The New England Adolescent Research Institute, Inc. (NEARI) is a 501 (c) 3, tax-exempt non-profit agency incorporated in 1985.  Over the years, NEARI has received numerous local commendations for its special programming, as well as national and international recognition for innovative intervention and teaching approaches for working with children in both school and residential settings. 

NEARI’S Mission Is To:

Provide the highest quality education and treatment services to at risk children and youth, which: 1) integrate knowledge and best practices in the fields of education and treatment, 2) promote relationship, community and self empowerment, and 3) nourish individual strengths.

NEARI Program Values:

NEARI’s Mission is based on a number of important values.  They include:

• Relationship-based instruction and intervention
• Brain-based learning
• Self-advocacy and responsibility
• Respect for cultural and personal differences
• Neurodevelopmental growth for learning readiness
• Interdisciplinary and holistic intervention
• Individualized and relevant curriculum
• Multi-modal, strengths-based instruction
• Optimization of physical and emotional health

NEARI PROGRAMS

To support the NEARI Mission here at home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, NEARI offers the following programs and best practices:

• The NEARI Day School, a Massachusetts licensed special education day school for neurologically challenged,  emotionally disturbed, and learning disabled children and youth, with three separate components: an elementary, middle and high school serving students 8-22. See below for more details on the school programs.

• NEARI Jump-start, an after-school prevention program for at risk youth living and currently attending public school in Holyoke.

• The NEARI Neuro-developmental (Brain-Based) Center, an assessment and educational resource center for teachers, students, and parents who are looking for new, integrated approaches to addressing difficult and seemingly unsolvable learning and relational problems in children/youth.

• The NEARI Press, a publishing company that publishes works to support state-of-the-art education and treatment of high-risk children and youth.

• The NEARI Training Center, a training and consulting center for parents and professionals, which focuses on linking the best of research with practical strategies for working with at-risk populations.

NEARI SCHOOL

The NEARI School provides special education services to children and youth between the ages of 8 and 22 with a combination of the following issues: 

• Emotional, motivational and relational instabilities,
• Ongoing behavioral problems,
• Neurological weaknesses,
• Pervasive developmental delays, and/or pronounced learning disabilities, particularly in the areas of reading, writing, language processing and expression, and attention.
• NEARI screens out children and youth whose primary problem is a major pattern of delinquency and/or conduct disorder.

The NEARI School is divided into three programs: 1) the the NEARI Elementary School (for grades 3-6),  the NEARI Middle School (grades 7-8), and the NEARI High School (for grades 9-12).

Within each program, NEARI offers specialized neurodevelopmental, semi-contained classroom settings. that provide intensiive social and life skills development as well as a range of sensory and neurological supports.

STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS

The educational characteristics of these children/youth may include:

• History of poor school attendance/truancy
• Evidence of learning disabilities and/or delays/gaps in neuro- and cognitive development
• Evidence of academic/grade level performance across the performance span, including significantly below chronological age, at grade level, above grade level
• Scattered/poor cognitive and achievement test scores for age/ability
• Learning style preferences and learning gaps that require special teaching methodologies and resources, i.e., special exercise programs to stimulate vestibular pathways; curricula built around auditory or visual weaknesses; classroom environments created for global, kinesthetic learners; and lessons with attentional and tactile supports.

SCHOOL PROGRAM GOALS:

For every student, the goals of all NEARI School programs are:

1. Increase the level of both reading and overall academic performance by at least one grade level for every year of attendance
2. Increase the number and range of physicaL-motor, interpersonal, daily living skills demonstrated by each student upon discharge
3. Increase emotional resilience and stabilize beahviors so that upon discharge each student has the capacity to:
   • Function appropriately in a less restrictive school setting, (i.e. follow routines, respond to staff and program limits)
   • Relate appropriately to adult authority figures
   • Participate appropriately in peer group interactions
   • Self regulate concerning behaviors, i.e. intervene with self to stop the development of a negative pattern and replace it with an alternative, appropriate behavior
4. (For students in the Middle/High Schools) increase every student's pre-vocational skill repertoire, expose every student to entrepreneurial experiences, and develop appropriate transition plans which include work readiness and life skills.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

To achieve these goals, NEARI offers the following programs of intervention and study:

• Educational and clinical assessments/screens in the areas of academic achievement and grade levels; reading, writing and math; attention, physical, reflex and neurodevelopmental growth; health, behavior, stress, gross and fine motor ability; sensory, vision and light sensitivity; listening and hearing; cognitive learning disabilities, intelligence strengths, preferred dominances and learning
• Learning readiness and learning disability remediation programs
• A Comprehensive reading program including assessments and remediations that integrate formal reading programs (e.g.,., Linda Mood Bell, Phonographix, Davis Method, Halipin, Dyslexia Program Teaching et al) and neurodevelopmental interventions (developmental optometry, use of light and sound, computerized LD programs, vestibular and reflex exercises, auditory stimulation tools, Irlen overlays, et al).
• Individualized vision, hearing, tactile and kinesthetic teaching techniques
• Psychological services including general consultation, therapy, counseling and group work
• Psychiatric medication consultation in-house
• Frameworks-based, individualized academic course work in Math, Social Studies, Science and Language Arts
• Electives in Music, P.E., (Physical) Peak Performance Exercise, Computers, Health, Pre-vocational skills, Expressive and Visual Arts, and Brain-based Games and Tools, Publishing and Project Writing,
• Poetry, Sports and Individual Fitness
• Self Help and Pre-teen/Teen Issue Groups
• Community Field Trips to art events, historical sites, and environmental programs
• Advocacy, case management and referral services
• Vocational Programs, i.e. small engine repair, bicycle repair
• Work and preparatory college study
• NEARI’s cognitive and behavioral intervention program, including incentive programs and natural and logical consequences
• Small group, direct and independent instruction options
• Nourishing food and drink available throughout the day
• Variety of learning environment options