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After moving to the city from Pennsylvania three years ago, Denise Cummings struggled to find help for her 10-year-old son, David, who had recently been diagnosed with dyslexia.
With the help of a language learning program taught by Whittemore Elementary School teacher Kathleen Grady, her son recently won a reading award.
She found that critical help with the Special Education Parent Advisory Council which held a year-end celebration last night at the Arthur C. Clark Government Center auditorium.
"We needed to identify resources and we couldn't," she said. "Through the council we found out about this reading program and it's been instrumental to David's reading."
Last night's celebration marked the group's growth from seven parents to an organization with close to 50 members.
Parents and teachers mingled while children played and dipped strawberries in a chocolate fountain. Prizes were awarded to teachers of children with special needs, ranging from iPod digital music players to computer programs. Most of the gifts were donated.
Before last year, the council had not met for close to three years and many parents were left wondering how to find the services they needed for their children.
Council vice president Susan Saulnier said the group's goal is to help parents identify resources for children with special needs. Her son is a student at Stanley Elementary School who is diagnosed with a form of autism.
"We were trying to find ways to support parents and find our way through the special education system," she said. "We sent out a survey to find out more about what parents need. What we want to do now is get in touch with more people and get our membership to increase."
Susan Sutherland, the council's parent resource liaison, helped revive the organization. She sent out e-mail to parents of special needs students, researched online and contacted the city's Director of Special Education Ed McCormack to discuss reactivating the council. They held their first meeting on Oct. 16.
Sutherland, whose son Evan is also diagnosed with a form of autism, said one of the council's biggest accomplishments in the past year was a training session in which members of the Federation for Children with Special Needs taught the group about the laws and legal rights governing their children.
"Parents had so many questions that just weren't being addressed," she said. "This coming year our goal is to increase our membership and to bring more diversity into the group and possibly include more organizations to work with us."
A special award was also given out last night to the Waltham Public School's Pervasive Development Disorders Program, which is now in its tenth year. PPDs include autism and Asperger's syndrome.
Stanley Elementary School Principal Marcia Pertuz spoke about the award.
"When I came to the Stanley school three years ago I didn't know much about autism," she said. "I turned out to be the principal of a school with a shining example of what a PDD program can be."
The award was named after Kelly Beaumont Mazzarini, who died Aug. 14, 2008, at Newton-Wellesley Hospital at the age of 40. Mazzarini graduated from Waltham High School in 1986 and was employed at the Waltham Family School from 2005 to 2008.
She was an advocate for children with disabilities having two children with special needs of her own, according to Britta McNemar, program coordinator of the Waltham Family School.
"She was a remarkable individual," McNemar said. "She understood how to be an advocate for your child. She gave parents a lot of support."
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com
