Kayne Eras Center remains pioneer in helping those with special needs

Never underestimate the power of a determined and deeply motivated mom.

When Barbara Cull, an educator and mother of a special needs child, became increasingly frustrated in the late 1970s at the inability of the public school system to adequately assist her child, she took matters into her own hands. Knowing that other parents in a similar situation but without her background in education were sinking in a sea of confusion, concern and dismay, she took on the role of lifeguard.

By 1980 Cull had founded the Educational Resource and Services Center (ERAS) as a non-profit organization designed to serve the unique needs of children with learning and developmental -disabilities and their families using -strategies that stressed easy access, early intervention, and intensive and specialized programs.

Mishelle Ross Owens, vice president of educational & therapeutic services, who started as a teacher at the center 28 years ago, praised Cull.

“Our founder, who is retired but still involved, was truly a visionary,” Owens said. “She believed everybody had a talent, and there’s more than one kind of intelligence. Regular public school settings just don’t work for these kids and they are considered failures there. We turn them into successes by teaching them how to learn. Our goal is to get them back into public school or into the community as a contributing member of the community.”

Finally, after years of operating out of rented storefront properties, in 2000 the center moved into a new facility in Culver City with expanded services and a significantly increased capacity. The name was changed to Kayne Eras Center in honor of the Kayne families, whose generosity helped the organization to achieve this goal. And in the spring of 2007 the center merged with the Exceptional Children’s Foundation (ECF), creating the only agency in Southern California providing a continuing stream of services from birth to adulthood for individuals with disabilities.

Programs consist of a state-certified, non-public school (K-12), a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services (DATS) Agency, Mental Health Services and an Adult Services program.  And the buffet of services includes diagnostic testing and evaluation; educational, speech, language, occupational and behavioral therapies; individual, family and group counseling; outpatient mental health services; therapeutic arts and enrichment activities; adaptive physical education; post-secondary education; independent living skills; supported employment; community outreach and an after-school program.

Among the myriad of specialties of the center’s ethnically diverse, credentialed professionals are school and clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy, psychiatric social work, speech and language pathology, special education, early childhood special education, occupational therapy, music and art therapy, and behavioral intervention.  All classes are taught by NCLB (No Child Left Behind) compliant teachers.

The state-certified, non-public school operated by the center is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which enables it to issue diplomas to its graduates. It serves more than 200 students in elementary, middle and high school, with small classrooms of no more than 12 pupils that provide a low student-to-instructor ratio with at least two adults in each classroom.

The 30-year journey from 1980 to today saw the center’s recognition as a pioneer in the special education field with its focus on creating and disseminating its methods to communities and organizations around the country.  After expanding from initially serving six children to a multi-service center now serving more than 500 children, adults and their families each year through its array of special educational programs and services, it has been recognized as a “best practices” model by former President Bill Clinton, the Los Angeles MEGA-Cities Project, Teach for America and LEARN, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s restructuring effort.

Next week’s Part II will present a sampling of the Kayne Eras Center’s many success stories.