Teacher uses experience to help developmentally disabled children

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stefanie Torres
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  The classroom goes from peaceful to noisy in a blink of an eye. The bus pulls up with kids full of energy to mark the beginning of the school day and the teachers are ready. 

Louise Warner, who has spent 16 years at Cummings Elementary School here, spends her days working with 3- to 5-year-olds with developmental disorders and was instrumental in starting the pre-school program set up to help them learn. 

"I never wanted to be anything else," she said about always wanting to be a teacher. 

As a member of the girl scouts in high school, Ms. Warner started working with younger children in a handicapped center. Now with more than 36 years of teaching experience behind her, she is able to tailor the needs of each child through screening and watching them develop, but she puts a special emphasis on the team effort. 

"A team of us together makes this program work," said Ms. Warner. 

Ms. Warner found herself at Kadena Air Base after her husband retired from the military. A job offer to start a program for children with developmental disabilities at Misawa opened up and the chance to build a program was within her reach. 

"I have been involved in these types of programs before but it was fun to get one going from the ground up," she said. 

With the diversity of the kids' disorders ranging from the non-categorical type to the autism spectrum, the day is arranged to fit each of the 14 children enrolled and can become a challenge. 

"Having the energy and enthusiasm to keep up with them can be work," she said. "Some children have behaviors where we have to work harder to figure out how to help them. What we do varies day-to-day because each child has different needs." 

She is also involved with the children before they join the school, explained Scott Sterry, principle of Cummings Elementary. 

"She has participated in community screenings to help identify at-risk pre school children so that those children can receive medical or social behavior interventions as needed by professional staff," said Mr. Sterry. 

But all the work is nothing compared to the satisfaction she receives from the job.
"The best part about this job is watching the kids grow and change," she said. "We see kids grow more at this level and we feel every part of it." 

Ms. Warner also takes extra time to work with the parents, explained Mr. Sterry. 

"Ms. Warner has spent many evenings working with parents and families of special needs pre-school children, helping them develop social and behavior skills that enhance their successes in their daily development," he said. 

Ms. Warner is also Chairperson for the Child Study Committee, School Improvement Committee and the Chairperson for Educator's Day. 

Educator's Day, held Oct. 26, is an opportunity for teachers to teach each other through various workshops and in return, they can incorporate that knowledge where they need to. People attending can choose from 60 to 70 different presentations.

"This is a day for professional and personal growth," said Ms. Warner. "We all learn from each other." 

Ms. Warner is also involved in the local community. Her quilting, square dancing classes and Ikibana are all bicultural. She plans to retire in a year and hand off the program she helped create.