Mary Cariola Children's Center - Mary Cariola Children's Center

The youngest children, from birth to three years of age, receive developmental evaluations and clinical services in a home-based setting or at the Agency, depending on their needs. Mary Cariola is a state approved evaluation site. Evaluation is provided in the home by an interdisciplinary team from the Agency for young children with a wide range of special needs.

Home-based services include a special education teacher, clinical staff and social worker who all serve the needs of families with flexible hours, and a team approach to helping families develop intervention strategies for their children.

Center-based services include a Parent-Child Program that meets once weekly with a group of parents and children to focus on socialization and support.

Three and five-day early intervention experiences in the classroom focus on language, cognitive and social development. Clinical and social work services are also available.

Preschool
The Preschool is designed for three-to-five-year olds who attend either a half or full-day program each day in a center-based setting, depending on their individual needs. The abilities of the students range from age level in most developmental areas to significant delays across areas. A range of class sizes and staff ratios is available to meet individual educational and social needs.

Children from birth to three years of age are referred through the Health Department of their county, and children from three to five years old are referred by their home school district.

School Age
The School Age program serves children from ages five to 21 years in one of two components:

Students are not recruited for programs at Mary Cariola, but are placed in either ten or twelve month classes as determined by their individual school districts. Educational placements for each child are reviewed annually.

The Adaptive Equipment Workshop: Cutting Edge Innovations
It only takes the push of a button for most kids to turn on the music, but this simple action can be impossible for a child with disabilities. A major goal at the Mary Cariola Children’s Center is to empower children to interact with their environment and be more independent.

More than 20 years ago, the Agency took an innovative leap and opened a new workshop. Its charge was to create equipment and devices to improve the quality of life for children with disabilities. Since that time, there has been a steady stream of innovations and adaptations to help children tune in, turn on, stand up, and move around. If it will make a difference in the life of a child or the operation of a classroom, the workshop will find a way to build it or modify an item that already exists.

The imagination of a teacher or therapist is the only thing that is needed to put the workshop staff’s creativity in motion. Among the creations are prone standers that allow a child to stand or two children to stand face to face with a small tabletop between them in order to play a game. In addition to socialization, standers have a positive effect on self-image and many physical benefits.

Innovative switch covers remove the temptation for children with behavioral challenges who want to repeatedly turn the lights on and off or flush the toilet. Special switching devices allow a child to turn on the music or activate the computer screen with the slightest finger pressure or the touch of the head. Innovation begins with a need and an idea. The possibilities are limitless!

Workshop staff members also use their expertise to repair and adapt existing equipment. They work in conjunction with classroom and clinical staff to understand the problem and design a solution.

The three-person staff has more than 50 years of experience with specialized adaptive equipment and environmental adaptations for Mary Cariola Children's Center classrooms and residences. Each year a design class from Cornell University travels to Rochester because the workshop’s accomplishments best represent environmental modifications for a specific population. Some of the Cornell students have been so moved by their visit that they have changed their career plans.

A frequently asked question is why the Workshop’s special designs and pieces of equipment are not patented or created for sale to individuals or other agencies. The Mary Cariola philosophy is that the Adaptive Workshop is not a business. All of its designs are freely shared to benefit children with disabilities and programs to serve them, wherever they may be.