The hip-hop performance will be the culmination of the Mahaiwe education program’s four-day in-school residency taught by hip hop masters Baba Israel, Yako 440, Ken Fury and Grace Galu featuring students from Monument Valley Regional Middle School, Mount Everett Regional School and Herberg Middle School.
She loved her children and husband, above all, and was an avid supporter of autism awareness and of the Special Olympics, in which her son participates yearly.
"I mean you no harm; I am trying to understand my world and how to make it work. I might buzz or chirp. If I am on the higher end of the spectrum, I might amaze you with my knowledge of the planets, yet I cannot answer you when you ask me what I want for Christmas."
Sanes has created a sanctuary of sorts, individuals with special needs are not only welcomed but also employed in a place where they feel safe, not judged.
EdgeCast: Open house at Extra Special Teas on Elm Street in Great Barrington, to celebrate Autism Awareness Day. EdgeCast videographer Jason Brown was there.
“Fundamental and grave concerns about health and safety and regulatory compliance at Eagleton School compromise the program's ability to provide a safe, healthy, and appropriate educational environment.”
--- Assessment by the state Department of Early and Secondary Education
“Everybody on the spectrum has a vast beautiful world inside them — whether or not society gives them the chance to express that is the question.”
-- Steve Silberman, from his book, “Neurotribes”
DeDee helped to start new programs within the Berkshire Hills Regional School District that would not only benefit her son Robert but hundreds of children who would come after him. When she started looking for a program to help her son learn outside of school in a more real-life setting, there was nothing to be found. So together with help from an autism specialist and a special education director they came up with their own and called it “Bridging the Gap.”
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission’s Berkshire Benchmark’s data shows that of the 400 children under age three in South County, around 10 percent of the population have some sort of developmental issue. Sixteen children under three in Berkshire County have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), “a shockingly high number," according to PDC Executive Director Maureen Atwood.
