Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 56

PAGE E4 FROM THE COVER ASBURY PARK PRESS SATURDAY, JAN. 3, 2004 Reborn once. In class, they make sure David has a seat by the window, and thev don't object if he radios and lock a series of doors behind them as they move through the halls. Disruptive or violent students are promptly escorted to an unfurnished, carpeted room where they remain under close watch until deemed sufficiently composed to return to class. David is no stranger to this room.

In his first few years at After the fifth grade, his parents decided something more had to be done. Following a teacher's recommendation, they explored the idea of sending him to the Rugby School at Woodfield, a private school in Wall well regarded for its innovative, individualized approach to educating students with special needs, especially those with a history of disruptive behavior. At the time, David happened to be busy constructing Indian tepees in his back yard a typically engrossing, out-of-the-blue undertaking for him. So when he and his parents walked into the office of Donald De-Santo, Rugby's charismatic founder and executive director, and saw all the Native-American artifacts on the walls (De-Santo is an avid collector) they had an immediate sense they were in the right place. "From the moment I walked in," Nancy recalls, "I thought David would do very well here." One of the things that makes Rugby different is the latitude its teachers have in the classroom.

Part of this is a reflection FROM PAGE El "From kindergarten through the fifth grade, I think I had like one friend," he recalls. "I was constantly getting beat up, constantly getting picked on." He always stood apart from the crowd, the kind of kid who was more interested in flowers and fish than football. And in class, all eyes were on him. For reasons that baffled his teachers and his school's child study team, David wouldn't or couldn't sit down at his desk and write. While the teacher was speaking or reading aloud, David would close his eyes or stare out the window.

His mother, Nancy Atlas, after much research, concluded that David had dyslexia, a learning disability that impedes writing and reading. The child study team disagreed. "Oppositional" was a word Nancy heard in regard to her son's behavior, but she was adamant that he wasn't a troublemaker; his brain just worked differently, she believed. "David thinks so far out of the box he doesn't even know the box is there," Nancy Atlas says now. "I mean, how many kids look at a cotton plant and say, 'I can make clothes out of that'? That's the way David thinks." maaWtaW mr aT C.

Rugby, while he adjusted to the new routine, he was a regular visitor. But though he struggled at times, he didn't withdraw the way he did at his old school. One reason was that there was too much going on around him that he found interesting. David liked the Native-American cultural programs, the dinosaur-building projects, the music and vocal lessons. Teachers at Rugby use students' interests to keep their minds engaged.

One of David's science teachers assigned him to build a saltwater aquarium for the class, for example, and DeSanto commissioned him to help construct a koi pond behind the school. Another reason David didn't fade into the background is that his mother simply wouldn't stand for it. Nancy explains. "I don't know if I was one of those annoying parents "You were one of those annoying parents," David interjects. but I wasn't going to let what happened to David in the public school happen here." The two have a close relationship.

Nancy, 48, obviously thinks David is brilliant, and he's smart enough to realize she's a lot cooler than most moms. Most moms, for example, would not share a house with a 'tit 1 1 of DeSanto's progressive bent, but it also serves a practical purpose. Classes often have a mix of students from different grades and these children typically have a spectrum of special needs, meaning teachers have to deal with a variety of learning styles. Because there are usually fewer than 10 students per class (Rugby only has about 100 students in grades six through 12), teachers can provide intensive, one-on-one instruction. In other respects, the school is highly structured and intensely supervised.

Staff members carry hand-held two-way closes his eyes while they're talking; they know he's trying to visualize whatever it is they're explaining. When he takes tests or does his homework, it helps somehow if he holds onto a small rock. What might have happened to him if he hadn't changed schools? "He would have gone deep into a shell that he wouldn't have come out of," David's father, Barry Atlas, 48, said recently during an interview at the family's home. Looking around, he added, "This would have been a war zone." David agrees he was headed for big trouble. "I probably would have turned 16 and dropped out," he says.

Who would have guessed there was a flute in his future? Nancy says it is difficult to overstate the affect the instrument has had on David since he first picked it up two years ago. "He's happier, he's calmer. The flute relaxes him," Nancy says. (It relaxes her so much she can't listen to it while she's driving.) "There are times when he just goes outside and plays for hours." Drive through David's neighborhood some afternoon and you might see him or hear him playing the flute near his house in the crook of a maple tree. David was introduced to the flute by a Native-American recording artist on the Rugby staff named Tchin.

David just liked its earthy sound. It's solitary, yes, but not sad, exactly. It can be as penetrating as the cold, but as comforting as a campfire. "It's given him great self-esteem and a better outlook on the future," notes Tchin, 57, of Millstone. "Who knows where it will lead him?" As a high school junior, David is starting to ponder that question.

Among his ideas: a career in zoology or theatrical production. He's already got a job at an area Petsmart store, and he's in charge of the computerized lighting system in the Rugby auditorium. He has so much going on in his life now, in fact, that it is a struggle for him to remember just how unhappy he was in his old school. His mother recently asked David if he would go down that road again reliving all the frustration and loneliness if he knew it would lead him to Rugby, to where he is now. "Yes," he told her, which is saying a lot.

71. Finding the right fit His problems in school persisted, year after miserable year, and David grew increasingly withdrawn from his peers. mi iiMiim in Armicai WIE OF THE HOST EXCITI1IG FILMS OF THE A terrific story. The thrills start earlv and never let hissing cockroach (another of David's pets) or allow their sons to completely remodel their bedrooms every few years. David's has gone from a rainforest to a 1960s hippie pad to a Japanese theme, and now it's morphing again, this time into a medieval lair.

(The one constant has been a 6-foot-long, 125-gallon salt Sun Mchmrd: UVGN-TV I It Dean Richard. IVGM-TV 1 "FIIH ABB FAST PACED. A BRISK, SMARM EXECUTED CHASE EILM. David Atlas enjoys playing a Native-American flute In the crook of a tree at his Marlboro home, (staff photo: brian ferreirai Philip Sooth. tT.

PCTCRSBURO TIMES "A FBB, ADREHAlltiE PBMPINE ADYEHTUREF While Nancy tries to limit her contact with David during the school day, her job at Rugby has given her an up-close look at her son's emergence as a gifted, promising student. Gortj Ptnnmeehto, 'BSS81E BUT! Leonard Mmltin Loc Joi HO 'ore HOT Kuthmwlk. TICKET water aquarium that takes up an entire wall.) In any case, Nancy made such a habit pf showing up at Rugby to voice her concerns, and she got so involved in special events like the school's annual week-long Native-American arts festival, that last year DeSanto decided to offer her a job as a teacher's assistant. Like David, Nancy is hard to put a label on: Right now she spends two days per week in the art room, two days in the library-resource room and one day helping out in the kitchen. In addition, she works out of her home as a distributor for Sunrider Herbal Foods.

What a difference a new school and a few years can make. "He's done an incredible turnaround," says Nancy. "A lot of it is because he's older and more mature, but a lot of it, I think, is how the school has helped him. The competence of the teachers, the confidence they've instilled in him, it's amazing." No one has ever confirmed Nancy's belief that David has a form of dyslexia. But his teachers agree his brain does work differently than most people's.

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