Boyce / Louisiana / United States
St. Marys Residential Training School, with one of its facilities located in Alexandria, La., serves children and youth with developmental disabilities. Founded in 1974, its more than 55-acre campus includes dormitories, group homes, a school and clinic. Its social services department acts as liason between the family and children to maintain an ongoing communication system, and also protects their human and civil rights. Its teaching programs help children and young adults to learn functional skills that make them as independent as possible, including tasks such as toileting, personal hygiene, dressing, grooming, eating, clothing care, community integration, safety, money handling, cleaning living areas and phone use. Language stimulation sessions with licensed speech pathologist and a team of skilled communication technicians are part of its program, and other services include occupational therapy, therapeutic riding, consultative physical therapy, sensory integration activities and a home exercise program. It also offers an on-campus day school, nursing and nutritional care.
