Students walking into school
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For many special needs students and their families, the lack of inclusive educational programs and accessible opportunities available beyond high school graduation is a disheartening challenge. However, in a corner of the bustling Financial District in Manhattan, a pioneering initiative is seeking to change that reality.
Michelle Smith founded The IDEAL School of Manhattan after her own son Dylan, who has Down syndrome, found himself in a position of uncertainty after graduating from high school. While Smith was able to find inclusive options for Dylan in his early school years, these options slowly disappeared as Dylan got older. The rejection and discrimination that Smith faced inspired her to partner with fellow special needs parents Audra Zuckerman and Mitch Rubin to establish a school that would meet their own families’ unique needs, as well as those of other families in similar situations.
The IDEAL School takes a distinctive approach to educating and supporting non-traditional students. While some schools—such as Syracuse University, Riverside School, and the College of Mount Saint Vincent—offer programs tailored to students with special needs, these programs only accept boarding students, eliminating access for students who are unable to live away from home. A K-12+ institution providing specialized care for nontraditional students, The IDEAL School serves a diverse community of 180 non-boarding special needs students.
The school also offers the Next Steps Transitions Program, which aims to impart valuable life skills to special needs students after they graduate from high school. The program increases students’ independence through social-emotional, adaptive life, executive functioning, and vocational skill-building programming. The program has also allowed students to engage with the local community—last year, students engaged in a candle-making workshop with a local artisan and business owner, which spurred them to found the Next Steps Candle Company, through which they now sell their candles.
According to Ryan Zaccaro, Head of the Next Steps Transition Program, core commitment to inclusivity is what sets The IDEAL School’s program apart from others. “Students in Next Steps are not only in inclusive arts classes, physical education classes, clubs, and extracurriculars, but they are also included in the greater community, whether at internship sites, grocery stores, or navigating public transportation systems,” Zaccaro states. “Additionally, students have access to High School courses, as well as the opportunity to audit college courses, providing opportunities for all learners to be challenged and engaged.”
The school’s hands-on secondary and post-secondary programs are especially important as more and more parents in the United States seek special education options. By 2021, the number of students in special education had risen to 7.3 million; the number has doubled over the last five decades. Teacher shortages, depleted educational resources, and inflation only exacerbate the struggles families of special needs students face in trying to help their students continue their educational and professional journeys.
The school helps students to achieve their educational goals and build their confidence and social-emotional skills. Janet Wolfe, Head of The IDEAL School, shared that one graduating senior who is on the autism spectrum had struggled to hold a conversation in her elementary years. By the time she graduated, she spoke from the stage, announcing that she had been accepted to seven of the colleges to which she had applied. According to Wolfe, “the audience broke out in such loud cheers that you could barely hear her last words. The strength of our community as a whole and the confidence that comes from a truly inclusive community were as loud as the cheers in that moment.”
Michelle Smith emphasizes that the school is on a mission to demonstrate what truly inclusive education can and should look like, providing a model for other institutions to follow. “Our mission is more than a school,” Smith shared in an interview. “It’s a crusade against the inequity and exclusion in our educational system. The IDEAL School stands as a testament to what can be achieved when we reject the status quo and champion the rights and potential of every child, regardless of their abilities.”
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