Virginia Commonwealth University has recognized the Villa's Career and Transition Services and VCU's Department of Focused Inquiry with the Currents of Change Award for their partnership in peer mentoring. The award was presented by VCU's Council for Community Engagement on May 4, 2016. In the first two years of the program, 43 VCU students provided more than 1,600 hours of service to the Villa. In turn, VCU students benefited from working ...Read More
In partnership with the VCU Department of Psychiatry and Virginia Treatment Center for Children, St. Joseph's Villa will present a two-day clinical training workshop on using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2). The workshop will be held April 25-26, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. each day at St. Joseph's Villa (8000 Brook Road, Richmond, VA 23227), during Autism Awareness Month. Click here to register. Through instruction and live demonstration, you will: Learn ...Read More
Autism Awareness Month is an especially important time for us. St. Joseph’s Villa has provided education and care to children and families facing autism for more than 30 years. Our programs are designed to help students with autism build life skills that will enable them to engage with their community, and live as fully and independently as possible. Adam Dreyfus, a board-certified behavior analyst and director of the Villa's Sarah Dooley Center ...Read More
The thought of college can be intimidating and stressful for any high school student. For some, due to a variety of reasons, attending college isn't even a consideration. As Villa students come of the age to start thinking about life after high school, student mentors from Virginia Commonwealth University have provided them with encouragement, support, and a real-life picture of the college experience. Guided tours led by VCU mentors have introduced several Villa students to everyday experiences ...Read More
Collegiate School's Community Engagement Week turned out to be a very special time for our Sarah Dooley Center for Autism students. From February 8-12, thirteen Collegiate School freshmen volunteers spent five full school days assisting our students from kindergarten all the way up to high school. Collegiate students split up among Sarah Dooley's grade levels and chose to stay with one classroom for the entire week in order to really get to know ...Read More
Some students do well in a “traditional” school program and others just don’t. Maybe their school is “too big” or “impersonal.” Maybe you hear “the other kids aren’t like me” or “the teachers don’t like me." Regardless of the reason considering switch your child’s school, especially mid-year, is rarely an easy decision. Sometimes you don’t have a choice and have to switch schools, after a family move for example. Other ...Read More
Garth Callaghan, known nationwide as The Napkin Notes Dad, visited the Villa's Brook Road Academy and Dooley School in full Jedi apparel with a special holiday gift to impart to students: Star Wars toys. Why is Garth called The Napkin Notes Dad? Every day since his daughter Emma was in kindergarten, Garth wrote an inspirational note on a napkin and sent it in her lunch box. Garth has been diagnosed with cancer ...Read More
In most public education systems teaching methods are geared towards the majority. Schools just aren’t equipped to employ alternative educational models for students who learn in a different way, or need individualized attention. Students that don’t learn effectively in a public school environment are often viewed as not as smart as the others, disruptive, unproductive, or in need of outside tutoring. In reality many of these students are very smart ...Read More
Reneé was diagnosed with autism when she was four years old. Not long after she began kindergarten at public school, her mother, Kimberly, recognized that Reneé’s behaviors were interfering with her ability to learn. Reneé had no means of communicating, and would often lash out and hit her teachers and classmates when her wants or needs were not met. Kimberly’s search for a school that would provide her daughter a ...Read More
A new partnership with Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity will help youth at St. Joseph’s Villa develop leadership and teamwork skills through real work experience. Students from the Villa’s Brook Road Academy, Dooley Center for Alternative Education, Dooley School and Sarah Dooley Center for Autism who participate in our Career and Transition Services (CATS) have joined Richmond Habitat’s ReStore work-readiness training program, where they perform jobs tailored to their abilities. As they manage inventory, stock items and clean, among other responsibilities, they have the opportunity to ...Read More
