Recreational therapy  (RT), also known as therapeutic recreation, is a treatment service designed to restore, remediate and rehabilitate a person’s level of functioning and independence in life activities, to promote health and wellness as well as reduce or eliminate the activity limitations and restrictions to participation in life situations caused by an illness or disabling condition.

When our children are young, we make all of their decisions for them: what they will eat, what they will wear, how they will spend their time. We sign them up for music class or soccer; we balance their plates with fruits and veggies; we pick their playdates and lace their sneakers. 

The purpose of all of this control? To ultimately give it away. 

Through the internship program at The Quaker School at Horsham, we are able to partner with various colleges in Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks counties, and leverage the diverse skills and talents of their students while providing a unique learning experience.  One example is the partnership with Temple University.

It can be easy to take literacy for granted in our daily lives. For many, learning the structure of language happens at a young age, and we forget that reading, spelling, and writing are very complex tasks. 

For children with complex challenges, however, literacy can be one of the most significant areas of need and support. 

When a student struggles with literacy, it impacts all areas of learning. At The Quaker School at Horsham, this is where a specialized method of literacy instruction comes in. 

As neurodiverse characters become more prevalent in mainstream media, we must acknowledge and celebrate the uniqueness within that term, and continue to broaden our understanding of “diversity.” 

Here at TQS, neurodiversity is one of the many types of diversity embraced by our community. When teaching and interacting with students with complex challenges, we have to acknowledge every day the truth behind those popular autism quotes – each student is an individual, and a diagnosis doesn’t change that.