Thank you, thank you. Ian had an amazing week and beamed when I told him the good things Mrs. Loper shared on the phone this afternoon.
We’ve had many firsts this week, never has he ever said before, “It’s a great school mom,” or ”I want to get to my homework,” ”I need to get my binder organized.” I held back my surprise, and who are you? and got out his way.
You two [Dr. Peter and Ms. Allman, Executive Directors] and your staff do amazing things and are deeply compassionate. I haven’t had this peace since Ian was in Pre-K.
- Victoria Baker, NHS parent - 2013
Asperger’s Syndrome? The Autism Spectrum? The day we found out his diagnosis was the day I lost all my dreams about my son’s future. We tried so hard to work with the district to keep Joseph mainstreamed. He was certainly smart enough but his behavioral inconsistencies were too much for the district to handle. They were not prepared for what handling a special child such as Joseph meant. That’s when we found the Newmark School. Overnight we watched our child blossom. The smile and laughter that were lost to us as he struggled to be mainstreamed returned. Eye contact…he makes eye contact now! That is a major feat for any child who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Newmark School did that for him…and for us. Newmark School allows him to work at the academic pace he needs and we have watched him grow. Newmark School gave him the peace he was looking for to concentrate on his school work and in learning the social skills that come naturally to the typical child. We hear from his teachers about how well he adjusted, how easy it was to see his desire to learn. We hear how although he makes mistakes, he wants to learn to be a better friends and be more accepting of others…again, no easy feat for him. The Newmark School is the best choice we could have ever made. So here we are…four years later…Joseph is about to graduate from 8th grade and move onto Newmark High School. I know he is ready…I’m not sure I am. And my dreams for Joseph? They resemble the ones Joseph has for himself now. College, working, getting rich, owing a mansion…and yes, he doesn’t know, maybe…even getting married. Well, he is only 13.
- Lisa and Joe Daly
My child has come a long way since the start of Newmark School. He is going to a college program this summer 2012 and if it was not for Newmark, he wouldn’t have that opportunity.
- NHS parent – 2012
The Newmark School has changed our son’s life.
In a few short months, we have watched Liam go from being an extremely anxious, unhappy child who hated school, to a boy who happily leaves the house each morning to meet the school bus.
He is working hard, in the school’s incredibly supportive environment, to learn to make good academic, behavioral and social choices. He is learning how to be a better student, and how to be a good friend. He is learning, finally, how to be happy.
We feel so fortunate to be a part of the Newmark community. Thanks to the devoted teachers and administrators – who consistently strive to help each child in every possible way – we are confident that our son is in the place that can provide the support and understanding that he needs. Newmark encourages Liam to be his best, every day.
–Alison and Duncan Niederauer
Our son has ADHD. Although he is bright, he was unable to sit still and focus, and that affected so many things like writing and reading. His situation progressively deteriorated to the point where we had to hire a daily tutor to help him catch up with his homework. Socially, he struggled with everyone, including his teachers. The most difficult part was watching all his classmates get invited to birthday parties yet he was always left out. We had our son in therapy for years, but there was always something missing between school and home. Then finally we found the Newmark School! Not only has it changed Nick’s life but it has changed our whole family life. Because of Newmark’s wonderful behavior therapy program and continuous counseling, our son has progressed tremendously. He is now able to do all of his homework independently and has made many friends. Every staff member at Newmark is highly educated and qualified to handle special education students and all the situations that may arise from their struggles during the school day. The entire staff shares in the responsibility of seeing that our son has the proper materials and tools to be successful day in and day out, without us having to handle every detail of the school day. We cannot begin to place a value on the type of education Newmark provides. It has given us a valuable part of our lives back; we no longer dread the days ahead, but look forward to each passing year as another step toward success for our son.
–Mr. & Mrs. Aleo
My daughter is not the typical child that people picture when they think of children who are placed in an out-of-district school. She is lovely, well spoken and very eager and willing to learn and be a friend. Our district thought my daughter was doing just fine. As a parent we want the best for our children, including educational and social successes. I realized she was not reaching her potential academically or socially in district. She just didn’t fit, or the in-district school didn’t fit her. It is not “one size fits all/most”.
Of course I struggled with the concept of a “special school”, or “out-of-district placement”. I quickly rationalized everything and concentrated on what would be in her best interest, and the best environment for her.
I have never been more confident of a decision than the one I made in choosing Newmark for her school. My daughter has clearly made many academic gains, and even the small victories are counted and considered at Newmark. The entire faculty and staff become involved in all of her success, large and small, academic and social-emotional.
Newmark is a wonderful, caring, compassionate school that really cares about the children/adolescents that are there. It is evident that all of the staff members stand by their philosophy and vision.
The most important thing is that my daughter is still eager and willing to learn and truly enjoys school and all of the social interactions and opportunities that she is provided with. Her smile when talking about her school day speaks volumes to me.
