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Berkshire Meadows provides a specialized residential school and treatment center for severely delayed, multiply disabled children, and developmental residences and a treatment center for adults. The program offers 24-hour-a-day rehabilitative services including a fully accredited, Massachusetts 766 special needs education school; nursing and medical services; physical and occupational therapy; socialization and activities of daily living; and all allied health services necessary to increase the level of physical, mental, and social functioning. Set in the natural beauty of the Berkshires, Berkshire Meadows offers specialized housing and treatment facilities that maximize growth and skill realization. Berkshire Meadows' affiliations with renowned medical facilities foster the development of breakthrough treatment and educational advances. The program is nationally recognized for state-of-the-art professional services, supported by the caring warmth of compassionate caregivers.

Adults are served residentially in small homes on campus and in several accessible homes in the community. In addition, all adults participate in an Adult Day Habilitation program at Berkshire Meadows.

Berkshire Meadows also serves children and adults in need of short-term medical respite such as post-hospitalization or recovery care.

Many of the children and young adults supported by the Berkshire Meadows have significant physical disabilities and fragile medical conditions. In order to provide the most comprehensive and highest quality of care, Berkshire Meadows utilizes the services of many specialists in the fields and maintains a wide range of affiliations.

Specialists:

• Leslie Rubin, MD, Developmental Disabilities Specialist
  • Director of Developmental Pediatrics, Morehouse University
  • President of the Institute for the Study of Disadvantage and Disability
• Norberto Alvarez, MD, Neurology Consultant
  • Medical Director, Wrentham Developmental Center
• Michael Millis, MD, Orthopedic Specialist
  • Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and The Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
• Kim Logan, FNP, Nurse Practitioner
• Daniel Hedequist, Orthopedic Specialist
  • The Children's Hospital, Boston, MA

Affiliations:

• The Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
• Macony Pediatrics, Great Barrington, MA
• Susan Thompson, MD, Family Practitioner, Great Barrington, MA
• Fairview Hospital, Great Barrington, MA

Home Environments
Residents live in fully accessible homes on campus or in the community where Residential Staff work with individuals in their homes providing a normalized routine of activities of daily living, group and individual recreational activities, and community outings. Residences have 24-hour nursing and medical coverage. Small neighborhood-based residences in the community offer more independence for adults.

Medical and Health Care
Berkshire Meadows provides 24-hour nursing coverage and the regular services of an in-house nurse practitioner and visiting physicians. Consulting physicians include nationally recognized experts in the field of disabilities and health care. They focus on the complex needs of the individuals, including assessment and treatment for orthopedic, gastrointestinal, and neurological disorders. Berkshire Meadows' relationships with leading medical centers enable all the residents to receive the most advanced diagnostic services, treatment, and supportive care.

Special Needs Education Program
A cutting edge school with well-equipped classrooms and multi-sensory cues throughout offers several levels of education, ranging from sensory stimulation to higher level cognitive and pre-vocational services. Arts and music, horticulture, recreation, and special events are integrated into the school curriculum.

Adult Day Habilitation Program
This Program offers education and skills development designed to increase each individual's ability to gain independent living skills and experience growth and development in all areas of their life. Utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach including physical, occupational, and communication therapies, staff provide individually designed programs to assist individuals progress towards specific goals and life skills. Recreation, as well as art, music and sensory stimulation activities are integrated into this program.

Specialized Support and Services

Adaptive Equipment
The program offers a vast array of specialized equipment for each resident. This includes: adapted wheelchairs, equipment for electronic communications and sensory stimulation, standing tables, braces, splints, specially designed eating and drinking utensils and other means to help the residents gain and maintain maximum control of their bodies and environment.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Augmentative communication enables the residents to acquire the skills to communicate their needs and desires. Individualized communication programs assure that each resident will acquire some form of communication such as speech, body gestures, sign, or use of assistive devices.

Behavioral Program
Individuals with severe cognitive disabilities may present challenging behaviors that increase risk to their health and safety. Berkshire Meadows practices a team approach for addressing challenging behaviors under the leadership of a skilled Clinical Director and Medical Director. The behavioral approach utilizes positive programming to achieve realistic outcomes for individuals to help increase their self-management skills.

Nutritional Intake and Development of Self-Feeding Skills
Individuals with significant developmental disabilities may also have difficulty maintaining nutritional intake due to swallowing disorders or delayed oral motor skills development. Berkshire Meadows has a special feeding team composed of a Registered Dietician and a Speech Pathologist who perform comprehensive evaluations of individuals and develop individually designed feeding plans. Direct support staff and teaching staff are trained in the feeding plan. Emphasis is placed on assisting the individual to develop independence in feeding and receiving proper nutritional intake according to their dietary needs.

Aquatic Therapy
Berkshire Meadows has a fully accessible indoor pool with a motorized floor to enhance access and allow for changes in depth for various therapeutic exercises. Aquatic Therapy focuses on building muscular strength of the limbs, torso and neck through a variety of flexibility, muscle strength and range of motion exercises. Aquatic Therapy also reduces muscle spasticity and joint pain. It is a setting for relaxing and self-healing and provides stimulation for those who would otherwise be impossible to reach.

Admissions
The Berkshires Meadows Admissions Team reviews all referrals for the residential school and adult programs. The team is also available to consult with school systems, medical facilities, and other service providers regarding the specific needs of individuals and placement resources.

The Berkshire Meadows School is accredited as a Massachusetts 766 approved school for Special Needs Education. Berkshire Meadows is licensed by the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services and certified by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. The Day Habilitation Services have received the highest accreditation level from the International Council of Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Berkshires Meadows Contact Information

Berkshire Meadows School
249 North Plain Road
Housatonic, MA 01236
Phone: (413) 528-2523
Fax: (413) 528-0293

Robert W. Richards, M.S.W., Vice President
Liisa Kelly, Program Director
Anthony Joseph, MD, Medical Director
Kathleen Melia, Ph.D., Clinical Director
Betty Elliot, RN, Director of Nursing Supports
Kathleen Green, M.Ed., Education Director
Anne Jost, Director of Residential Services

The Admissions Team

• Liisa Kelly, Program Director
  413.528.2523 Extension 208
  E-mail: lkelly@ jri.org
  
  
• Betty Elliott, Nursing Director
  413.528.2523 Extension 207
  E-mail: belliott@ jri.org

berkshiremeadows@ jri.org
www.berkshiremeadows.org