The Ellen Douglass Program

Historical Background:

In January 1961, the Ellen Douglass School, named after an eminent Winnipeg doctor, officially opened. The school was designed to serve the needs of special education students in a segregated setting, and successfully did so for 17 years. In September of 1979, the entire Ellen Douglass program moved to Lord Roberts School with the idea that Ellen Douglass students would be integrated into regular classrooms, as far as was possible.

The program offered at Lord Roberts today represents the integration of the philosophies of two schools -Lord Roberts and Ellen Douglass- and the merging of two sets of goals and objectives by two staffs, two student bodies, and two parent groups. This unique undertaking has attracted visitors from near and far, including countries such as the United States, The Caribbean Islands and Japan.

Originally, there were two principals working in one building, but the administrator of the Ellen Douglass Program eventually became the vice-principal of the school. Over the years, the extent of the integration increased, until September of 1992, when all students in the school were registered in regular classrooms.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Ellen Douglass program is to provide enabling learning environments for children who have multiple disabilities, or other special needs, and to provide supports which may be more varied and intensive than those available at students' home schools.

Guiding Principles:

*integration in age appropriate classrooms, with pull out programming only as necessary

*individualized program development

*collaborative team decision making process, including teacher, support staff and parents

*academic content based on Manitoba curricula, with instructional modification as appropriate for the individual students.

The Special Education Program

Without exception, our special education students are integrated into regular classrooms. However, students may be pulled out of the classroom for therapy, exercises, life skills programming or for behaviour problems. We believe that all programming should start at the classroom level and move outside the classroom only when necessary, as opposed to some programs which begin in segregated classes and integrate for specific periods of time.

We take a team approach to planning, in that teams decide on the placement of special education students and on the type of service required  from the special education support teacher. Our SERTs (Special Education Resource Teachers) and therapists meet with the supervising administrator every two or three weeks to plan together, problem solve, determine PD needs and to allocate special education funds.