Eden Autism Services, already a global leader in autism education and training, took another giant step in serving children and adults with autism and their families with the opening of its new, state-of-the-art school in the Princeton Forrestal Village in Plainsboro.
“It’s a dream come true,” says Tom McCool, president and CEO. “Six years ago when I got here, we were trying to figure out what we wanted and even before that, for decades, that dream was alive. We never really had a brand new place of our own; we always adjusted to an existing location. To be able to build a state-of-the-art school from the ground up, an autism-specific school, that’s amazing. It’s hard to believe we got here.”
When the school opened for its first day of classes on Wednesday, October 26, it marked the culmination of years of planning, collaborating, and then, finally, the actual construction of the 30,000 square foot building on approximately three acres of land in Forrestal Village. The complex consolidates what were three buildings on Eden’s former Route 1 site in West Windsor as well as the outreach center on Old Trenton Road. It is Eden’s national headquarters, and the school will serve as a working laboratory to refine autism best teaching practices.
There are some 60 people on staff, including teachers and therapists. Currently, there are 59 children and young adults ages 3 to 22 who are enrolled as students, but the new site has the capacity to accommodate up to 80 students. Even so, there are still 100 on the waiting list.
Recent statistics reveal that 1 in 110 children in the United States is diagnosed with autism; in New Jersey, that number is closer to 1 in 94.
“We are thrilled that we can build an efficiency of services and communication and build even more coordination of our education and outreach,” says McCool. “Early intervention is a critical part of our outreach, and our services allow us to stretch beyond our walls. The opportunity for direct care here only helps refine our services.”
The school sits on the site of the former Harmony School, which relocated to a new building just adjacent to the original site. While Eden took over portions of the existing school, much of it is brand new. The school is surrounded by attractive landscaping that includes a walking trail, basketball court, and playground.
A recent tour of the interior reveals a bright, cheerful ambiance with lots of natural light and a refreshing just-moved-in feeling. The classrooms, designed with input from specialists in autism education, are built around a large common area with one-to-one individual therapy rooms on the side.
There are speech therapy rooms where teachers are using the latest technology, including iPad Therapy for students who are non-verbal or verbally challenged, using digital pictures to communicate. There is an exercise room with new equipment, a multipurpose room that serves as a gathering center and gym, and many conference rooms. One room serves as a model house so students can practice domestic skills like doing laundry and setting the table. There is an area set up as a convenience store training center so students can be trained for that type of work.
There is a kitchen that supports the school’s culinary arts program. Vocational students ages 16 to 22 can work with the chef to learn everything they need to know to about running a kitchen, including prep work and following recipes. In fact, two students have already been placed and are working at Princeton University’s eating clubs.
The hallways are wide, so that visitors, many from international organizations, can observe less intrusively, and they don’t have to go into the classrooms. They can also use video hookups to observe the therapy going on in the therapy rooms.
McCool is especially excited about the technology that is wired throughout the entire building to promote the sharing of best practices. “Anne Holmes is our chief clinical officer, and there are no geographical limitations to the outreach she can do. We can video conference all over the world. She can connect to classrooms through Skype, for example, and in this way, touch so many more lives.”
The idea of the school nestled in the heart of Forrestal Village is actually part of the grand design, according to McCool.
“The benefit to having the school here is that it provides a community setting. It gives us a place to walk around the stores and restaurants. We are also an easy ride from Plainsboro Village, downtown Princeton, and any of the stores along the Route 1 corridor.”
McCool explains that the mayors of both Plainsboro and West Windsor were hearty supporters of the school and heavily involved in discussions right from the start. In fact, he says that Mayor Peter Cantu of Plainsboro was instrumental in promoting the location, which helped overcome the first challenge of the big new project — where to build it. A committee of four headed by Marie Santos, an Eden parent, looked at more than 80 sites before selecting this one.
The second challenge was the design. It was imperative to everyone to get input from staff and teachers to reflect autism teaching best practices. Merilee Meacock was the lead architect from KSS Architects in Princeton, and the project manager was Chuck Klein. Just as the school is located in a village, McCool notes that it truly did take a village to raise the school. He also credits Munich Re and Bohren’s United Van Lines who helped facilitate the move. He praises VJ Scozzari and Sons and the donors who continue to support Eden’s capital campaign, Nurturing Today, Embracing Tomorrow. The campaign’s goal was raising $4 million for this project and another $3 million to build an endowment for adult services. So far, it has achieved $5 million of its $7 million dollar target.
When it came to financing the construction, McCool says Princeton University played a major role. First, Eden bought the site from Princeton University. The university also gave Eden a grant to cover architectural and engineering studies and also guaranteed credit so that Eden could sell tax exempt bonds to raise the funding.
McCool explains that staff at Princeton University have children who have been at Eden in the past or are current students. Every June, Eden partners with Princeton to sponsor a lecture series presenting some of the top researchers from around the world on autism. It is called the Eden Autism Services Princeton Lecture Series and 2012 will mark the 18th annual event.
As for the big move that just took place, any concerns for the students about the transition did not materialize. “The teachers had been doing site visits during construction so their students could see the new school going up, so the concept was already familiar to them,” says McCool.
“Also, the teachers had rooms set up in advance so when the kids went home on the Friday before the opening, and then came in for their first day of class on Wednesday (we were closed Monday and Tuesday for set up), their classrooms were ready with all their familiar surroundings in place.
“We had big smiles and lots of happy children.”
