Contact: Patti Klein Lerner,
(818) 677-2130

CSUN Institute Celebrates 10 Years
Of Helping Special Needs Kids, Training Teachers

CSUN's CHIME Institute for Children with Special Needs will host the reunion party from 1-4 p.m. Sunday at the Child and Family Studies Center on 18330 Halsted Street just east of Reseda Boulevard. The party is free and the public is invited, said Claire Cavallaro, chairman of CSUN's Department of Special Education and director of CHIME.

"It's very, very exciting to have the children and their families come back from over the last 10 years," said Cavallaro. "I believe that we've made a tremendous difference in the lives of hundreds of children and their families and we'd like to see how they've grown and developed and what their successes are. We also think it'll be fun for the children, families and staff to see each other. And, we hope it will be inspirational for our current families and children to see what's possible."

Activities for children, including pony rides and a moon bounce are planned, along with performances by Gloria Lenhoff, a singer who has achieved national prominence despite a disability, and the bell choir of the Association for Retarded Citizens, Cavallaro said.

The CHIME Institute offers early intervention services for babies and toddlers with special needs, and provides support and education for the childrenšs parents, Cavallaro said. "When parents first learn their child has a disability, they have a need for education and emotional support. Often, there's a grieving for the loss of the child that people dream of having."

"We know that early intervention can lessen the effects of disabilities and improve the children's academic and social achievement," she said. "We've seen our children make amazing progress. We're seeing that these kids can do a lot more than we ever thought they could 25 years ago. If they have early intervention, they can learn to read, they can learn academics, they can be employed when they grow up."

Louanne Kennedy, Interim CSUN President, said: "We are delighted to have the CHIME Institute on our campus‹it provides important services for young children with special needs in the community and offers good 'real world' learning opportunities for our students."

CHIME has about 75 children in its infant-toddler, preschool and kindergarten programs. The pre-school and kindergarten programs mix disabled and non-disabled students. This helps the disabled students learn much more quickly, while teaching the non-disabled children empathy and tolerance, Cavallaro said. v"Many children in regular classrooms have learning problems but haven't been identified. This gives the teacher strategies that they can use with those children too," said Cavallaro.

CHIME also operates as a model training program for CSUN students entering the early childhood special education field and provides field opportunities for students in other areas such as psychology, educational psychology and child development. CSUN students do field work, conduct observations, student teach and work as paid student assistants in the program, Cavallaro said.

Sunday's event, co-sponsored by the CHIME Booster Club, is also a fund-raiser, Cavallaro said.

"We are hoping to expand the program through the fifth grade," Cavallaro said, "because when our families leave our program, they go into the community and they can't find anything comparable."

For more information, call the CHIME Institute at (818) 677-4979.