News at the Y.A.L.E. Schools
By Dr. Daniel LeGoff, PhD, LP
Visitors to the Y.A.L.E. Cherry Hill Campus are often met with an unexpected greeting: a wagging tail. Both the Upper and Lower school buildings are currently home to five canines currently in training to become certified therapy dogs, participants in what is becoming known as Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). The animals are popular with both students and staff and are brought to various classrooms by their owner/handlers, where students interact with and help care for the dogs throughout the school-day.
These therapy-dogs-in-training and their handlers meet with certified dog trainer Carl Johnston on a weekly basis in order to achieve the requirements set out by the American Kennel Club for both the Canine Good Citizen Program and the Therapy Dogs International testing. At Cherry Hill, there are two golden retrievers: Amber, owned by PE teacher Debbie Snyder, and Sedona, owned by industrial arts teacher Scott Reader. There are also three border collies: Stella, owned by teacher Tiffany DiFelice; Zoey, owned by clinical counselor Karen Huber; and Billy, my own dog and the youngest of the bunch. Although the owners assume responsibility for training and health maintenance, these canine celebrities spend most of their time in the classrooms interacting with students and staff.
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The Y.A.L.E. School Cherry Hill will once again celebrate Read Across America during the week of March 1st in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday and to promote literacy for children and teens. A variety of special activities will take place including guest readers and a spoken poetry performance. Lower School activities will take place on Monday March 1st and the Upper School will hold its festivities on Friday the 5th.
Please join the Y.A.L.E. PTO at the Marlton Barnes & Noble 200 Rt 70 West, Marlton, NJ on Sunday March 14th from 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm for the 3rd Annual Book Fair and Student Poetry/Literature Reading. A portion of all sales (with coupon below) will be donated to the PTO to help fund assemblies and other school activities.
Click here to download the YALE PTO B&N Book Fair Coupon 2010.
This coupon may also be used for purchases at other B&N stores or their online store on March 14th.
On Thursday, January 28th, a portion of all sales at Pasariello’s Pizza/Restaurant in Moorestown will benefit the Y.A.L.E. PTO. Cherry Hill students may order pizza for lunch, or individuals and families may purchase directly from the restaurant (with coupon). Click here to download flyer with coupon.
Dr. Rebecca Null has worked in the special education field for 12 years. She received her Ph.D at Temple University in the Educational Psychology program, where she also earned her certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She began her career as a speech-language specialist at a private school for students with developmental disabilities, after earning her bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1995. She received her master’s degree in Special Education from Arcadia University in 1998.
Subsequently, she was a teacher in the New Jersey public school system for seven years, as the head teacher for a self-contained Autism program and worked with consultants from Pyramid Educational Consultants and Rutgers University-Douglas Developmental Disabilities Center. She became an educational and behavior consultant to the public school systems in southern New Jersey and in 2004 and finished her PhD in the Educational Psychology program in the summer of 2007.
In conjunction with the YALE teachers and support staff, Dr. Null will be providing on-site staff training, supervision, program development, Behavior Assessments and program evaluations at the Southeast II and Atlantic campuses.
