CATCH BREHM ROBOTICS PRIDE!

Our Brehm Robotics team builds awareness of science and technology for Brehm students as well as for southern Illinois. Brehm robotics students are beginning to mentor local elementary school students and are planning community events to help educate others in our community about science, technology and math.

WHAT IS THE F.I.R.S.T. ROBOTICS COMPETITION?

The FIRST Robotics Competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), founded by noted inventor Dean Kamen in 1991, challenges teams of young people to solve a common problem using a standard "kit of parts". Students build robots from the parts and compete against other teams across the country.

This year holds much promise for “Team Megahurts” — Last year, only our second year, we came within one position of making the semifinals!

Your support could take us to that next level.

Contact Russ Williams, Brehm’s Coordinator of Development, at (618) 457-0371 ext 1308, or rwilliams@brehm.org, today to find out more about your tax deductible sponsorship.

Stay tunes to this blog for upcoming Robotics news and events.

Greetings From Our Director

Welcome to our Brehm family! We are the only boarding school in the Midwest specifically designed to meet the needs of students with complex learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder issues. We are not a traditional, English-style boarding school. We are based on a family model.

Our philosophy is that our students' issues affect the whole family, not just the child. Each member of the family is impacted by the struggles of students with LD/ADHD issues. Parents become overwhelmed, first due to the issues which impact family life and second due to a lack of understanding by school systems, extended family members, and society in general as to the needs of the child and the demands on parents.

Brehm's model of intervention focuses on the "whole child." We focus on the academic, social, and emotional needs of the students and the family. Our dorms are organized for family living and function as independent family units. Our social skills training program is centered in each dorm because our students need to learn how to function as a productive and contributing member in the dorms and at home. It is usually at home that our students vent their daily frustrations because that is a safe place for them to do so. We recognize this as a survival behavior.

Our students often develop survival behaviors because they protect themselves against a perceived hostile world where they are failures. These behaviors, which are often negative in action or attitude, are the students' way of surviving. Our task is to directly teach students the social skills of how to say they are angry without getting in trouble for it. They can do that by developing appropriate communication skills (social skills), knowing what they are successful at (strengths) and knowing what strategies they need to be more successful. They need an opportunity to belong to a peer group which is not judgmental but supportive. They need adults who understand their struggle and are willing to work with them to develop the skills to be successful socially and academically. Emotional healing occurs in the process of the hard work with support.

Support and understanding for the child take a major burden off the parents. In a boarding situation, homework, chores, time management, organization skills, study skills, etc., are more manageable because all the peers have the same expectations. Participation in activities with peers is contingent on performance in problem areas. Focus on the issues in our environment is not a stigma because all students have similar issues. The primary focus is on strengths which are utilized to teach the student how to compensate for weak areas.

If your child has a need for a positive peer group; greater structure on a daily basis; more direct instruction in social skills; greater remedial efforts; and a traditional high school academic experience, where he or she can still be successful without a watered-down curriculum, you need to check out a boarding school. If you as a parent need to be able to have a normal family life and reclaim your family life because of lack of support, you need to check out a boarding school.

We deal with families. We recognize the stress and issues. We strive to provide normalization. We want our families to enjoy their families. We wish you well on your search. Give us a call about our program or other resources in your area. Maybe we can help.

Yours truly,
Richard G. Collins, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Richard G. Collins, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized leader in the field of education for students with learning disabilities. He has taught at the college level and was Lab School Director at Lesley College. He co-founded a day program for LD/BD students in Boston and established and administered an alternative school in St. Louis. He consults on the development of schools for students with learning disabilities and also works with private and public schools on a variety of specialized areas.

In addition, he serves on several boards of professional organizations. He is a site reviewer for ISACS accreditation of schools. He has also reviewed programs for the US Department of Education Blue Ribbon Awards.

Brehm Preparatory School Empowers Students

Brehm Preparatory School empowers students with complex learning disabilities to recognize and optimize their full potential.

Complex Learning Disabilities involve processing deficits that can affect reading, writing, math, listening, spelling, reasoning, organization of information, and/or spoken language.

o Dyslexia
o Dysgraphia
o Dyscalculia

Attention Deficit Disorder with or without hyperactivity is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder that results in a persistent pattern of impulsivity, inattention, and/or hyperactivity

Asperger's Syndrome is one of the autism spectrum disorders or pervasive developmental disorders and is associated with poor social development; restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors and interests; and often accompanied by poor gross motor skills

Nonverbal Learning Disorder is a developmental or learning disorder that adversely affects motor functions, sensory integration, visual spatial functions, arithmetic, social cognition and inferential reasoning.

Speech and Language Disorder is characterized by inability to produce correct and/or fluent speech sounds or problems with voice when addressing issues with speech. When addressing language it is characterized by one, difficulties in understanding information presented orally and/or through written form; two, difficulties sharing thoughts, ideas, and or feeling; or, three, difficulties with both of the aforementioned.

Auditory Processing Disorder is difficulty in processing information in the central nervous system that results in problems with sound location; auditory discrimination; auditory pattern recognition; temporal integration, discrimination, ordering and masking; discerning competing noises; and, degrading acoustic signals.

Pragmatic Language Disorder is difficulty in the initiation and on-going engagement of conversation, as well as, the inability to correctly use social convention and/or read body language

Secondary Social/Emotional Disorders that often accompany or are a result of difficulties encountered due to one or more of the primary disorder mentioned above. Some of the most common include:

o Anxiety Disorder
o Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
o Adjustment Disorder
o Immaturity
o Depression

Due to the co morbidity of these varying learning, social and emotional disorders our population has diverse profiles.