NEW CASTLE -- Students with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders or mental health issues will be able to participate in an Extended School Year program this summer offered by Lark Enterprises, Inc.To participate, students between the ages of 16 and 21 in Lawrence, Beaver, Butler and Mercer counties had to be found eligible by their school district and be placed in an Individual Education Program.

Lark Enterprises’ Shenango and Neshannock Township locations will offer the program from June 23 to August 14.

Program supervisors, Susan Lautenbacher (Lark's chief executive officer) and Wendy McCutcheon (Rehabilitation Services unit director) are beginning the program based on what they say is great need in the community for an ESY program.

Lautenbacher said the program is integral to the educational success of students who contend with these disorders.

“We want to maintain the skills and knowledge these students learned in special education,” Lautenbacher said. “We don’t want them to lose any of that over the summer and programs like that prevent that from happening as quickly as possible.”

Students in the program will engage in a variety of activities including production work, screen printing, cooking, janitorial working and recycling.

Each of the activities offered is designed to help students maintain their progress in areas such as functional academics, social skill development, community integration and employment skill development.

Lautenbacher said that without this maintenance, these students will fall behind and risk losing progress made during the school year.

Program specialists and a job coach will also work one on one with students to help them retain vocational skills through the organization’s prevocational program.

Assessments will then be conducted throughout the summer to ensure that progress is being made and that the student’s predetermined level of support is being met.

“We’re really working hard to develop strong transitional programming for these students so they can continue to meet success in the adult world,” Lautenbacher said.

The organization also provides similar services for adults with disabilities or individuals experiencing employment barriers, including vocational evaluations, training and employment services.

As adults, students from the ESY program can make use of these services, working with Lark staff to continue and maintain success in a workforce environment after leaving school.

More than 200 individuals have been using Lark’s services and supports annually to achieve real-work experience since 1957.

Organizers are expecting a smaller number of students for the ESY’s first year, but meeting the needs of the students, no matter the number, is what matters for them.

“How do you make sure that you don’t lose all that progress made during the school year,” Lautenbacher said. “That’s what we’re hoping to solve.”

For more information on Lark or the ESY program, call 724-658-5676.