The Potential Development School of Autism on the Southeast Side is a single-story building fitted for the unique 55 students it educates.
With hallway floors lined with tape telling students where to go and dividers between desks, the school is structured to give easily distracted autistic children the best opportunity at an education — an education that may not be possible at a public school.
“Instead of getting an appropriate education, their socials skills or their anxieties are holding them back,” said Marilyn Fielding, its director. “We, here, are trained to deal with those kinds of things.”
One important aspect of their education is sensory breaks, or mini-recesses, autistic students frequently need between lessons.
“I can’t tell you how that’s turned around some of our kids,” Fielding said.
A large sensory-break area for the students at the 880 E. Indianola Ave. school, however, is incomplete. A jungle gym occupies half of a playground while the other half is filled with mounds of dirt.
When preparing the ground, workers dug down and discovered water flowing downhill from an old hospital next door. They were forced to lay pipe which diverted the water but also shot up the cost of construction.
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