–Elizabeth Andolino
Our daughter is a high-functioning autistic child. We have been very pleased with the curriculum and special education support at Newmark. We strongly encourage parents of children with similar issues to check out Newmark. They will be glad they did.
–Stephen J. Gold and Yan G Ni
My son, who has ADHD and Sensory Integration issues, has been attending the Newmark School in Plainfield, NJ since September 2004. He previously attended a school with a turbulent and chaotic atmosphere where, even though I repeatedly requested it and even provided information on Sensory Integration, his sensory issues were not addressed. This resulted in my son having frequent anxiety attacks and aggressiveness.
I found out about the Newmark School through our district school system. Newmark included my son in the enrollment process by interviewing him, to allow him to feel he played a major part in being accepted to the school. It gave him a sense of pride and accomplishment. This was my first clue that this would be a completely different approach to how my son would be treated at Newmark. Very soon after my son was enrolled, I received a letter that the staff members at the Newmark School were being trained on Sensory Integration. This assured me that the needs of my son were being taken seriously and that all staff members involved would be properly educated on how to address those needs.
The atmosphere at the Newmark School is very calm and peaceful. When he began attending Newmark, my son’s aggressiveness and anxiety attacks disappeared, almost immediately. The teachers are amazing and they care very much about the children and giving them the best education. I receive weekly phone calls, just to let me know how my son is doing. My son is taught the importance of community service by continual school trips to the Food Bank and Nursing Homes. Students are given great incentives with many contests, level changes, and a point system. With the point system, my son has learned the value of earning and “saving” to purchase items from the school store. He’s learned about putting things on lay-away, as well as ordering items that are not readily available. It’s great to see the sense of pride and joy he has after saving up his points for several weeks to obtain an “expensive” school store purchase!
My son has blossomed into a fun-loving, social child who LOVES school! He is very intelligent and, at times, his curriculum has even been changed to challenge him more, academically. His anxiety has greatly diminished and he will soon begin integration into the public school system.
I highly recommend the Newmark School to any parent who is looking for a place that is geared toward providing a good education, while addressing the individual needs of their child.
My son has a dream to go to Harvard one day and, because of his foundation of education, encouragement and dedication at the Newmark School, I believe it will happen!
–Michelle L. Green, North Brunswick, NJ
Our 9-year-old son is new this year to the Newmark School, having been at two other schools this year. The minute we were introduced to Newmark, we had a very good feeling about it. Finally, we found a place where the whole educational community understood our child and his unique needs, where all of his needs academic, social, psychological and physical – could be met in one place, at one time, and where he does not need to feel so very different. We know we’re very fortunate to have been given this gift and are thankful that a place like Newmark exists to help us address the challenges of a special needs child.
–The Haggerty Family
This is our second year at the Newmark School. My son, now in fifth grade has made remarkable improvement due to the positive encouragement from the entire staff.
His self confidence has allowed him to sit through a lesson without becoming frustrated because he knows his teachers will help him when he gets stuck on a topic or needs something explained again. One advantage of the Newmark School is small class size, allowing individual attention when needed. The school’s positive behavior program motivates the students and gives them the incentive to achieve their goals.
For the first time in a school setting, my son is being taught the necessary social skills and coping skills that some of our children so desperately need but don’t receive in large public schools today. Gone are the days when my son cried himself to sleep because he had no friends in school or woke up not wanting to get on the bus fearing other kids would pick on him. The Newmark School has changed all that for my 11-year-old son and for that we are grateful.
–Julie Keller
In public school, my son couldn’t behave in a classroom. Despite the interventions of his teachers and the school’s administrators, he was disruptive, distracted and largely unable to learn. He could not participate in gym class or any outdoor competitive physical activity (like relay races) because he was either argumentative or so overwhelmed by self-consciousness and fear of failure that he couldn’t function. He had no friends. When he arrived in the lower grades of Newmark, he could barely read or perform any other basic academic function. He was weak, sickly and unhappy.
Now in fifth grade in Newmark, he enjoys all his subjects and actually excels at reading, spelling, math and science. In fact, he is doing so well that his teachers have created a specialized enrichment program for him so that he moves to other higher-grade classrooms when he needs to or is issued extra work packets when the situation calls for it.
He has real friends now. In fact, he was able to host a sleepover birthday party recently, something that would have been unthinkable in the past.
He’s the happiest he’s ever been.
It’s as if he was a little bird, trapped in a cage, that didn’t know how to fly. Newmark taught my son how to use his wings. Though I think of the school as a magical place, Newmark doesn’t employ magic but innovative psychological and learning techniques that focus the children and inspire them to learn. The teachers, who are wonderful, are highly trained, patient beyond imagining, and keyed in to the children’s minds.
Call it magic, call it progress, call it whatever you want, all I can say is that my child has been transformed by Newmark and is now empowered to learn.
By the way, he joined a local soccer league last fall, for the first time ever. He had a blast.
