Episode 43 Kelly Rouse - ”Shreveport-Bossier - My City, My Community, My Home”

Kelly Rouse, Director of Community School Services at Holy Angels, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

 

0:40 1. Kelly, let’s go ahead and jump in. This past August, you launched Community School in partnership with Holy Angels.

 

Tell me about Community School. I know it provides individuals with disabilities with therapeutic and educational offerings.

 

What age individuals are eligible to participate? What are some of the areas of development targeted by the school? And what makes Community School a unique offering for our special needs population?

 

7:42 2. You once said the following in speaking about Autism:

 

"Inside each kid is a typical boy or girl. As problems are chipped away and more are chipped away, we see more of their personality of who they're meant to be.”

 

Talk to me about this quote. And is it applicable to all the work you do, whether you’re working with someone with Autism, Downs, Tourette’s, Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability, ADHD, Anxiety disorders, Angelman’s, etc?

 

11:11 3. I read that back in 2013, less than one third of all students with special needs went on to graduate from Louisiana public high schools.

 

Are the statistics today pretty similar? What tools are Louisiana public high schools most lacking to fully support our students with special needs?

 

27:58 4. You serve on the Rare Disease Advisory Council, if I’m not mistaken as the only representative from the Shreveport-Bossier area.

 

How is Shreveport-Bossier doing in terms of rising to take care of its special needs population, compared to the rest of the state? And how about, compared to the rest of the country?

 

34:28 5. You have been in the field, doing this incredible work for nearly 20 years now. What is more challenging today in the field than it was when you first began?

 

37:52 6. Lastly, talk about some areas that are better in your field of work today than they have been throughout your career?