‘An opportunity to grow as people’: High School ATLAS program supports graduated special needs students

Every day during the fall semester, students in Dartmouth High School’s ATLAS program run a “cafe club” for teachers at the school. The club, which is meant to help students develop daily life skills, is a subscription service that teachers may sign up for to receive a daily coffee delivery.

Students learn how to make coffee, use a dishwasher and communicate to make the work happen. But student Selena Pacheco took on an extra job: she collects the mugs every day from each teacher, building social skills alongside the occupational tasks.

That work paid off — During a recent field trip, Pacheco confidently ordered Dunkin’ for herself, an effort that would have been difficult for her just months before.

Pacheco and the cafe club are both part of Dartmouth High School’s new ATLAS program, or Advancing Toward Life After School, which is designed to develop those skill sets for young adults with special needs that have recently graduated.

Pacheco is one of three students in the program.

“I was really nervous at first, but now I love it and I’m really happy,” Pacheco said.

The program hinges around six “focus standards,” or goals, which include independence and self advocacy, household skills, health and wellness, hygiene and self care, community involvement, managing money and vocational skills.

The program is taught by lead teacher Stephanie Church and education support professional Jeannine Winterson, and runs at Dartmouth High School during school hours.

Church taught math for thirteen years before switching to teach the ATLAS program, which she said is “a perfect fit,” and that she’s “never been happier.”

The ATLAS room is just down the hall from the room that ATLAS students were taught in during their four years of high school.

Along with Pacheco, Collin Demanche and Sydney Lopes round out the class.

Each student has shown significant improvement since the program started, Church said, in communication, professionalism, and fine motor skills. Demanche, for instance, has learned appropriate behavior management through the program, she said.

The program is beneficial to not just the students enrolled, Church said, but the rest of the Dartmouth High School community too.

For instance: ATLAS students get experience managing some office tasks, including the “copy center,” where teachers at Dartmouth High School can send worksheets for students to copy and staple. Since the program started in August, students helped make over 20,000 hallway passes that are used daily by Dartmouth High School students.

Students complete daily chores too, including vacuuming, making a bed, dusting, and putting away dishes.

By completing these daily tasks, Church said students learn valuable life skills that will help them once they leave the program.

 “ATLAS gives the students an opportunity to grow as people, and as members of the community,” Church said.

The assistance doesn’t stop at Dartmouth High School — The ATLAS program takes weekly trips to Gifts to Give in Acushnet to volunteer, cleaning toys that will be given to families in need.

“These trips have been both a fun and productive experience for the students,” Church said.

These trips have improved the social skills and community involvement of the students, Church said. Through these interactions in community programs, Church said Lopes has made progress in her speech and communication skills.

“Sydney’s speech and communication skills have flourished since ATLAS began,” Winterson said.

“ATLAS is all about continuing to support students with special needs to gain personal levels of independence in life,” Church said. “The long term goal for ATLAS students is to be part of our Dartmouth community through volunteering, life experiences, and paid employment.”

The students still have interactions with peers and teachers that aren’t a part of the ATLAS program. The slow transition into adulthood has been key to the success of the ATLAS students, Church said.

“From working with these students for a few years now, the improvements that they’ve made from ATLAS are undeniable,” Winterson said. “It’s wonderful that the students get to use all the skills they learned in PALS in a community setting.”

Local businesses Cardi’s Furniture and Regal House donated furniture worth over $10,000 to help support the ATLAS program.

Church's family has also donated local honey and homemade greeting cards, which are available for purchase in the ATLAS room, with all proceeds going to the ATLAS program.

The ATLAS program will continue to expand over the next couple of years. A new student has joined in December 2023, and the program will be doubling by next year.