HAZLETON, Pa. — "We have sensory books, so touch and feel," demonstrated Krista DeAngelo, as she showed Newswatch 16 what was inside dozens of backpacks going to children in the Hazleton Area School District enrolled in the Early Intervention Program for children with special educational needs.
"Hands-on learning is very critical at this age," explained special education teacher Jonathan Juka. "To be able to have learning materials that the kids can touch, they can hear, they can experience because we're providing adaptations to a typical pre-school routine to make it meaningful for these children."
These items were donated to the students by The Lisa and Paul DeAngelo Family Foundation.
"This is really exciting for us. We've been involved in autism for now two years, and when we did our fundraiser back in July, we really wanted to do something for the autism community, especially in the Hazleton area," explained Paul DeAngelo. "We decided that we wanted to give back to school backpacks for all the children in the Early Learning Centers, and then Hazleton Area School District."
The items in the backpack will be useful in the classroom, but teachers here say it can help outside of school.
"This is great, you know, a lot of carry-over to home to show the parents," said Juka. "Maybe help them in an instance where they need it at home, such as going out in the community, going to a doctor's office. Anywhere that they may go in the community to have a little sensory fidget with them, have a book that's meaningful to them not just, you know, words and a couple of pictures; something that they could feel."
In addition to Hazle Township Early Learning Center, these donations were also given to students at Valley Elementary, Drums Elementary, and McAdoo Elementary.