Florida Catholic | Lacey A. Collier Sensory Complex

Broken wipers turn school visitor into major benefactor

New sensory complex brings hope and light to mentally handicapped.

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PENSACOLA-TALLAHASSEE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 11.16.07

Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, watches as Susan Berry, principal of Escambia Westgate Center for profoundly handicapped students, demonstrates how students manipulate fiber optic strands in the Lacey A. Collier Sensory Complex at the Pensacola school.
PEGGY DEKEYSER | FC

PENSACOLA | It all started with some broken windshield wipers.

Lacey A. Collier, a member of Nativity of Our Lord Parish and retired U.S. district judge and naval aviator, never expected to be captivated by the students when his fellow Navy veteran scuba-diving buddy invited him to visit a public school that serves profoundly mentally handicapped children and young adults. The friend, St. Joseph parishioner Joe Denmon, is the behavior specialist at the facility, Escambia Westgate School.

Bishop John H. Ricard and retired judge Lacey A. Collier visit with Joshua Johnson, who is learning basic skills at the Escambia Westgate Center for profoundly handicapped students.

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FC
Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ and retired judge Lacey A. Collier visit with Joshua Johnson, who is learning basic skills at the Escambia Westgate Center for profoundly handicapped students.

Denmon explained that a principal part of the school’s program was to take students out into the community to places that most take for granted, such as malls and fast-food restaurants, to acclimate the students to traffic, noise and culture. To transport students, the school used two ancient station wagons that had long since lost their windshield wipers. When it began raining, they were forced to pull off the road if they were in transit, or try to get back to the school before any rain started falling.

“On that first visit, as we were going around the school on the tour, Joe was on the (two-way) radio saying ‘Is it raining? Is it raining?’ As that kept on, I finally asked him if he was the weather man at the school, if that was also part of his job,” Collier — whose experience that day would eventually lead him to bring a world-class sensory therapy program to the school — explained to an Oct. 30 tour group. The group included Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ.

“You can imagine being in a station wagon by the side of a heavily traveled road in a rainstorm with five or six of these kids. It was not a good situation and it crossed my mind: ‘That can’t be! This is America. What do you mean, no windshield wipers? This isn’t some Third-World country.’ Denmon explained that if he turned the cars in for service, it might be six to eight weeks before they made it through the backlog of buses waiting for service, and they couldn’t do without transportation that long,” Collier said.

That was the start of a relationship that has resulted in the state-of-the-art Lacey A. Collier Sensory Complex at the school. Collier started by facilitating the release of confiscated drug funds from the Sheriff’s Department, leveraging the money to obtain two new vans from local car dealer Ted Ciano, a member of St. Ann Parish in Gulf Breeze, at a greatly reduced cost.

Once the vans were in service, Collier asked Principal Susan Berry if there was more he could do for the students. The principal told him about a sensory therapy developed in Holland that requires specialized, expensive equipment.

“That was the first time I heard the word ‘Snoezelen’ (pronounced snoo-zuh-len.) I told her to dream big and was a little surprised when she came back with an estimate of $2.7 million for the center,” he said.

Through commitments from the county and the school board, coupled with public and private grants, and private and in-kind donations, Collier helped cobble together the funding to furnish the center. Quint Studer, local civic leader, another parishioner at St. Ann and former special education teacher, worked to help find some of the funding.

A visit to the school, where the 224 students range from pre-kindergarten age to 22 years old with IQs of 55 or below, shows that it is not an unhappy place, as Collier learned on his first tour.

Most may never learn to read or compute with basic math skills, but some can recognize colors and shapes and can count objects. With a low student/teacher ratio, students receive high levels of attention, which is necessary for the development of even the most basic language skills.

“This is truly a very, very happy place if you process the experience properly. The kids are wonderful; it’s refreshing every time I come,” Collier said.

Attached to the main school with its specialized although fairly standard classrooms, the Lacey A. Collier Sensory Complex comprises four multisensory rooms, a sensory corridor and a lift system for severely disabled children.

Engineered by Flaghouse Inc., the U.S. supplier of Snoezelen equipment, the center is the only one of its kind in the world. By eliciting responses that traditional settings cannot, the sensory complex is cutting-edge.

The multisensory rooms are designed around jungle, space, magic and polar themes. Illuminated bubble tubes in each room emit a soft glow and soothing vibrations. Fiber-optic strands and curtains engage students. Large stuffed animals encourage interaction.

Each room can also be climate controlled to match its theme. Music, sounds and aroma are additional stimulation options. The jungle room is even equipped with its own simulated lightning and thunder.

Plans include a multisensory greenhouse, water and movement areas and a climate-controlled track with separate lanes for wheelchairs, walkers and the visually impaired.

“Before the sensory complex, I was troubled by the fact that physically impaired and profoundly handicapped students couldn’t participate in activities,” Berry said. “Before, all they could do was watch and you could see the hurt in their eyes. Now even children who can only move their cheek or breathe can make choices and feel empowered.”

Students include those with cerebral palsy, autism and Down syndrome. Some suffered brain injuries at birth or before, some disabilities are congenital, some suffered brain injuries later in life.

Many of the students require special medical care in addition to the school’s specialized curriculum. In a classroom for medically dependent students, one boy suffered brain damage as a result of going back into a burning building to rescue his brother and sister. Unknown to him, they had already escaped. The fire and smoke deprived his brain of oxygen long enough to cause severe damage, and he now exists with the help of a breathing tube and constant medical care.

Another 11-year-old girl, the “poster child” for the center according to Denmon and Collier, will never attain a physical stature larger than that of a 2-year-old, due to a congenital birth defect. Once, doctors predicted that she would never move independently. The Snoezelen equipment encouraged her to move, stand and eventually walk with a tiny walker.

“We’re on the brink of something extraordinary here,” Denmon said. “Before the sensory complex, student behaviors escalated more quickly, became more violent. Now we can communicate with them and calm them more easily.”

Berry pointed out that when one does not have the ability to communicate wants and needs, frustration mounts and acting out soon follows.

The sensory complex helps change all that. “It is transforming these children’s lives. They are motivated to run, to walk, to move, to jump. For one student, the first time any of us ever heard him laugh out loud was the first time he entered the complex. They’re communicating, learning and moving toward the highest possible levels of functioning,” said teacher Michelle Stephens.

And it all started with broken windshield wipers.

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Broken wipers turn school visitor into major benefactor

New sensory complex brings hope and light to mentally handicapped.

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