashiemia had on colleagues and students over the past month? Tashiemia demonstrates punctuality and professionalism daily. She takes excellent data collection on Catalyst and demonstrates strength in conscientiously implementing programs. Tashiemia implements targets as written by the teacher and gives thoughtful feedback on programs. In addition, she is quick to create new materials needed for a student’s program. Her data is always consistent with the performance seen by the teacher. Tashiemia cares about our student’s programming and wants them to get the most out of their time in school. She has a true passion [...]

2019-10-14T14:21:28-04:00October 11th, 2019|

Student of the Month: Jay

It has been such an honor to be part of Jay’s education. To watch him grow to the point where he can focus on tasks and start to truly explore his academics has been a great joy. What has Jay done over the past month to achieve Student of the Month? Jay has adjusted very well to school after the summer break. He comes to school every day with a big smile on his face. He has a natural calm, laid back presence that is contagious and helps all around him relax and enjoy [...]

2019-10-11T13:20:14-04:00October 11th, 2019|

Recognizing our Staff

The culture committee has come together to create our Staff Shout Out Board. Each classroom was given a sticky notepad. The staff shout out board was created to notice our wonderful staff members with their amazing work throughout the day with the students. Any staff member that notices another staff member representing our CORE 4 values: Transparency, Humility, Accountability, Decisiveness, will write it on a sticky note and place it on the board. The staff can take their sticky note at the end of each day, to remind them of how much we appreciate their passion and dedication to [...]

2019-09-29T20:24:47-04:00September 29th, 2019|

Autism Cruise from a Staff’s Perspective

One of our amazing staff members, Michael Shashaty, had the pleasure of traveling on the Autism Cruise over the summer. Prior to this summer, I had never been on a plane. Before that, I had visited only a handful of states. Traveling was not something I envisioned myself doing, and certainly not to another country. Autism has provided me with many blessings in life: a career, friends, colleagues and a purpose. A few weeks ago, I found myself on the most breath-taking island in the world, swimming alongside fish in crystal blue lagoons and conversing with people [...]

2019-09-19T09:42:00-04:00September 19th, 2019|

The New School Year

As the 2019-2020 school year begins, we were excited to start with positives messages to our students and will continue with the positives as the year goes on!  The B.E.S.T Academy Staff members came together to create some beautiful chalk art to give our students special welcome back messages. The children enjoyed seeing the chalk art as they entered both the front and back of the building. We welcomed some new staff members and students the start of this school year. We are very happy to see everyone back and can not wait to see the great things we [...]

2019-09-19T09:33:42-04:00September 19th, 2019|

Hammocks Come to BEST

B.E.S.T. Academy is excited to introduce the newest addition to their Motor Lab: 3-tiered lycra hammocks! These hammocks are designed to provide students with opportunities for both sensory and gross motor input. From a sensory perspective, the hammocks provide deep pressure as they gently hug the student and vestibular (movement) input if the student chooses to gently bounce or swing. Students also receive input to their muscles and joints as they climb between the tiers. The hammocks are also a quiet, calming spot with reduced visual and auditory stimuli. In just the first few days of school, [...]

2019-09-19T09:26:53-04:00September 19th, 2019|

Art Show

Students have been hard at work since March creating masterpieces for this years art show! Family members and friends of students were invited to attend and see the artwork they put together. This year's projects challenged students to use a variety of mediums such as clay, chalk, yarn, and other different textiles to create different works of art. After a gallery viewing session, students were able to perform in a talent show. We are very proud to have such talented students! Visit our website to learn more [...]

2019-07-10T12:47:42-04:00May 10th, 2019|

2019 Prom

BEST Academy's 2019 Prom was a wonderful evening of dancing, laughter and great memories!

2019-09-19T09:23:53-04:00May 6th, 2019|

Helping Students With Autism Reach Their Goals

Amy Farmer, Education Director at B.E.S.T. Academy, recently wrote an opinion piece in the The CT Mirror entitled "Helping Students With Autism Reach Their Goals." "While our students might interpret the world differently, their thoughts, fears and hopes are no less important. It’s part of our job to ensure they reach their goals. Our students aged 18 to 21 are about to enter the real world. That can be very scary to the families we serve. To help our students prepare, we encourage participation in our Transition program, which provides the opportunity to gain real jobs skills while working for [...]

2019-11-12T15:20:58-05:00April 24th, 2019|
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