Pillar High School was built in 2005 in Livingston and is tailored to meet the needs of students with physical and developmental disabilities and medical challenges. Below are some of the features that make our campus so unique.
Pillar High School was built in 2005 in Livingston and is tailored to meet the needs of students with physical and developmental disabilities and medical challenges. Below are some of the features that make our campus so unique.
We have a fully heated therapy pool where therapists perform aquatic therapy sessions. Aquatic therapy refers to passive and active treatments and exercises performed in the water for relaxation, fitness, physical rehabilitation, and other therapeutic and functional benefits. The pool is heated to therapeutic temperatures to create a therapeutic environment which helps to promote relaxation and assist with decreasing muscle tone where techniques including Halliwick, Bad Ragaz Ring Method, Watsu, and other aquatic techniques can be performed. Therapeutic applications of the therapy pool include gait training, postural control/stability, balance training, facilitated swimming, therapeutic exercise, and sensory integration for children and adults with neurological disorders, musculoskeletal pain, post-operative orthopedic rehabilitation, spinal cord injuries, and brain injuries.
The Tom Litwin Technology Center is a state-of-the-art classroom equipped with 12 ADA-accessible computers with touch-screen monitors on swing arms to make them the perfect height and distance for students. We have a variety of specialized computer programs including programs for switch adapted games and activities, money management, reading and comprehension, data entry/inventory collection, typing assistance. In addition, the students utilize SOLO Literacy Suite software which helps with researching, outlining ideas for reports, text to speak, and word prediction. To help with various computer needs of students, there are numerous adapted keyboards available to use such as enlarged/reduced sized keyboards, high contrast keyboards with enlarged letters, and color coded keyboards to help with finger placement, a large switch and mounting selection, adapted mice, track pads, trackballs, and joysticks to encourage independence in accessing the computers.
Media center technology has played a critical role in helping Pillar High students gain greater independence, assisting them in overcoming both physical and cognitive challenges that might otherwise be significant barriers. The media center provides a space where students can participate in innovative activities including a student newscast, podcast, Totally Wired (a group which helps students work on access methods), and a music studio. The media center also houses accessible computers, assistive technology equipment, and low vision materials to accommodate the needs of our students with multiple disabilities.
We offer two Life Skills classes that offer our students a model apartment and provide them with an interactive hands-on approach to learning essential everyday life skills.
Life Skills 1 Class offers a full life size adapted kitchen with a stove, washer and dryer to simulate a real kitchen. The adapted kitchen features an open floor plan to accommodate students in power wheelchairs and manual chairs to navigate to kitchen areas with greater independence, wheelchair accessible countertops with roll-out cabinets that can be moved as needed, adapted sinks with side-mounted faucet and pull-out nozzle, and lever handles, microwaves and two different heights. Our kitchen appliances are also adapted with the use of environmental control units which can accommodate any student to make them more successful and independent. The students’ involvement in meal preparation includes everything from grocery list preparation and budgeting to creating simple meals while following a recipe with individualized support as needed.
In Life Skills 2 class, our students further develop skills of activities of daily living to foster independence.
Some of the skills include learning how to make the bed, appropriate wear for different weather, and simple household tasks.
In addition to the hands-on activities, students work on money management, learning community safety signs, budgeting, time management, and pre-vocational tasks (i.e. sorting functional items, resume development, interview skills, etc.).
Pillar High School Campus consists of a state of the art facility that provides students with the best support for their emotional, therapeutic and physical growth needs. At Pillar High School, we believe in our students’ strength and their ability to be positive contributors to our society by fostering their independence and to prepare them for a successful adult life.
Our fully-equipped medical center provides a soothing environment to assist students with all their medical needs.
Pillar High’s outdoor fitness park offers a unique opportunity for recreation, therapy, education and socializing. This fully adaptable space offers an experience to participate in activities that are typically off-limit to our students in a safe and fun manner. Exercise improves the ability to learn and we try to instill a lifelong appreciation for fitness by motivating our students in age appropriate ways.
Our fitness park consists of circuit-like training stations including climbing steps, balance stations, cyclers, climbing wall, crawl tunnels and sit-up/push-up benches to help our students improve their overall strength and balance. Other activities such as the log roll, roller table, springboard, spin pod and wheelchair swing incorporate sensory integration activities into outdoor spaces.
Our sensory room and adjacent physical therapy gym include the very latest therapy equipment. The rooms were designed to be highly functional in light and darkness. With the lights out, the rooms have a planetarium feel, with glowing stars that move, bubble light columns and colored fiber optic wires. A Universal Exercise Unit (“spider cage”) allows therapists to use bungee cords and pulley systems to support a student’s limb or bodyweight to focus on strengthening and therapeutic goals. The sensory room provides our students with a therapeutic environment where they can receive their sensory needs through various swings and therapeutic equipment including visual, tactile, and olfactory experiences.
This room provides a space for our students to receive their sensory diets (sensory schedule) to help them organize and self-regulate so they can better attend to the task at hand throughout the school day. Each sensory diet is designed by one of our occupational therapists who tailors the students schedule based on his or her sensory needs.
Students learn and expand their skills within this room so they can carry over the skills into the classroom. The room is also used for adaptive yoga groups. The physical therapy gym includes a huge rock-climbing wall that is a favorite with students. Other therapeutic equipment, including the MOTOmed movement therapy bike, help students participate in exercise programs within the physical therapy gym.
Learning pre-vocational skills is an important aspect of Pillar High School’s student curriculum. Our vocational training center is designed to be highly versatile— the configuration and equipment allow students to experience a wide range of vocational settings and challenges that will prepare them for a variety of work opportunities in the community. The room houses ReHaveIt, a school-based pre-vocational program where students create various projects for sale.
This program allows students to learn specific social and work-related skills such as taking inventory, invoicing, product management, time management, labeling, data entry, packaging, and economics. This initiative was designed to fit the needs and preferences of all of our students. The program offers customized items for purchase for every occasion including holiday baskets, customized t-shirts, custom paper flowers, canvas bags, aprons, and glassware.
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