The Rumson Country Day School to Expand its Successful Program for Students with Language-Based Learning Differences

The Rumson Country Day School has announced a major expansion of its successful program for students with language-based learning differences. The program will be called “The Jayne S. Carmody School at RCDS”, honoring the current head of the Lower School, Jayne Carmody who was instrumental in designing and launching the school’s exceptional program in 2007. In the past eight years, the program’s enrollment has steadily grown, and the RCDS Board of Trustees has now approved expanding the faculty, resources and enrollment for the program, formerly called the “School Within a School”.

“What makes this program truly unique is that it is fully immersed within the curriculum and the schedule of the mainstream students,” says parent Melissa Stevenson, whose son left a local independent school to enroll in this program when he was diagnosed with ADHD three years ago. “Our family was concerned when our son was diagnosed, but he was thrilled to be in a program where he was able to remain in class with other students rather than being pulled aside and missing out. Now he is much more confident and he has the tools to learn.”

Natalie Diehl has been teaching students with learning differences at RCDS since the program started in 2007, and like all of the teachers at The Carmody School, she is special-education certified. “All of our students attend their classes with the rest of the student body, except for language arts and literature classes. During these periods, they are taught the same curriculum as the mainstream classes yet the presentation of the material is designed to meet the needs of each individual student. This varies depending on what works best for each student, and often includes one-on-one or small group instruction in supplemental reading programs like Megawords, Stevenson Grammar, Wilson Reading and other learning systems,” says Diehl, who has been promoted to be the Director of Student Services. She will oversee the expansion of The Carmody School at RCDS. “We plan to hire an additional teacher and a psychologist this spring in order to maintain our student to teacher ratio at or below six to one.

The Head of School, Whitney Slade, is thrilled about the expansion. “We are making this investment in 21st century learning to build on our success and offer a level of focus and expertise previously unavailable in Monmouth County. This is not just great for students with learning differences” he notes, explaining the that the new Director of Student Services will develop individual learning profiles for every student in the entire school and coordinate training for all teachers, insuring that best practices are implemented across all disciplines. “This elevates teaching and learning for everyone at RCDS.”