–Kathryn Lucas, West Orange, NJ
I believe that our most telling realization of the impact that Newmark School would have on our son Andres came within the first two weeks of his enrollment. Like so many others, he entered Newmark after having suffered months of discouragement and feeling as though he’d never be able to regain the feeling of success he once knew as a young student. We had watched our son go from being a model, mainstreamed success story in elementary school to a violent student placed in a resource room because no one knew what else to do with him in intermediate school. Then one day when I met him in the driveway, coming off the bus from Newmark, he was bouncing, smiling and proudly beaming, and said, I don’t know why Mommy, but I’m not all mixed up and angry inside anymore! From then on we had no doubts that soon Andres would return to a place both emotionally and academically where he would be more accessible to learning in spite of his high functioning autism and mood disorder, and we were correct!
Sadly over the years that Andres has been attending Newmark he has suffered some medical setbacks which have interfered with his cognitive progression, however due to the exceptional collaborative efforts of the administration, counseling staff and the teachers, along with his outside medical professionals, we have done well at keeping him current with his studies.
Newmark School is a comfortingly unique and enriching environment for a very fortunate group of students who are probably too young to appreciate it fully now, but will some day realize how their lives were enhanced by a group of persons who cared about each and every one of them, each and every day.
–Shawn Ortiz
The Newmark School has created an amazing community where our son feels secure and accepted. This environment has allowed him to feel good about himself and about going to school!
–Barbara Partenope
There is such a sense of community at the Newmark School. Our daughter feels at home when she walks through those doors each morning. She has developed and is maintaining friendships, both inside and outside of school, with her Newmark classmates. Academically, she gets challenged while given the opportunity to progress at her own pace when necessary. Quite frankly, we don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t found the Newmark School.
–Mr. & Mrs. Sheehey
The Newmark School has changed our son’s life.
In a few short months, we have watched Liam go from being an extremely anxious, unhappy child who hated school, to a boy who happily leaves the house each morning to meet the school bus.
He is working hard, in the school’s incredibly supportive environment, to learn to make good academic, behavioral and social choices. He is learning how to be a better student, and how to be a good friend. He is learning, finally, how to be happy.
We feel so fortunate to be a part of the Newmark community. Thanks to the devoted teachers and administrators – who consistently strive to help each child in every possible way – we are confident that our son is in the place that can provide the support and understanding that he needs. Newmark encourages Liam to be his best, every day.
–Alison and Duncan Niederauer
Prior to our daughter attending the Newmark School, she was having behavior issues that our school system was unable to address. The Newmark School has given our daughter the individual attention and support that has helped her succeed in her studies. We have witnessed, along with others, the remarkable improvement in our daughter’s academic and social behavior.
Our daughter looks forward to going to school everyday. Newmark’s greatest asset is the loving and caring instructors and administrators. There is a lot of positive reinforcement in their teaching methods. When we first toured the Newmark School, we got a warm and fuzzy feeling from the staff and setting. We would highly recommend the Newmark School to any parent.
–Robert & Cynthia Sartorius
After all the years of fighting the system, we were not necessarily looking for perfection when we first toured the Newmark School. We were looking for good communication and an opportunity to work as a team with our child, Yair’s, school, and so far we definitely have that. We see the results in Yair’s looking forward to school every day something missing for over a year.
I must say that I really appreciate the Newmark School staff members enthusiasm for their program and their offerings. I am also warmed by the obvious caring and attention that the staff gives each student. Finally, I cannot begin to state my appreciation for a school where people get it.
–Steven White
We are blessed to have our son Jimmy at the Newmark School. The progress he has made in five months is remarkable! For the first time in his life he loves going to school! Thank you.
–The Pacetti Family
Newmark has made and continues to make my son a better person. It’s a joy for us to see him so comfortable in your school. Thanks for giving him the support, encouragement and tools he can use to become all that he wants to be!
The Leo Family
What a touching and joyous graduation ceremony you held for the 8th grade graduating class. Only Newmark could bring out the best in everyone and present it in such a fantastic way! Truly it was the icing on the cake for the years my son, Anthony, has spent with you. As always thanks from the bottom of my heart.
the high school graduation was a very memorable occasion, dr clemente gave a beautiful speech that had everyone in the audience crying. if ever there was any doubt that david was in the right place it was apparent by the love that all the administration and staff has for our children. thank you for loving and caring for our children as much as we do. although we are moving on we look forward to always being a part of the newmark family. again thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for taking our son from a struggling child to a confident adult.
Being a Classroom Aide at Newmark, I was able to see first hand the kind of magic that takes place at the school. It is a place where children are transformed from frightened and withdrawn, to outgoing and confident.
When I discovered Newmark had a High School, I was thrilled because I knew it was the place where I wanted my own sons to be. Today, my boys are on their way to being comfortable in their own skin, because of the consistency and compassion that Newmark provides.
Newmark School is an incredible, special place. In my mind, no other school even comes close!