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May 14, 2008

Rubicon School to close doors in June

Patty Miller

EDMOND — Answering the needs of families of children with autism spectrum disorders, The Rubicon School and Learning Center opened in early spring 2007. Now without some outside financial help, the school will close in June.

“With the increase in gasoline prices we have lost not only students, but teaching assistants as well,” teacher Heide Roden said.

The school opened last fall with 10 students, and now there are 17 students who will be affected if the school closes.

Parents travel from Bethany and as far away as Elk City each day to bring their children to the school.

“We have one child who is 3 years old and has been attending here for two months,” Roden said. “His parents bring him from Elk City each day. They arrive at the school at 12:30 p.m. and leave at 3:30 p.m. for the journey back home to Elk City.

The school is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to serving the needs of children with High Functioning Autism, Asperger’s, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder and other related disorders.

Many of the students who attend the school are high functioning with a mild form of autism.

“These students have problems with sensory issues,” Roden said, “and they may experience melt-downs.

“Some public school systems may not have room, trained teachers to interact with the students or a program to address the needs of these children.”

One family chose Rubicon because they felt like their son needed more individual attention.

“I began to check into alternative schools, and that’s when we learned about The Rubicon School and Learning Center,” Chris Wilson said. “We were impressed with the student/teacher ratio and felt like he would have a better chance at individual attention.”

Wilson said they noticed results immediately as his son Jesse started to use basic sign language and other skills.

Roden said parents are concerned with the closing for a variety of reasons.

“Most of our parents want to make sure they have places for their children to go during the summer,” Roden said. “They want to make sure there is no down time for learning.”

Families with children with varying degrees of autism face monetary, emotional and personal challenges, she said.

Educators have found students with special needs do better with continuity in learning.

“This is an under-served population,” Roden said. “Our children learn differently so we must teach differently and think differently about learning.”

Rubicon operates chiefly on tuition — 85 percent — and the remaining is raised through donations. Mailing a check directly to the school means 100 percent of the donation will be used by Rubicon.

“All donations are 100 percent tax deductible,” Wilson said. “If you want to make an online donation using the ‘justgive.org’ link located on the upper left hand side of the ‘The Importance of Giving’ page, keep in mind that Just Give takes 3 percent of the donation for processing costs.”

Donations may be made online at www.rubicon-learning.org/giving.htm. Wilson may be reached at 749-7989 or 826-6401.

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