A small group of 11 teens and young adults ages 13 to 23 spent much of their time last week at Katz JCC enjoying swimming, music, arts and crafts, games and other fun activities.
This group was not part of an ordinary summer camp program. These teens and young adults were participating in a program called Peers using AAC for Language and Socialization, or P.A.L.S. The program is for multiply disabled teens and young adults who are nonverbal and communicate using an augmentative communication device.
P.A.L.S. began in 2012 after Cherry Hill mother Donna Forman started the program.
Donna’s daughter, Sydney, uses an augmentative communication device on a daily basis. Sydney had previously attended the JCC Camps at Medford’s Open Hearts/Open Doors program for children with special needs. While Sydney loved participating in the program, Donna realized her daughter would need to join a program better catering to her needs as she got older.
“It was really difficult to send her to the outdoor camping experience and not have the necessary supports in place in terms of people who understood how to communicate with her,” Donna said. “I always wanted to give Sydney and her peers like herself the opportunity to have that camp-like experience in a more structured setting.”
Donna approached Eileen Elias, director of the Katz JCC’s ACHaD special needs department, with her idea. Elias said the JCC was more than happy to partner with the program.
“They said we could use the building,” Donna said. “We could use these extra rooms, we could use the pool and they’d support us. We, as a community, put together all the details, recruited the volunteers, got the participants.”
Elias said it was important for the JCC to open its doors to those in the non-verbal population and make them feel at home.
“We want (participants) to become integrated into the JCC community,” Elias said.
Donna, who is also a speech pathologist, teamed with other parents and professionals to launch P.AL.S., with the intention of building a sustainable program with activities geared toward augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC.
P.A.L.S. operates similar to a summer camp. For one week each summer, a small group of teens and young adults visits the Katz JCC for about four hours a day. The participants enjoy a variety of activities, including swimming, arts and crafts, music and more.
A portion of each day is also dedicated to language lessons, where the participants work with volunteers and professionals on their communication skills using their devices. Improving communication is a huge part of the P.A.L.S. program.
“The goal is to allow an individual who is nonverbal to express themselves to the best capacity that they can,” said Priscilla Danielson, an AAC consultant with the program. “Our goal is to give them independent communication.”
Many of the participants’ communication devices are touch screen tablets. Words paired with pictures allows the user to express dozens of words and emotions.
“AAC gives individuals a voice who have no voice,” Danielson said.
Donna said many of the participants who return each year have made significant progress with using their devices.
“Every year when I see them come back, I see that they’ve all matured a great bit,” Donna said. “A large majority of them are using their devices more and are more communicative from the experience.”
“Some of the friendships that are happening among the participants is really beautiful,” said Judi Krumbein, an AAC consultant with P.A.L.S.
Another huge goal of the program is to forge friendships between the participants. Donna said a number of the participants, such as Sydney, return to the program each year and have created long-lasting friendships with each other.
This year, P.A.L.S. was larger than ever before, with 11 teens and young adults participating. The JCC gave P.A.L.S. extra rooms to work in because of the large amount of interest in the program.
Donna said the group still needs to be kept to a low number to allow the volunteers to continue working one-on-one with each participant.
“One of the biggest challenges is we have more families reaching out to us,” Donna said. “We have space limitations, and in order to do what we do successfully, we can’t get too large.”
Donna believes the high level of interest in the program and the strides its participants have made indicate the success of the program. With P.A.L.S. wrapping up its fifth anniversary last week, Donna is confident the program will continue for years to come.
Residents can donate to P.A.L.S. by mailing a check to the Katz JCC, Cherry Hill, 1301 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill NJ 08003. Checks should be made out to Jewish Community Foundation/PALS. For more information on the program, call Elias at (856) 424–4444 ext. 1114 or visit www.jcfsnj.org/pals-fund.
