Working Together in Sunrise Valley's Peer Pals Program

Noe Guzman and Sarah Goswick walk hand-in-hand out to theplayground.

 The pair has been friends for two school years, and plan to stay in touch even though Sarah will move on to middle school in the fall.

 Noe and Sarah are part of SVES’ Peer Pals program. The program matches special education students with general education students for one-on-one social and academic activities.

 The program began when Noe’s mother, Jen Guzman, approached Sarah’s mother, SVES special education teacher Liz Goswick, with her concerns about a  lack of peer role models for Noe, who has autism.

 “The [special ed] kids are in a self-contained classroom,” says Liz Goswick. “They have less interaction with typically developing kids. The idea was to find kids close to their age who would come into the classroom.”

 There are now a total of 27 students in the program. The general ed students are mostly fifth- and sixth-graders who come to the special ed class once a week to read, play games and do other teacher-directed activities. They also regularly have lunch with their young friends and accompany them to assemblies.

 “I have learned that [children with autism] are just like us,” said Sarah. “We’re all friends.”

 Peer Pals has been such a success that schools as close by as elsewhere in Fairfax County and as far away as California have contacted Liz Goswick to inquire about starting one. Goswick says it is her hope that it can be a template for many schools to follow.

 In the meantime, the club held its end-of-the-year party last week with two great equalizers: frozen treats and a playground.

Nothing says “kids are all basically the same” better than a Popsicle.