Benton County Board of Education

Camden Elementary School is a public school located in rural West Tennessee and will be the site for the equipment requested in this cash grant. The grant is written for the students with disabilities who attend the Extra Special Pre-school located at this school. The pre-school is an inclusive pre-school created approximately 10 years ago to meet the needs of children with disabilities ages 3-4. It is part of the public school system and all services are free of charge. Children served there have disabilities ranging from autism to speech and language needs. The cash grant requested will be used to purchase rehabilitative therapeutic playground equipment to be used for therapy purposes with those students with disabilities and fun for all students involved in the inclusion program at the school. The program is inclusive in that typically developing peers are included as model students in the pre-school.The goal of Camden Elementary School and The Extra Special Pre-School is to provide a safe positive atmosphere where all children receive diverse learning experiences in an inclusive educational environment in order to become life long learners. The school vision is to provide opportunities for all students to be successful by building on the strengths of each student. They encourage good citizenship and effective problem solving to enable every student to become productive, knowlegable members in an ever changing enviroment.
Benton County school system has been recognized by the State of Tennessee Department of Education as providing outstanding services in the area of inclusion at the schools in the county.
An occupational and physical therapist contracted with by the school system will help create action plans to be implemented individually with each child with disabilities served in this program who are in need of services.