DAGGETT • When Jeff Dequinas first met David McIlvain, a 19-year-old with severe autism, David was strapped to a chair with urine-stained pants and no ability to communicate.

David is one of four students who have shown major improvement after joining the “Emerging Abilties” class, a newly formed program of the Silver Valley Unified School District.

Dequinas, the teacher of the class, designed it to serve the severely disabled students in the SVUSD.

But he doesn’t like to call them severely disabled.

“I prefer to call it something positive, so I thought, ‘Emerging Abilities,’” Dequinas said.
When David first came to Dequinas’ class, he was desribed as “catatonic.” He did little more than lay down and watch TV at his previous education site. He could not use the restroom on his own. He could not speak. He did not follow directions.

After working with Dequinas for more than a year, David has learned to follow instructions, perform simple tasks, such as folding laundry, and to communicate using technology.

“He’s starting to pay attention more, being more interactive,” David’s mother, Kelly McIlvain, said. “He did not like getting out of the house. Now, it doesn’t bother him as much.”

The students follow a strict schedule each day, beginning with breakfast. They move systematically from individual workstations to the computer workstations and finally to one-on-one stations. After following their schedule they are rewarded with TV time.

Throughout the day they do various activities that aid their development including compliance training, working with computers, and matching objects.

Just like any teacher, Dequinas is preparing his students for a future career. Disabled students can remain in public schools until they are 22 years old, after which they either move on to employment, or not.

For his students, Dequinas hopes they move on to B.E.S.T. Opportunities, a program that helps handicapped adults find employment. In order to qualify for B.E.S.T. Opportunities the student must be toilet-trained and be able to perform various tasks, such as stuffing envelopes or shredding paper.

Shredding paper is one of the exercises Dequinas has his students work on.

 “They deserve to learn and have the ability to learn,” Dequinas said. “They are people. They are human beings who can understand us and who are not always treated like it.”

The “Emerging Abilities” class began three years ago. Prior to that time the severely handicapped students were managed through San Bernardino County and educated at Barstow Junior High School.

Micheline Miglis, assistant superintendent of educational services of SVUSD said Dequinas played a pivotal role in the start of the “Emerging Abilities” class.

“He was able to set the foundation and have a tremendous amount of input into the creation of the program,” Miglis said. “He worked with the support staff, instructional materials, student’s schedules, and the relationshop with the parents as well.”

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or klucia@desertdispatch.com