Dear Channahon Families,
Greetings! I hope you and your family had a blessed Easter holiday! For this Superintendent Minute, we turn to the important topic of Special Education. As you may already know, Channahon 17 is well-respected for the exceptional support offered to children who have special needs. While you may be aware of this reputation, you might be less familiar with the partnership that makes this support possible. Today, I will share a bit about our collaborative efforts with the Southern Will County Cooperative for Special Education, otherwise known as SOWIC.
Although you can find similar partnerships around the State, SOWIC is our local special education cooperative. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a special education cooperative is a partnership among multiple school districts designed to share resources, expertise, and services that help meet the needs of students with disabilities. Our cooperative includes 10 member school districts that work together with SOWIC to provide a much wider range of support than any one district could offer alone.
Through SOWIC, we have access to specialized staff, professional development, and programming that benefits not only our students with special needs, but our entire learning community. SOWIC provides ongoing access to expert training and consultation, helping us to bring the best instructional strategies to support students with special needs into every classroom. Whether a student needs a little extra help or highly specialized instruction, SOWIC can help us to provide resources to meet every child where they are and help them thrive. More specifically, the cooperative provides a network of highly trained teachers and specialists, including speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and many others. These professionals collaborate closely with our schools to ensure that every child receives individualized support tailored to their unique strengths and challenges. Most of our teammates hired by SOWIC are full-time members of the Channahon 17 faculty and staff, even if they are technically employed by the cooperative.
Channahon is also proud to house the SOWIC CAB Program in our schools. CAB stands for Communication, Adaptive, and Behavior, which is a specialized program “designed to meet the needs of students who exhibit unique learning styles, often, but not always, associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder” (SOWIC CAB website). By hosting the CAB program in our district, we not only help provide a nurturing environment for these students from the SOWIC member districts, but we also benefit our Channahon students with the opportunity to learn from others and form new friendships. This reinforces our commitment to building a community where every learner feels valued and supported.
We are proud of our wonderful relationship with SOWIC, and we are grateful for all the ways this partnership helps us deliver on our mission to students. Thank you for your continued support of our schools, our students, and our shared vision for a thriving educational community.
With gratitude,
Dr. Nicholas Henkle