SHREVEPORT – With The Arc-Caddo Bossier’s Goldman School and Child Development Center adding a second location this year, the nonprofit’s ability to impact children with and without disabilities nearly doubled.
But so did the need to prepare current teachers and staff as well as find new staffers.
Insert LSUS assistant professors Drs. Rosie Cooper and Margaret Gifford.
Cooper and Gifford are offering classroom management training from an educational and clinical perspective as a community service.
“When Drs. Cooper and Gifford presented us with this idea, I was speechless,” said LaShanda Davis, director of children’s services for The Goldman School. “My first comment was, ‘This is what we really need.’
“This partnership will equip our staff with the tools to recognize challenging behaviors and understand the steps that it takes to help control the behaviors. This training allows the staff to respect each child’s individuality while still maintaining a positive outlook for that child.”
Both Cooper and Gifford are board certified behavior analysts, but Cooper brings a background as a K-12 educator while Gifford comes from a clinical behavior analysis setting.
The duo attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for the second Goldman School location in February after implementing successful training for DeSoto Parish teachers during the 2022-23 school year.
“We went because it was a community event, but we were really inspired by their mission and their dedication to the children in our community,” said Gifford, who specializes in severe problem behavior. “They have classrooms that are very similar to a setup in a typical school, and we felt like we wanted to volunteer our services to this nonprofit.”
The Arc Caddo-Bossier’s Goldman School and Child Development Center, which was founded under a different name in 1954, later became the first center in Louisiana to include typically developing children as peer models paired with children with disabilities in 1987.
The centers serve children from infants through five years old.
The Goldman School’s executive director Kristen Powers said research has proven that both typically developing children and children with disabilities benefit in an inclusive environment.
“Classroom management skills are essential to maintaining productive educational environments for our little learners,” Powers said. “This type of specialized training is critical, and the knowledge shared by experts like Drs. Cooper and Gifford will help us provide even higher quality care for the children we serve.
“They clearly have a passion for improving care for children with all types of abilities, and their willingness to take us on as a community project shows their level of compassion and their desire to have a positive impact on the outcomes of our programs.”
Cooper and Gifford will conduct two days of training at the end of July with staff and teachers from both Goldman School centers, following up with visits, observation, and consultation throughout the school year.
The LSUS pair will specifically train teachers and their assistants who work with children from ages 2-5.
“Some of these children may be nonverbal and have limited communication skills, so some of what we’re providing is ways to better communicate with students,” said Cooper, who spent 16 years in K-12 education before entering higher education at LSUS. “It’s not just going to be an improvement for individual students because when you improve the classroom environment as a whole, it benefits teachers as well.
“We’re providing sound, scientifically researched methods to bring more structure and giving teachers more tools in their toolbox to create more stability long term.”
Gifford added that early identification and intervention with problem behaviors dramatically improves that student’s trajectory of success once they enter grade school.
The Goldman School expansion, which began as a partnership between The Arc Caddo-Bossier and The Highland Center, added the capacity to serve up to 92 additional children and reduce its lengthy waiting list by approximately 75 percent.
“Lives are changed at our schools, not only for the children but everyone in their ‘village’ – parents, caregivers, extended family and friends,” Powers said. “We find that those who surround the children we serve are hungry for knowledge and want to learn from best practices.
“The skills to be gained from this training will not only help our teachers and staff but will translate to the ‘villages’ of our students to better understand and meet the needs of their loved one whether or not the child has been diagnosed with an intellectual or developmental disability.”
To learn more about The Arc Caddo-Bossier’s Goldman School and Child Development Centers, visit the Children’s Services tab at thearccaddobossier.org website.
About LSUS
Founded in 1967, Louisiana State University Shreveport offers a wide array of nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including a doctoral degree. The university’s mission is to educate a diverse population of graduate and undergraduate students; engage in regional and global thought leadership through community collaboration and service; and innovate to enhance the application of knowledge and intellectual discovery through faculty and student research and creative endeavors.
About The Arc Caddo-Bossier
Founded in 1954, The Arc Caddo-Bossier is a private, nonprofit agency that provides an array of services and supportive programs for infants, children, and adults with disabilities along with their families. The Arc Caddo-Bossier builds unlimited opportunities for people with disabilities adhering to its core values of compassion, integrity, accountability, teamwork and being mission-driven.
