Special Needs Living Akron/Canton- August 2022

Nonprofit Spotlight

THE GOLDEN KEY CENTER FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

Striving to unlock the future for their students

By Sarah Smith

Sarah Smith

The mission of The Golden Key Center is to provide quality education and intervention services for students with developmental disabilities.

That sounds like a simple statement but involves a complex course of action. The center is not a “cookiecutter” service provider; it serves the individual needs of each family and client at their own pace.

The Golden Key Center offers educational services to students from five counties and 23 school districts under the Ohio Department of Education. It is a non-public charter school, providing Autism or Jon Peterson Scholarships for eligible students. As a non-tuition school, Golden Key provides all educational services with no additional fees to all families. Services provided include education, intervention, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, music and arts services, tech and library science, social skills intervention, food therapy, relational and behavioral support, and nursing services through Akron Children’s Hospital.

As Golden Key has added students and services, the center requires more classroom and restroom space, increased office and therapy space, a functional gym for increased physical activity programs, and a functional living space to teach independent living skills. Golden Key’s building expansion project will allow a 50% increase in student capacity as well as a 20% increase in trained staff in the field of autism and cognitive disabilities. This space will also provide an area for family meetings. Gross motor skill development will be assessed using a functional gym to learn and practice those skills.

“The Golden Key Center came into my life when my son was three and a half years old,” Gina Bannevich, operations director at Golden Key, said. “He was having difficulty at a childcare center and was about to be released due to his behavior. A friend told me about Terry Frank and The Golden Key. I went for a tour, and Terry told us to see a neurologist at Akron Children’s Hospital to consider an autism diagnosis. Dominick, my son, started at The Key in January 2010 and later that year received a diagnosis of autism. He spent six years at The Golden Key. Dominick graduated from the Key and is now a fully integrated student in the public schools and doing wonderfully. I attributed his success, my family’s support, and the knowledge we gained about autism to Terry and the staff of The Golden Key. The list of things that Golden Key gave to Dominick would fill this magazine. They supported him in learning to make life transitions. They supported him from only wearing white shoes to being able to wear any color shoes. They supported him in developing the ability to express his emotions versus outward behavior. They helped him create new techniques to overcome food aversions. Dominick’s quality of life expanded because of what The Golden Key taught him,” Bannevich said.

“I was so devoted to the organization and saw the benefits it offered to the Stark County community that I had to find ways to support it personally,” she continued. “I helped create the annual fundraiser, served on their board, and four years ago decided to follow my passion for Golden Key and work as the Operations Director.”

“We feel if we can get our existing students to a place where they will succeed going back to their district, we want them to do so. We want them to thrive. Our focus is always on quality of education and services leading to a quality of life,” Bannevich said.

Enrollment for 2022-23 is closing soon. For information, please visit www.goldenkeyschool.com or call 330-493-4400. Golden Key is located at 1431 30th St. NW in Canton.

A Capital Campaign is underway to raise funds for the expansion. Financial support is needed. Donations can be made at https://goldenkeyschool.com/donation/ unlock-the-future-capital-campaign/.

The organization is a nonprofit, 501c3, founded by Terry Frank and Kathy Catazaro-Perry in 2007 as a summer camp. The physical facility opened in November 2008. Terry and Kathy sought to establish a childcare that provided services for both typically developing and medically fragile students. Golden Key has grown into a non-public charter school for students primarily with autism and cognitive disabilities from preschool through eighth grade. Last school year, Golden Key had 93 students, and all are entitled to services through the Ohio Scholarship programs, which fund all education, therapy, and intervention services.

Providing smaller classrooms, individualized education based upon each student’s unique learning style, and extensive training of the staff gives families the confidence that their child will succeed in life as well as in school. A maximum of 12 students are allowed per classroom. Five classrooms are due to be certified in the global Pyramid Approach to Education Classroom Certification, a communication method for those with autism.